Mongrel: Donna Campbell debut poetry collection
‘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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Monday, April 12, 2021 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, New Books by Scottish Writers, Zoom and online events
Francesca Baird: Blogging about Autism: Work and My Fantasy World
The following is a short extract from my book: Label Me: My Journey Towards an Autism Diagnosis Autism and Relationships: Chapter 5. A Fantasy World. My first actual conversation with the security guard I fancied occurred when I was standing behind the desk in the shop, counting the day’s takings. I looked up and…oh my […]
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Sunday, April 4, 2021 | Filed under: Label Me: Francesca Baird blogging about autism, Writing
Francesca Baird: Blogging about Autism. Autism and Work (2)
My second job – Autism: Dealing with Social and Communication Difficulties (Autism in females is not well understood: possibly because autistic traits manifest themselves differently in girls than they do in males and girls are better as masking their autistic traits. Therefore, it is of no surprise that many females go through their entire lives […]
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Sunday, March 7, 2021 | Filed under: Label Me: Francesca Baird blogging about autism, Writing
How Poets See The World – Paisley Book Festival 2021 review by Pat Byrne
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 […]
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Friday, February 26, 2021 | Filed under: Book and Event Reviews, Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Events, Fairs, Festivals and Fundraisers
Weird Pleasure by Jim Ferguson review of the launch by Pat Byrne
I think it’s fair to say that most book launches, particularly on zoom, no matter how engrossing, can be fairly staid affairs. Not so the launch of Jim Ferguson’s ‘Weird Pleasure’ – this was a raucous, irreverent and highly entertaining event. There was much praise for Jim’s impressive new poems and Louise Malone’s art work […]
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 | Filed under: Book and Event Reviews, Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events
Book Launch: The Stone in My Pocket by Matthew Keeley
Launch on YouTube Sunday 28th February 4pm Join the book launch on You Tube The Stone in My Pocket ‘Powerfully evokes all of the emotions you want when you read a good novel.’ – The Independent A poignant coming-of-age story following a teenage journey into mediumship, independence, 90s pop culture, and a new millennium. The […]
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Sunday, February 14, 2021 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, New Books by Scottish Writers, Zoom and online events
Multi-talented and Versatile – Laura Turnbull Fyfe
Laura jokes that she has a low boredom threshold. Ten years ago, she went part-time as a teacher and since then has honed plate-spinning to a fine art. A mother to five-year old Riley, she also fits in part-time teaching, facilitation of writing communities and leads writing workshops – all around writing her own novels and poetry. […]
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Friday, February 12, 2021 | Filed under: Blog: Balloch Open Mic, Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Writing
Louise Welsh: Glasgow Writer
Louise Welsh Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow An Evening with Louise Welsh at Waterstones: The Second Cut review by Pat Byrne Louise Welsh and Zoe Strachan – a very quiet street – Woodlands Community 19 and 20 September, 2020 Louise Welsh will host Creative Conversations Scottish Writers Showcase Online Event Monday […]
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Wolf – Review
Review By Lola Rose The rise of the pandemic has forcibly restricted my being able to travel on my gap year before starting University in September, 2021. I’ve been lacking in motivation to read or write and so I decided that it would be beneficial and make use of my time at home by completing […]
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Friday, January 29, 2021 | Filed under: Book and Event Reviews, Lola Rose: aspiring writer, Writing
This is not the time to be the bad Angel by Jim Byrne
This is not a poem – it is just some Sunday ruminations that might become a song lyric. This is not the time to be the bad Angel this is not the time to be the bad Angel to break the rules to celebrate the dark side of life to cut off the kind and […]
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Sunday, January 10, 2021 | Filed under: Coronavirus, Coronavirus stories and poems, Pat's Home Page Blog, Poetry, Writing
Poetry by Hafsah Bashir
Hafsah Bashir – Author, Poet and Social Counsellor Rain in NewYork It rains in NewYork and all I crave is the scent of soil I hold the dirt and smell fruit and fortune rich and fertile it is corporeal in texture earthly in odor doesn’t smell like soil ships me aback to the dirt, I […]
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Thursday, January 7, 2021 | Filed under: Poetry, stories and poems
Mary Irvine’s Blog: The Eve of Destruction – again?
I care about my planet, Earth. I worry about its future. The majority of people would admit that Man is destroying the Earth and, ultimately, Mankind. In respect of the latter probably no bad thing. Perhaps Man has a built-in defect – a self-destruct button. So let him do it. Start again. The problem is […]
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Tuesday, December 29, 2020 | Filed under: Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene, Writing for the Festive Season
I Was A Child Of The Thirties – Christina Byrne
Christina Byrne – Essay on Growing Up in Clydebank I was a child of the thirties I was a child of the thirties and forties, growing up with rationing and war-time shortages, and one item that was in very short supply was money. My father had an allotment where he grew soft fruit and vegetables […]
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Thursday, December 17, 2020 | Filed under: Christina Byrne, Writing
Tak Tent (Take Care) Christmas video – Janet Crawford
‘A wee Christmas wish…take care and all the best for 2021’ Janet Crawford Janet Crawford is a Falkirk based writer. ‘I write about the stuff I see, the issues that get to me and those which make my heart soar.’ Janet Crawford on Twitter
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Thursday, December 10, 2020 | Filed under: Christmas in Glasgow, Christmas Poems , Stories and Winter Tales, Seasonal Stories and Poems by Glasgow Writers, stories and poems, Writing, Writing for the Festive Season
Ice on Loch Lomond a poem by Catriona Malan
(Photograph by Mike Taylor) That was the winter the loch froze over stealing reflections from the hills, and laying its pale shawl on their shoulders. Islands, feeling they were trapped, huddled sullen in the cold as the wind shaved the bracken of their skin. But the postman skated that squeaking plain sensing, beneath his blades, […]
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Mary Irvine’s Blog: A Year to Remember – or forget..
As 2020 is rapidly coming to a close I decided to take stock of what I’ve actually done during the year. It Started Well The year started well. An earlier blog described my visit to friends down south, with trips to two London exhibitions and meeting up with Greek ex-students. My diary was filling up […]
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Friday, December 4, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene, Pat's Home Page Blog, Writing
Ruby saves the day by Gillian Mayes
Ruby is a young woman who lives at home with her mother, father and little brother. She lives in a part of Glasgow called Giffnock, where there are nice houses with big gardens so that everybody there feels very lucky. Most of her days are straightforward – the odd calamity happens of course, like losing […]
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Thursday, December 3, 2020 | Filed under: Christmas Poems , Stories and Winter Tales, Writing for the Festive Season
Book Launch: Weird Pleasure by Jim Ferguson
On Zoom Friday 11 December, 2020 at 6 p.m. Dr Ferguson will read a selection of poems from his new collection and possibly answer a question or two about his work. (Leamington Book Publishers) Join Zoom Meeting See Event on Facebook for Meeting ID and Password Podbean: Jim and Pat’s West End Chat: Jim Ferguson […]
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Wednesday, December 2, 2020 | Filed under: Book and Event Reviews, Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, New Books by Scottish Writers, Zoom and online events
Reunion – a poem by Rizwan Akhtar
Reunion And was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer. Al Quran cows moo a big bloke honks their lazy mounds of bodies school boys tear sugar canes under a rusty pump a bearded man performs ablution like that heroine of Punjabi romance clanking bangles eyes crammed with mascara a village girl skips […]
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Saturday, November 21, 2020 | Filed under: Rizwan Akhtar – Poet, stories and poems, Writing
Mary Irvine’s Blog: Something for Hallowe’en
Witch Hunting in Scotland Scotland was one of the countries in Europe where a lot of witch hunting took place. There were five national large scale witch hunts in Scotland between 1590 and 1662. Most of these were concentrated in the East Coast and the Borders, but there were also cases in the West. Not […]
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Tuesday, October 27, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Hallowe'en in Glasgow, Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene, Writing
Deep Dive Workshops Stay at Home Literary Festival
Tuesday 13 October, 2020, 6 p.m. Zoom Event- Stay At Home Literary Festival Elizabeth Reeder shares with you the complex nature surrounding the conception, execution, and most importantly the process of her decision-making in her writing projects. About the Event As a writer, Dr. Elizabeth K. Reeder has a total addiction to creating unspoken, embedded […]
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Wash a poem by Nina Quigley
WASH When I go downstairs you’re standing at the sink wrestling an unruly yellow plastic basin that keeps bobbing up, sticking it’s face over the neatly dumped, sausage-like, foetus-like twists of wrung-out clothes on the stainless steel draining board that are crowding out the blue china willow pattern mugs tilted, hugging the rim and the […]
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Thursday, September 17, 2020 | Filed under: stories and poems, Writing
Poetry: Love’s Noise by Rizwan Akhtar
Love’s Noise The riveting sound of a grass aerator spills over the dark passage hypnotic after a chair squeaked through wind outside the man bent frantically levels the weeded patches some are too thick like moments cast by random reaching unaware that interceptions are natural a woodpecker knocked and afterwards the phone burred craving hands […]
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| Filed under: stories and poems, Writing
Glasgow Women’s Library Bold Types Writing Competition
Bold Types: Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition Be bold and submit your short stories and poems to Glasgow Women’s Library annual writing competition! Following Book Week Scotland theme – FUTURE . So, cast your mind into the future and e-mail your short stories and poems of up to 1000 words (either in a Word Document […]
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Thursday, August 27, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Writing
Govan’s Glories: Central Govan Walk Ian R. Mitchell
THE TALK In one of his biographies, Alex Ferguson expressed pride in his origins when he stated that “to call Govan a district of Glasgow was an insult.” Most Govanites would agree and the area is without doubt the one with the strongest sense of identity amongst the older working class districts of the city. […]
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Wednesday, July 22, 2020 | Filed under: Coronavirus, Ian Mitchell, Pat's Home Page Blog, Walks in Glasgow
Payback Claire MacLeary
When police are called to a murder scene at the home of Aberdeen socialite Annabel Imray, they are under pressure to get a conviction, and fast. The last thing they want is the distraction of a series of baffling break-ins. The victims, all of them women, are terrorised: just how did the intruder know so […]
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Saturday, July 18, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, New Books by Scottish Writers, Pat's Home Page Blog, People: Local Glasgow West End Characters, Podcast: JIm and Pat's West End Chat
Starchild: a memory of Adoption, Race and Family by Michaela Foster Marsh
“The story of Starchild is extraordinary in every way: heartbreaking, profound, personal, brave, hopeful and deeply inspiring.” — Helen Sedgwick, author of The Comet Seekers and The Growing Season Michaela Foster Marsh and her brother Frankie grew up as “twins” in Glasgow, Scotland in the sixties. Born only weeks apart, Michaela was white and Frankie was black, and […]
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Sunday, July 5, 2020 | Filed under: New Books by Scottish Writers, Starchild, Writing
Murder at the Mela by Leela Soma
Available to Pre-Order from Ringwood Publishing Newly appointed as Glasgow’s first Asian DI, Alok Patel’s first assignment is the investigation of the brutal murder of Nadia, an Asian woman. Her body was discovered in the aftermath of the Mela festival in Kelvingrove Park. During the Mela, a small fight erupted between a BNP group and […]
Bloody Scotland 2020 – Debut Shortlist and McIlvanney Prize Longlist
Debut shortlist & McIlvanney Prize longlist 2020 announced! 23rd June, 2020 There will be no Bloody Scotland gathering in Stirling in September but the prizes must go on! The shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Book of the Year and the longlist for the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year […]
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Saturday, July 4, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Events, Fairs, Festivals and Fundraisers, New Books by Scottish Writers
Anna (Young Adults Book) by Laura Guthrie
Anna by Laura Guthrie (YA Paperback 13+) £8.99 Thirteen-year-old Anna has Asperger’s. When her father dies she moves to Scotland to face her reclusive mother, her past, and the challenges of a new life in this life-affirming debut ‘Anna is on the Scottish Book Trust’s ’30 novels to look out for in 2020’ and Books from Scotland’s ‘Who we’re […]
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Friday, June 26, 2020 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Kids and young people, New Books by Scottish Writers
