Very excited to be part of this unique edition of Rally & Broad, doing some very cool space-specific music, words and art. Hope to see you there!

Friday 22nd January 2016, 7 – 10pm at The Bongo Club. Tickets available in advance (and cheaper!) here or £6 on the door.

[this is an unusual show, with two spaces being used simultaneously, so we’re asking everyone to arrive on time. Tickets in advance may be advisable!]

And lo, January was upon us, and so were the mighty mighty hangovers of a helluva year. Think we’re getting out of our PJ’s anytime soon? Think on…

January brings with it two more of our ever popular Hangover Specials, where we celebrate all things fizzy, grotty and comfy. Just in time to set you up for the New Year. In Edinburgh, however, as we’ve been striving to do all year, we’re shaking it up like a raccoon in a whiskey barrel…

We’ll be curating two ssimultaneous spaces in the Bongo Club on the 22nd January, Rally’s room and Broad’s room, with very special acts in each and the audience swapping halfway through the night. The story goes that Rally & Broad have managed to lose their shoes, their memories and each other over the course of the night, and are trying to piece it all together…

Come help us do it! Along with some uplifting beats, beautiful dance and soothing, witty words to cure all ills from the likes of…

…BE CHARLOTTE!

Multi-instrumentalist and astonishing vocalist whose live performances are applauded across the Scottish music scene and beyond. She blew oor little minds with her talent – and multi coloured light up trainers – in Glasgow last year, and we’re so excited to see what she’ll bring to Edinburgh this month.

http://charlotte-music.co.uk/

…RYAN VAN WINKLE!

Edinburgh-based poet Ryan Van Winkle. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

Award-winning poet whose most recent collection The Good Dark (Penned in the Margins) was awarded the Saltire Society Award for Poetry in 2015. Hurrah! So very much deserved for a man who has worked tirelessly to develop poetry in Scotland and across the world, with the Scottish Poetry Library, culturelaser podcast, his award winning solo shows including Viewmaster (with Dan Gorman) and red like our room used to feel, and of course, the glorious and chaotic triumph that was The Golden Hour. We salute you.

http://ryanvanwinkle.com/
…COLIN MCGUIRE!

Poet and performer whose recent work explores bed, sleep, mortality and legacy and (in oor humble) is one of the most exciting, unabashedly individual, curious and idiosyncratic voices in the Scottish spoken word scene. He’ll be in his jammies too, by the way. Just sayin.’*

http://a-glaswegian.blogspot.co.uk/

…RUTH MILLS!

One of Scotland’s leading dancers, choreographers and movement directors whose provocative, intelligent work has seen her work with other artists in many disciplines; we’re delighted to have Ruth back with a specially devised piece for the show.

http://ruthmillsdance.blogspot.co.uk/
…ROSEANNE REID!

Up and coming folk musician and songwriter who was recently nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award, making her Rally & Broad debut. Huzzah!

https://www.facebook.com/Roseanne-Reid
* we would love it if you wanted to come along in your nightwear too. Makes us feel right at home. 

Really pleased to be reading with other shortlistees for the Saltire Literary Awards. We’ll hit Waterstones Dumfries on Wednesday 12 November at 6pm, where Liz Lochhead will be joining us, before heading to Waterstones Inverness on Wednesday 19 again at 6pm, alongside Elizabeth Reeder. If you’re in the area it would be super lovely to see you.

I’ll be participating in the 3rd International Congress of Language and Literature at the Linares Institute of Technology, Mexico, from Monday 26 -Friday 30 October. It’s a wonderful series of events aimed at connecting people to books and literature and I’m absolutely honoured to be taking part. If you’re in Nuevo León in the next few days, I hope to see you there!

Delighted to be heading to the sunny climes of Kristiansand, Norway for Sand Festival, where the words and music of Viewmaster will be setting up shop from 6-10 October. Hope to see you there!

VIEWMASTER is a personal and poetic slideshow created specifically for your eyes and ears only. In less than 15 minutes Ryan Van Winkle (poet) and Dan Gorman (sound artist) guide you through a playful and surreal journey to a land far far away.

VIEWMASTER is more than just a performance. It is a riveting experience that starts in a child-like cave, before it sweeps you away to another world. An imaginative leap to a foreign land and a step back to childhood wonder – all the time being accompanied by live music and poetry. A 15-minute private, supernatural and engulfing experience.

Delighted to announce a new collaborative poem, ‘Too Many Raindrops‘ with Ragland, as part of the Queensland Poetry Festival.

The theme for the 2015 Queensland Poetry Festival is ‘Language is a virus from outer space’. I have been curating a project for the festival that responds to this theme and the future of poetry. PEN will be available in a limited edition of 100 usbs at the festival bookshop. With language as virus, the nature and format of <O>PEN means that the files are susceptible to sharing and editing. All works are licensed under Creative Commons Sharealike 4.0, so responses and remixes are very welcome.

On Friday 21 August I’ll be joining poet Jonathan Edwards (My Family and Other Superheroes) at the Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre for poems and chat at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. I’ll be reading from my second collection, The Good Dark, and you can find some interviews I did about it below. Hope to see you there!

The Good Dark — Interviews

On Friday 21 August I’ll be joining poet Jonathan Edwards (My Family and Other Superheroes) at the Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre for poems and chat at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. I’ll be reading from my second collection, The Good Dark, reviews of which you can find below. Hope to see you there!

The Good Dark — Reviews

So far, reviews of The Good Dark have been kind. If you’d like to hear me read in person, you can catch me at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 21 August at 20.45.

‘(The Good Dark) moves between stabbing pain, deep melancholy and cautious optimism, always with the same gentle touch.’ — The Skinny

‘Channelling Bob Dylan at his trippy, visionary best…’ — The Scotsman

‘…the poetry of loss in The Good Dark, particularly loss of love, is not bitter or recriminatory, but a kind of analysis, a recognition of one’s own failure, even a manner of apology.’ — Dave Coates

Buy a copy from Penned in the Margins, or find it wherever you buy your books. 

Delighted to be hosting the Highlight Arts event Head North, My Friend at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. It’s at 9pm, Wednesday 19 August, in the Charlotte Square Spiegeltent. Hope to see you there!

Head North, My Friend!

In this special event Highlight Arctic celebrates the culture of the High North at a time when the region is experiencing enormous and rapid transition. Join us for words, music and stories from: Sami poet and musician Niillas Holmberg, Icelandic crime-writer Ragnar Jonasson and the Inuit poet and-live artist Jessie Kleemann.Plus, Shetlandic poet Christine De Luca will read new translations specially commissioned by the EIBF and DJ Aikio will provide the aural beats.

Bar, dancing and smiles also guaranteed.

Wednesday 19th August
21:00
Jura Unbound @ Edinburgh International Book Festival
Spiegeltent, Charlotte Street Gardens
Free Entry (no tickets required)

Further Info via Skinny Magazine

Highlight Arctic  Festival (Jan/Feb 2016)

As ice caps melt and sea-levels rise, we feel it is high time to shine a light on the Arctic – a region that has become one of the world’s major international economic battlegrounds. Highlight Arctic festival 2015 will be a collaboration with artists who live and work in the High North in order to celebrate the culture and significance of the region.

Really chuffed to be reading at Second Space with a whole host of great poets and performers. It’s on next Friday 7 August, 8-10pm at the Safari Lounge, 21 Cadzow Place, Abbeyhill, Edinburgh. Should be an awesome night, hope to see you there.

Featuring:

nick-e melville
rodney relax
jl williams
jess hopkins
will lorimer
craig gun
ryan van winkle
iain morrison
graeme smith
anne laure coxam
jane goldman
annie higgen
kate tough
katy hastie
ed smith
calum rodger
rob mckenzie
janette ayachi
tessa berring
mike saunders
emilia weber
tom betteridge

Really excited to be heading back to Australia this August to perform at both the Melbourne Writers Festival and the Queensland Poetry Festival. I’ll be touring with the fantastic performance artist and poet MacGillivray (The Last Wolf of Scotland) and the poetic dynamo that is William Letford (Bevel) Here’s the itinerary: