Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on Sunday 28 February, 6pm

The Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, is to lead a once-in-a lifetime line-up of award winning Scottish and UK poets in Edinburgh to raise funds for the Haiti earthquake disaster appeal.

Carol Ann Duffy said “Poetry has the power of prayer and is the place in language where we are most human. The people of Haiti need our humanity right now.”

Don Paterson said: “We’ve been completely overwhelmed with the speed and generosity of our colleagues’ response – it should all add up to the most spectacular poetry event ever seen north of the border, and we hope as many people as possible will come along and show their support.”

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has given his full support to the event, describing Carol Ann Duffy as a “visionary humanitarian” and saying “she has summoned together an amazing array of talent on one day in the service of one hope; a better future for the people of Haiti.”

The evening will be a fitting finale to the hugely successful and popular Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Carry A Poem campaign, run in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library, which is highlighting the power of poetry in people’s lives – in schools, communities, projected onto buildings in the capital and more.

Two New Poetry Podcasts – Subscribe Now!

Here are my two latest podcasts from the Scottish Poetry Library. Please subscribe (for FREE!) and enjoy at your leisure.

Ron Butlin

“Poetry tends to be argued through image, prose tends to be argued through narrative …”

Ryan sits down with Edinburgh’s Makar (poet laureate) Ron Butlin during a recent visit to a slightly noisier than usual Library (apologies for the melody of the office stapler) and discusses where his poems come from, the differences between writing poetry and prose, and what it’s like to write for musicians – of the popular and operatic variety. We also get the chance to hear a few poems from Ron and listen to an excerpt from the short opera ‘The Voice Inside’ by composer Lyell Cresswell for which Ron wrote the libretto.

Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @byleaveswelive and @carryapoem

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White Heath

“In poetry the words define their own music and that’s why I get a kick out of writing…”

Alastair White and Sean Watson from Edinburgh based band White Heath chat music, metal, poetry and their Carry A Poem picks with our very own Ryan and we get a chance to hear their track ‘Election Day’. And if that’s not enough, we treat you to a sample of this week’s Poetry Pub Quiz and offer a special prize – email splpodcast@gmail.com to enter.

Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @byleaveswelive, @carryapoem and @anonpoetry

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THE GOLDEN HOUR of LOVE!

February 17th, 2010
8pm
Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Pl
Free! Free! Free! (byob)

Reading:

Claire Askew – editor, poet, dragon slayer, jewellery maker, teacher.

Ewan Morrison – we bus Mr. Trouble in from Glasgow to kick over a few tables and tell some stories.

Tom Pow – even if his name wasn’t Tom POW we’d still use an exclamation mark to describe him!

Music:

Gary Stewart – exhilarating and masterful songwriting.

Diddley Squat – last time we counted they were a massive 12 piece regaee band. We think they’re growing.

Robin Grey Band – In a small white room with a blue door they create gently experimental nu-folk. you will like.

And don’t forget to check out our interview with Alan Bisset:

There is a double-bill of two of his plays, The Ching Room and the Moira Monologues, at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow from 9th-13th Feb. Bissett himself will be starring as ‘Moira’. He also helps with the splendid reading series, Discombobulate (where literature and comedy collide) in Glasgow. Alan read at The Golden Hour in January 2010.

Hello! It has been busy days so there’s two podcasts I need to hype up. If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe via I-tunes or RSS feed that way you won’t miss an episode and won’t have to wait for me to post the links. Enjoy!

John Glenday & Kim Edgar

“I went out to the hazel wood,/ Because a fire was in my head”

In the final part of our Highland trilogy, Ryan chats with John Glenday about what it’s like to be a drug counsellor and a poet, which poem he carries with him and we get an opportunity to hear John read from new collection, Grain (Picador). We also have the track ‘Nothing to Hold Onto’ by Kim Edgar, which was a response to a work by John during the 7 Short Sails project. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean.

Email Ryan and Colin with your comments: splpodcast@gmail.com

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Carry a Poem Special

“It’s one those poems that’s just stuck. I can’t really explain why…”

Colin heads down to the launch of the 2010 One City One Edinburgh literature campaign, which is focusing this year on the poems we carry with us and includes a free anthology of poems called Carry A Poem, being distributed for free across the city.

Including snippets from poet Ken Cockburn, Edinburgh makar Ron Butlin, literary editor Stuart Kelly, Children’s Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival Sara Grady and charming couple Mark and Alena Fraser. Ryan also asks Colin what his Carry A Poem choices would be. Presented by Ryan van Winkle.

Email Ryan and Colin with your comments: splpodcast@gmail.com

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“I was struck by the great sadness of this landscape” – Mark O. Goodwin

The latest installment of the SPL Poetry Podcast. Have a listen and let us know what you think. Here’s the blurb!

Ryan managed to squeeze in a goodly few chats during his recent trip with our Lilias to northern climes and this episode, the second in our ‘Highland Trilogy’, features a fascinating conversation with Gaelic poet Maoilios Caimbeul and English poet Mark O Goodwin. Their recent collection, The Two Sides of the Pass (Two Ravens Press, 2009), is a conversation in poems across two languages and the landscape of the Isle of Skye. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean.

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Hi all -

It is almost time for the big super art blow-out Hidden Door at the Roxy. I’ll be doing my first ever poetry installation titled: “Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel” featuring a soundtrack by Ragland, poems by myself and artwork from Martin McKenna, Eric Brooks, Michael Sanzone and Victor Fraser.

Ragland did the above poster and is coming over in a few moments to burn the cds we’ll have availible over the weekend! How exciting you you / us / everyone!

We hope to see you at Hidden Door on Sat. 30th or Sun 31st January. It will be an historic Edinburgh weekend.

More details on my performance here.

Introduction The Forest Book of Bedtime Stories was born in the hours which follow meetings, the hours of liquor and suggestiveness. The hours in which, under a thick cloak of Cockborn’s Reserve Port, we question what it is to be literary: whether we are not, perhaps, suited to something a little more upfront, a little more base. There is a tendency among some of us to lean more towards the horizontal than the historic, particularly as the slump of winter comes upon us and we draw the curtains closed. As such, we requested from our friends they crawl into the filthier recesses of their imaginations and dredge up something which would tickle our fancies. This year, our Christmas present to you is some things we hope will warm your heart and get you out of your stockings. What lies inside are tales that hang in the tricky balance of smut. These are not the cheap titillation of your newsprint-stained fingers working over Page 3. They are not content to hint, to nudge, to snicker behind palms at what is going on. We come to you honestly and say: this is what we think about. Please: take your desires in hand and indulge… I’m happy to have two kind of sexxxy poems in this fine anthology. One involves sex with Italian food and one is, essentially, an ode to a stranger’s bum. There’s also other great stuff including Ben Morris’ “Sextina”, stories about vampires (everyone loves vampires) and doing it with octopuses. A perfect coffee-table book or Valentine’s Day gift for that special someone. Let us know how you get on. xxl, R

Paperback: 44 pages Published: 18 December 2009 Author: Multiple Authors (see below) Genre: Mixed (Fiction, Poetry, Art) Illustrations: Tom de Freston Language: English ISBN-13: 978-0956338846

Amount: £2 + P&P Select a region UK – 1.50 GBP EU – 2.50 GBP Int’l – 5.00 GBP

Deep Inside:

• Jason Harrison Morton, Sauchiehall
• Ryan Van Winkle, Ode to Food, The Hand of God (aka: The Ass Poem)
  
• Jane Flett, Tako
• Ian Cartland, Intruders
• Danielle Mantia, Twins
• Helen Mort, White Hart
• Benjamin Morris, Sextina
• Kiran Millwood-Hargrave, Art Lover
• Kirsty Logan, The Last 3600 Seconds

GET READY FOR THE FUTURE -

THE GOLDEN HOUR 2k10!

January 20th, 2010
8pm
Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Pl
Free! Free! Free! (byob)

Reading:

Kirstin Innes – The story-charmer!

Alan Bissett – The ring-leader!

Colin McGuire – pedestrian, provocateur, wanderer, confronter of shadows!

Music:

Mat Riviere – Electric repetition, loops that don’t stay in time, and self-Harmonizing.

The Maple Leaves – A massive aural hug.

Skeleton Bob – Songs about Glasgow that sound like they’re about America; songs about girls who did them wrong/proud. The long-awaited, rarely seen in Edinburgh floor-stampers!

One of my favourite music sites is the fantastically diverse, brilliantly local and artist-driven site: TenTracks.co.uk. For just £10 a year you get 120 great songs which you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere. The bonus is, all the artists involved get a fair percentage of the profits — a much better deal then they get using i-tunes (boo, hiss!). So, if you are feeling guilty about illegally “stealing” music from .torrent sites, pay your dues to the artists who need the money and support TenTracks by taking out a subscription.

With all this in mind, it is a great pleasure to say that you can now buy ten of the eighteen tracks from our Golden Hour Vol. II CD on the TenTracks website including new material from Diddley Squat, Chandra, Mat Riviere, Robin Grey and The Asazi Space Funk Explosion! You can buy the tracks for ONE QUID or take out a full subscription for £10! It really is a bargain and a delight to get all this great music so even if you own the GH Books – do take out a subscription.

Here’s what they say:

“The Police Box proudly presents its pick of tunes from the acclaimed new writing and music publication by Edinburgh’s Forest Cafe. A quid says this is genuinely stereotype-busting quality”

And while I am on the plug:

You get a free TenTracks bundle when you buy tickets to the massive Hidden Door Art Festival at the Roxy on 30 / 31 January. You can read about what I’ll be doing here. I’m super keen to see Action Group, Jesus H Foxx, Foxgang, Joe Acheson Quartet, Panda Su, and William Douglas live. Basically, every great band in Edinbrugh and Glasgow is going to be playing this thing – it’s worth the money to be there.

It is practically guaranteed to be an amazing weekend of music, art installations, poetry and dancing so buy your tickets now.

Tickets NOW ON SALE at Tickets Scotland, Ripping Records, Leith School of Art and Edinburgh College of Art at the SRC.

BUY TICKETS NOW!

FREE with each ticket: 10 mp3 music tracks by bands playing at the festival from Tentracks, plus video trailer of artists work with music by Jesus H. Foxx.

Instructions on how to get your free music and video on:

To be honest, the ticket stuff is a bit confusing but here’s an understandable break-down:

Look at the event on facebook and sign up!

I hope to see you there, here and everywhere.

xxl,

R

Just before our holidays got started in December, Lilias Fraser and I traveled to the Great North, visiting SPL branch libraries in Inverness and Skye. It was a beautiful trip and we got to meet some brilliant poets working up in the Highlands. So, here is the first of the Highland Podcasts featuring the intrepid, poet, novelist, screenwriter Hamish MacDonald. Hamish helps run Moniack Mhor which is a splendid writers’ retreat up near Inverness. It is isolated and lovely and filled to the gills with excellent literature and fantastic workshops and seminars. They’ve always been very good to The Golden Hour crew so if you are looking for a beautiful place to go and work on some writing, you should check them out. Enjoy the podcast!

Download the mp3!

And Please remember to subscribe with I-Tunes or using the RSS Feed. Man, it is FREE!

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In our first podcast of the year Ryan presents the first of his
interviews from a recent trip to the Scottish Highlands, and he starts
the ball rolling with poet, novelist and playwright Hamish Macdonald,
director of creative writing centre Moniack Mhor. We also have a
haunting track from Shelia K Cameron, “Last NIght I Dreamed About
Doris Lessing”. Presented by Ryan van Winkle. Produced by Colin
Fraser. Incidental music by Ewen Maclean.