Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events.

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Books, talks and poetry events. Glasgow has everything on offer for lovers of literature, including major book festivals, book launches, poetry slams and spoken word open mics.

Plenty to choose from with events showcasing new talent as well as acclaimed writers and poets.

Events and New Books To Watch Out For

Mongrel: Donna Campbell debut poetry collection

mongrel donna campbell

‘Not only are these poems formally elegant, punchy, compassionate, witty and heart-breaking, but they have a self-honesty that is as hard to master in life as it is in poetry… Mongrel is a luminous addition to Scottish poetry.’  Tracey Patrick Following a particularly difficult time in her life, Donna, who is from Clydebank, has created […]

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World Book Night with Denise Mina

denise mina world book night

Zoe Strachan in conversation with author Denise Mina Creative Conversations Friday, 23 April, 2021 – 7 p.m.- 8p.m. Free – Register at Eventbrite About this Event Join Creative Conversations and East Ayrshire Libraries on World Book Night where Zoe Strachan will chat with author Denise Mina about her latest novel, The Less Dead. After a […]

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Celebrate Your Story – Workshop with Samina Chaudry

celebrating stories samina

Tuesday 4 May, 2021 2 p.m. –4.30 p.m. As part of this year’s Your Stories writing project, Scottish Book Trust is offering online workshops to help inspire you to write about Celebration. Sign Up for Samina Chaudry’s Workshop – Free Online Join Samina Chaudry, Next Chapter award winner, for a free online writing workshop on […]

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Open The Door Festival 2021 – Scottish Women’s Writing

open the door

Glasgow Women’s Library Thursday 20th May – Saturday 22nd May 2021 Online Scotland’s first ever festival for Scottish women’s writing returns for its fifth edition! This year inviting the world to Open the Door again, as Glasgow Women’s Library host the festival entirely online. Inspired by Glasgow’s long history of bold, creative women, the theme […]

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Aye Write 2021 – Pre-Festival Event

chris brookmyre denise mina louise welsh

Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina and Louise Welsh 28 April, 2021 at 7 p.m. £5 – Purchase Online Also available through the Aye Write Pass This event will be live and will also be available to view for 3 weeks after the broadcast date. The Aye Write Digital Festival will run from 14 – 23 May.

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Wee Nature Fest – Islands of Abandonment

Saturday, 27 March, 2021 5 p.m. Cal Flyn’s stunning exploration of places across the world that have been abandoned by humans… Event by Wee Three Indies, The Edinburgh Bookshop  Atkinson-Pryce and Far From the Madding Crowd  Online event Free The Wee Three Indies #Wee Nature Fest continues with Cal Flyn’s stunning exploration of places across the world that have […]

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Sheena Blackhall – Meet the Author

A Bard’s Life – Sheena Blackhall Thursday, Mar 25, 2021 06:00 PM Rymour Books cordially invite you to join them for a Zoom launch of Sheena Blackhall’s ‘A Bard’s Life.’ Now available for order at Rymour Books @RymourBooks Meet the Author Tonight, Sheena Blackhall for the launch of ‘A Bard’s Life’  JOIN MEETING  Meeting ID: […]

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Slow Nature – Woodlands Community Booklet Launch

Event by Woodlands Community Tuesday, 6 April, 2021 –  7 p.m. Free Online As part of their Nature Recovery Project, Woodlands Community have produced this publication with local wildlife and conservation enthusiast, Katrina Caldwell. Join them on Tuesday 6th April 7-8pm to celebrate it’s launch and receive a copy. Woodlands have been focused on encouraging people […]

Read the full article: Slow Nature – Woodlands Community Booklet Launch

A Year of Workers’ Stories

workers stories

24 March, 2021 – 6.30 p.m. Event by Workers’ Stories Project Online: Register at Eventbrite Price: free ‘Over the past twelve months the Workers’ Stories Project has collected and published the everyday experiences of workers across Scotland. ‘ COVID-19 and the resulting lockdowns have caused significant ruptures in our working lives. The impact has been seismic […]

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Douglas Stuart & Jackie Kay: Shuggie Bain

douglas stuart

Cambridge Literary Festival Friday 23 April, 2021 – 5 p.m. £6.00 – Single event ticket £35.00 – £50.00 – Festival Pass Book ticket Douglas Stuart discusses his heart-breaking Booker Prize winning novel with fellow Glaswegian and writer Jackie Kay. Douglas Stuart burst fully-formed onto the literary landscape with his astonishing masterpiece Shuggie Bain, the deserving winner of the 2020 Booker […]

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Creative Conversations: Lisa Robertson

Monday 22 March 2021, 1 p.m. In conversation with Elizabeth Reeder Hosted by Creative Writing College of Arts, University of Glasgow On Zoom – Register for Event  You will be sent the link to attend the meeting.  About Lisa Robertson Lisa Robertson is a poet and essayist whose books include XEclogue (1993); Debbie: An Epic (1997), nominated for a […]

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At Home Artist’s Talk: GOMA

GoMA at 25: Andy Goldsworthy in conversation with Martin Craig 31 MARCH, 2021 6 P.M. – 7 P.M. ONLINE REGISTER AT EVENTBRITE GoMA invites you to join artist Andy Goldsworthy in conversation with GoMA Curator, Martin Craig, as they discuss Goldsworthy’s original commission for GoMA, his works in the collection, and his practice today. Andy […]

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Balloch Open Mic: Multi-talented Moira McPartlin

(photograph: George Lammie) A friend recently passed on a book ‘The Incomers’ by Moira McPartlin. I had read it a couple of years ago but am now re-reading it. It reminded me of the time I first met Moira which I reveal below. She was due to headline an Open Mic event but… Hopefully she’ll […]

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Poetry – Rizwan Akhtar – jeton d’amour

jeton d’amour for Rebecca I am not after your extraordinary limbs and the way you cover paths beating my chase watered eyes and bruised hands were used to stop me from wasting words on your face out there in the bazaar I could have picked a bracelet an ivory ring glossy set of bangles you […]

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Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events

Creative Conversations: Shola Von Reinhold

Monday 15 March 2021 1 p.m Creative Conversations Lunchtime Series hosted by Creative Writing College of Arts On Zoom Free Event – Book at Eventbrite You will be sent the link to attend the meeting. Shola von Reinhold is a Scottish socialite and writer. Shola has been published in the Cambridge Literary Review, The Stockholm Review, […]

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St Patrick’s Day Special: The Great Irish Songbook

Wednesday 17 March, 2021 7.30pm GMT From Celtic Connections 2020 Rounder Records recording artists Dervish present The Great Irish Songbook from 2020’s Celtic Connections, online internationally on St Patrick’s Day 2021. Buy tickets

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New Writers Showcase 2020 Scottish Book Trust

Wednesday 31 March 2021, 11.30am–3pm Discover some of Scotland’s best new writing on digital showcase Hear our Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardees read their work On Twitter Premiere Use #WriterShowcase Judges Spotlighting some of the finest new writing talent emerging in the Scottish scene, the 2020 awards judges included Abir Mukherjee, Raman Mundair, Michael Pedersen, […]

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Creative Conversations: Kirstin Innes

kirstin innes

Monday 08 March 2021 1 – 2 p.m. Creative Conversations Lunchtime Series hosted by Creative Writing College of Arts, University of Glasgow  Kirstin Innes, Writer and Journalist in conversation with Zoe Strachan. Free on Zoom (When you register you will be sent link to attend the event online.) Kirstin Innes is an award-winning writer and […]

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Wild Women International Womens Day 2021

wild women magi gibson

Magi Gibson and Gerda Stevenson in Virtual Conversation Join poet Magi Gibson and fellow poet, playwright and actress Gerda Stevenson for this special ‘Wild Women’ event to mark International Women’s Day 2021 Inspired by IWD’s 2021 theme, #ChoosetoChallenge, Magi and Gerda will be reading from a selection of their works, as well as discussing what inspires […]

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International Women’s Day – Virtual Book Club

invisible women

8 March, 2021 6 p.m. We are glad to invite you to our first virtual book club for International Women’s Day. Caroline Criado Perez’ Invisible Women We will be discussion Parts II and IV (‘The Workplace’ and ‘Going to the Doctor’) of Caroline Criado Perez’s bestseller ‘Invisible Women’. Free Online Event Register for Event Join […]

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Balloch Open Mic – Interview with Billy Scobie

song of the river

People often have a strong connection with and a passion for one particular place. Some spend their whole lives in such a place and never feel the need to go elsewhere.  In my opinion such a man is Billy Scobie, as his poems reveal and confirm. Some time ago I interviewed Billy via email and […]

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Book Launch – Peter May: The Night Gate

Thursday, 18 March 2021 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. Online Event by Wee Three Indies, The Edinburgh Bookshop and 2 others Free Tickets £5-£20 Get Your Tickets From: Edinburgh Book Shop Madding Crowd Linlithgow Atkinson-Pryce At EventBrite Ticket holders will receive the event link the day before. (Note: Early pre-orders for the book from one of the […]

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CLIC Sargent – World Book Day Fundraiser

Young Lives Against Cancer Fundraiser Get Into Good Books this World Book Day! All this week (Until 7 March, 2021) more than 60 well-known authors are offering YOU the chance to win exclusive prizes to raise money for young lives against cancer. With CLIC’s Good Books auction you could name a character in a book, […]

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The Knitting Station by Kirsti Wishart – book launch

Friday 5 March, 2021 6 p.m. Event by Rymour Books Free Online Event BOOK LAUNCH – March 5 2021 @6:00 pm. Rymour Books invites you to the launch of The Knitting Station, a very Scottish saga of counter espionage, knitting, sheep and the debut novel of writer, Kirsti Wishart. Join the Event The Zoom link […]

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Creative Conversations Don Paterson

1 March, 2021 1 p.m. Creative Conversations at University of Glasgow Zoom Event Register at EventBrite You will be sent the link to attend the meeting. Don Paterson is Professor of Poetry at the University of St Andrews, and since 1996 has been poetry editor at Picador MacMillan. He is the author of seven books […]

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How Poets See The World – Paisley Book Festival 2021 review by Pat Byrne

brian whittingham paisley

Paisley Book Festival At Home With poets and writers: Brian Whittingham, Basia Palka, Sean McMenemy, Jim Ferguson and Kay Metcalfe It was lovely to sit down with a coffee in my living room and catch this Paisley Book Festival event on YouTube.  Brian Whittingham introduced the event by telling us that : ‘a poet’s job […]

Read the full article: How Poets See The World – Paisley Book Festival 2021 review by Pat Byrne

Andrew Painting & Jim Crumley: #Wee Nature Fest

wee nature fest

FRIDAY, 26 MARCH 2021 AT 19:00 UTC Andrew Painting is involved in the largest rewilding project in Scotland at the Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms. In the second of our #WeeNatureFest events, he’ll be discussing the work being done there and the stunning new book, Regeneration: The Rescue of a Wild Land with author and […]

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Rymour Books: Cultivating the Literary Arts

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RYMOUR BOOKS  – is an independent Scottish publisher founded in 2020 by Ian Spring and Ruby McCann. They have a team of writers and editors dedicated to cultivating the literary arts in all its forms and genres. They are committed to discovering and publishing new work. [February, 2021: Rymour Books is one of seven Scottish […]

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Pat's Home Page Blog

International Mother Language Day 21 February 2021

Four Exciting Events INTERNATIONAL MOTHER LANGUAGE DAY was established by the UN General Assembly in 2002 to “promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world” Featuring wonderful guest speakers, musicians, poets and performers Session 1 – Bhasha Andolon (Bangla Language Movement) Dr Moniruzzaman, Ahmed Rafiq, Mafizur Rahman Laltu, and […]

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Glesga Banter: Celebration of Weegie Culture

glesga banter

Thursday, 25 February, 2021 at 6 p.m. Online Event by Bhasha Glasgow Language Festival and Thriving Places Govanhill Free Sign up for event An hour of wee stories, poetry, and song Hosted by Marion Nisbet a community councillor in Govanhill, an antiracist, antipoverty feminist who enjoys growing food, community and resistance. Marion will be joined by her […]

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glesga banter

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