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Later this month I’ll be hosting a really cool event, Simmer, a night of great food and awesome poets at Edinburgh Food Studio. On Thursday 31 March, 7.30pm I’ll be hosting a show with poets Tessa Berring, Peter Mackay, MacGillivray and Vicki Feaver, pairing poets and food for your delectation. Hope to see you there.

So delighted to be in Paris reading poems, talking books and drinking coffee with the wonderful folks at Shakespeare and Co. It’s on Tuesday 15 March at 10am, there’s limited space, it’s going to be an amazing way to start your morning. Hope to see you there.

Really pleased to have my poem ‘To a Burns Night‘ published on the year-long poetry project Scotia Extremis, edited by Andy Jackson and Brian Johnstone. It’s published in week one, with the themes Burns Night and Up-Helly-Aa alongside Roseanne Watt, and you can read it here.

We’re very excited to have three unique events at the festival featuring 16 artists from the UK and Pakistan in conversation and collaboration in Lahore. They will share newly translated poems and musical outpourings which aims to reflect the role that art plays in creating bridges between cultures.

The three events will feature: Afshan Sajjad, Jim Carruth, Dr. Khalid Javaid Jan, Katherine Sowerby, Kishwar Naheed, Gerry Cambridge, Ali Akbar Natiq and Vicki Husband reading new translations plus music from Sara Kazmi & Sarah Hayes who will play together for the first time. Storytellers Mujahid Esha and Ian Stephen will speak of legends and fables from Pakistan and Scotland with visuals and illustrations from Mehreen Fatima and Kate Leiper.

Visit our artist page to read various biographies and info about the performers and collaborators.

Exact dates and details of all the exciting events have LLF have been published by the Lahore Literature Festival.

City to City: Poetry from Glasgow to Lahore

6.15pm, 20 February — Avari Hotel, Tollington

Leading lights of Glasgow’s poetry scene along with contemporaries from Lahore will be reunited on stage for a unique evening of readings to celebrate the launch of a new anthology of Urdu & English poetry.  The poets will share translated poems & collaborations which reflect their friendships as well as the role that art plays in creating bridges between cultures.

Featuring: Afshan Sajjad, Jim Carruth, Dr. Khalid Javaid Jan, Katherine Sowerby, Kishwar Naheed, Gerry Cambridge,Ali Akbar Natiq, Vicki Husband

In partnership with The British Council and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The first leg of the project began in Lahore back in November 2014. Last year City to City  visited both London & Glasgow in the UK.

Music Cities: Songs from Glasgow and Lahore

6.15pm, 20 February — Avari Hotel, Tollington

Join Lahore’s Sara Kazmi & Glasgow’s Sarah Hayes for an audial adventure as they explore traditional and contemporary sounds through song & stories. In this very special collaboration these musicians blend ragas with celtic folk tunes, loops, electronic effects and Punjabi poetry.

Featuring: Sara Kazmi and Sarah Hayes

In partnership with The British Council and the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Story Swap: Stories and Illustration from Scotland & Pakistan

6.15pm, 21 February — Avari Hotel, Tollington

Storytellers Ian Stephen and Mujahid Eshai share legends, lies, & fabled delights from the Scottish islands to the Pakistani mountains in a gripping evening of newly learned & freshly translated tale-telling. Close your eyes and let your imagination drift or keep them open to enjoy stunning new visuals from Mehreen Fatima andKate Leiper.

Featuring: Mujahid Esha, Mehreen Fatima, Kate Leiper and Ian Stephen

In partnership with the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the Scottish Government Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund and the British Council

This Sunday 21 February I’ll be chairing a conversation with poet Sudeep Sen at the Lahore Literary Festival, where we’ll be discussing “Midnight’s Grandchildren: South Asia’s English Poetry, Post-Independence”. It’s going to be a great talk, and I hope to see you there.

Where: Lahore Literary Festival — Avari Hotel, Tollington

When: Sunday 21 February, 6.15am-7.15pm.

Snapchats of Rain – February 2016

Dave Coates & Ryan Van Winkle

Dave says: The last time I worked with Ryan on a poem was just after I’d had my application to take a PhD at Edinburgh University accepted – this is one of the only poems I’ve written since then. In between all the thesis-writing, review-writing and, y’know, wage labour, the only poems I’ve been able to write are these little haiku-y things. I like how little space they take, how they feel like they could just go on unimpeded forever like wee flowers with deep roots, that they do a bit of shaking off of the old poet-ego thing. Ryan knows how to give those wee herbs a heartbeat. Cheers pal.x

Snapchats of Rain

in the daily puzzle
we hustle our edges
we build a story

*

this chest, this mind was yanked out
not exactly wanting to go

*

you live a hundred deaths a day, she says – grass,
birds, your mother –
you only get one of your own –

*

so much life is departure
even standing still, ghosts arrive

*

like teeth, she says, take care
of what god gave you

*

fire in the water and
the water was warm
as a stubborn calf in june

*

bring me my timeline of quiet
bring me snapchats of rain
dear friend, whither now our filters?

*

i take a picture, i make a fire
with my own two hands
wood finding use, again

*

accidents of feet and knees
this door, this path, this rain, this wind.

*

all this business about yesterday
when there’s still fuel in the tank

*

don’t be afraid, he said.
He said, here’s how to stay
permanently surprised.

*

And here’s how to shiver
here’s how to get cold

*

seagull feathers at the church door
a little heap of antlers

*

there’s a little space left
between two well-loved
books. a many-hearted shelf

*

there’s a little piece
waiting to be placed

Our former podcaster Ryan Van Winkle returns to talk about his award-winning second collection The Good Dark (Penned in the Margins). A collection that has its origins in heartbreak, Ryan talks about his struggle to rise above an adolescent tone. He explains why despite his extensive travels abroad, his poetry never touches on his destinations. And why Snoopy is an unexpected literary influence.

I’ll be co-hosting this amazing, all-night EP launch and Refugee Survival Trust benefit show, featuring so many fantastic people. All proceeds go to the RST, and you’ll have a blast. Hope to see you there.

FEATURING LIVE SETS FROM:

BILLY LIAR & PAPER RIFLES

HONEYBLOOD (SOLO)

THE MURDERBURGERS (SOLO)

SUPERMOON (EX-MEURSAULT)

LOVERS TURN TO MONSTERS

TRAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

RICHY NEILL

DOG ON A SWING

FAITH ELLIOT

TURTLE LAMONE

WITH YOUR HOSTS; RYAN VAN WINKLE (THE GOLDEN HOUR) & RACHEL MCCRUM (RALLY & BROAD) AND DJ SETS FROM CYAN BLACK & JIMMY BASTARD

ALSO, SHORT TALKS FROM A MEMBER OF THE REFUGEE SURVIVAL TRUST AND A REFUGEE WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH THE PROGRAMME

100% of the money raised from the EP release and benefit will go directly to the Refugee Survival Trust, Edinburgh (www.rst.org.uk).

The RST was set up in 1996 as a reaction to the problem of refugees and asylum claimants being made destitute in Scotland. Grants made by the RST either alleviate poverty and destitution, or help refugees and asylum claimants to overcome obstacles in accessing educational and employment opportunities.

Their work is as vital today as it has ever been.

DOORS: 6PM
COST: £5 MINIMUM
EP: £3 MINIMUM
(All proceeds go to the RST)

THANKS!

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. 

Qué perra es – January 2016

Ghazal Mosadeq & Ryan Van Winkle

Ghazal says: When Steven Fowler asked Ryan and I to collaborate on a poem for the Enemies Project, I was in Linares, Mexico. So this piece is shaped by back and forth emails. We decided on the theme of distance, travel and time and used some Spanish and Persian words and sentences  I wrote one passage and emailed it to him and waited for his passage to come. The final piece is one long poem with a more or less unified voice rather than two pieces corresponding with each other. This poem was performed on October 25 in the Rich Mix Centre, London as a part of the Camaradfest II in which 100 poets collaborated in pairs on 50 poems.

qué perra es

They say we age slower
if we’re traveling fast
as if time is a stupid dog
chasing after a train, as if

As if is slayable
when it comes to time
so there is el tiempo del sur
and we have immovable time
so I ask ¿qué perra es?

But they say it’s Mexican time
Ten thousand taxies ahead
Making us age like a. should I say?
I just need to know: ¿qué perra es?
It was a hot night and it made me
want know the time
in Lisbon, in Tokyo

They say, ‘he wouldn’t give me the time
of day.’ They say, ‘I wouldn’t piss on him
if he was on fire.’ They say you must know
‘when to hold them, when to fold them’

But what I want to know
is how will your eyes flutter
when the dealer calls
and you must show what you’ve made
of a lousy hand.

You say it was just a burglary
Attempt, but I think you may have gone too far
By shooting a midlevel engineer
and a top baker and not finding
the 23 pound of black tar heroin
under the armchair and not even knowing
how to get home from there

*

To master Time is to master living.
To master Time is to master dying.
To master time is to disappear
in Monterrey on an independence day party
nine and a half years ago
To master dying by timing living
she masters living

*

Often I ask a question in a language
I don’t fully understand
the response always returns
at the speed of a back-handed ball
dizzy, unsure where on the street to turn
left or turn right but it is clear one must
make a turn somewhere

pas man be samt-i paayeen peecheedam
and that’s exactly what I did
va chand soal porseedam
as one should
¿qué perra es?
¿qué perra es?
And tiptoed around centro historico
so I just turned from
Isabel la Catótica  into Regina
All  in less than 5 seconds

*

Zanini Rallebol
wanna ne ne
wanna na na
Tu veux ou tu veux pas
don’t you na na me with your tongue
don’t you ne ne me with your eyes

*

I have a big old
fashioned bathtub
I hardly use, once
it was my birthday
and I hoped
I could mark it
so I lay there
and counted the lines
on my skin as they appeared

once I walked into a
grand boudoir
and that’s all I did that
day, pacing the floor
barefeet tickled on carpet
naked on starched scratching sheets
licking a pewter candle stick
all the possible comforts, all
the possible violence, all the tourists
clicking pictures, keep shuffling.

VIDEO:

Ghazal Mosadeq is a writer and poet (winner of the Bayhaqi Short Fiction Prize, shortlisted for the Khorshid Poetry Prize). Her debut collection of poetry, Dar Jame Ma, was published in Iran in 2010, and her second book of poems, Biographies,  is published in London, UK by Susak Press, 2015. Her fiction and poetry has been published and translated in magazines and anthologies in Iran, Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Greece and Portugal. She is a PhD research student at University of London, Birkbeck College.