Melancholia by Nina Quigley

Nina Quigley is a poet, writer and visual artist who lives in Inishowen, Co. Donegal. Melancholia was published by Three Dancing Oaks Publishing in 2023. Here are a few poems from the collection that I particularly enjoyed: That Thing With Feathers A woman, with distance in her eyes, a porcelain reticence in her cheeks, heard […]
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Sunday, June 30, 2024 | Filed under: Pat's Home Page Blog, writers, Writing
Glasgow Writers: Willy Maley

Willy Maley, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow; literary critic, editor, lecturer and writer. Willy Maley – Celebration of his Career – 24 May, 2024 Calliberations: A Celebration of Willy Maley For a number of years I’ve been crossing paths with Willy Maley, not because I have a particular interest in literature from […]
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Sunday, May 12, 2024 | Filed under: writers
Glasgow Writers: Brian Hamill

R.I.P. Sadly Brian Hamill died in May, 2021 – only 39 years of age – so accomplished and so much to live for. In October, 2019, Brian set up The Common Breath ‘The aim was to provide an exciting new stream of fiction for readers to enjoy, publishing both classic and contemporary work, and to […]
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Tuesday, September 12, 2023 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, writers, Writing
Glasgow Writers: Pauline Lynch

Pauline is directing Secret Wrapped In Lead – The chilling debut production of Braw Clan, the new Scots language theatre company based in Clydesdale. 19 – 29 July, 2023. Glasgow Launch ‘Wildest of All’ Waterstones Sauchiehall Street 26 October, 2017 Pauline Lynch is an actor and writer. She began her professional life playing Lizzie in […]
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Sunday, June 25, 2023 | Filed under: Ten Writers Telling Lies, writers, Writing
The Carrbridge Rose – Brian Whittingham

A poem about love: THE CARRBRIDGE ROSE The Packhorse Bridge arches its back like a grey stone rainbow over the hard flowing river hurtling past banks of snowy ice. We explore chatting holding hands ever so slight as if young love though we are not. Our pasts ensure we tread warily. Not knowing where these […]
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Monday, February 14, 2022 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, Love Poems, Stories and Tales from Glasgow writers, stories and poems, Valentine's Day Glasgow 2016, Valentines Day Glasgow, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more, writers, Writing
Ruby McCann – Glasgow Writer

Ruby McCann is a Glasgow poet, writer, playwright, and creative writing tutor. Sadly Ruby passed away on Monday 7 February, 2022 in the Marie Curie Hospice in Glasgow. She retained her wonderful spirit and interest in others until the very end. Deepest condolences to Ruby’s family and her many, many friends. Ruby has won numerous […]
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Tuesday, February 8, 2022 | Filed under: Pat's Home Page Blog, writers, Writing
Springburn: Rome of the North – Ian R. Mitchell

A Castle in Springburn? Read on…….. Springburn – its History and Walk Born Balgrayhill Schooled Petershill Worked Keppochhill Married Springburnhill Sick Stobhill Domiciled Barnhill Rested Sighthill Springburn […]
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Monday, November 15, 2021 | Filed under: Ian Mitchell, Pat's Home Page Blog, Walks and Tours Glasgow
Graeme Macrae Burnet – Glasgow Writer

‘Case Study;’, longlisted for Booker Prize 2022 and shortlisted for Gordon Burn Prizeand Book of the Year in 2021 by The Spectator, The Scotsman and Waterstones Graeme will appear at ‘Meet the Author’ Byres Road Book Festival, 25 September, Hillhead Library. Graeme Macrae Burnet at Aye Write 2022 – 15 May 3 p.m. The Mitchell […]
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Monday, September 27, 2021 | Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, People: Local Glasgow West End Characters, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more, writers
Glasgow Writers: Ellen McAteer

Ellen McAteer will perform at Scottish Poetry Library Launch Poetry London 100th Edition. 29 October, 2021 Ellen McAteer’s new pamphlet Honesty Mirror will be launched by Red Squirrel Press on zoom at 7 p.m on 22nd June, 2021 Honesty Mirror | Ellen McAteer Ellen McAteer is General Manager of Poetry London and the founder of […]
Glasgow Writers: Tom Leonard

Sadly Tom Leonard died on 21 December, 2018. He was a wonderful poet and fascinating ‘citizen of the world’. PennSound Podcast: Tom Leonard in Glasgow 1978 Some Memories of Tom Leonard (1944 – 2018) – Richie McCaffery Tom Leonard – Glasgow Poet I admire Tom Leonard’s writing, his passion, his love of language and his […]
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Bernard MacLaverty: Glasgow Writer

Bernard MacLaverty, special guest at SCAP (Seahorse Creative Arts and Publications) Summer Festival, Saturday 26 August, 2023. Scottish Writers Over 70 Talking About Creativity in Later Life – part of Book Week Scotland in Association with Aye Write! Mitchell Theatre, Wednesday, 21 November, 2018 Bernard MacLaverty, Book Week Scotland, Kelvin Hall, 2 December, 2017 Bernard […]
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| Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, writers, Writing
Janet Paisley: Scottish Author, Poet and Playwright

Janet Paisley, R.I.P. 1948 – 9 November, 2018 Janet Paisley was a Scottish writer, poet, playwright, performer, publisher, editor, lecturer and teacher. Writing in Scots and English, for children and adults, her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She has written for radio, television and cinema. First published in 1979, […]
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Glasgow Writer: Samina Chaudry

Samina Chaudry was born in Manchester and then moved to Lahore as a child. After completing a Masters degree in English Literature from Punjab University she became a lecturer at Bahria College, Karachi. In 1999 she moved to Glasgow, where she worked part time for Breast Cancer Relief as well as Scottish Power. Recently she […]
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Saturday, June 12, 2021 | Filed under: writers
Glasgow Writers: Alistair Braidwood – Scots Whay Hae!

Alistair Braidwood, who runs the popular website and podcast Scots Whay Hae! has a passion for Scottish creativity including books, film and music. Little wonder the site is so popular as it includes a tremendous amount of fascinating features and reviews about Scottish arts events and artists. The podcasts are engrossing, reflecting not only Alistair’s […]
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Glasgow Writers: Theresa Talbot

Theresa Talbot is a Glaswegian author and freelance broadcaster/journalist – as Traffic and Travel on BBC Radio Scotland her voice is familiar to many. I met up with her at BBC, Pacific Quay just after her 2 p.m. radio stint and enjoyed chatting about her blossoming career as a writer. Theresa could not be more […]
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| Filed under: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, writers
Glasgow Writer: Stuart Cosgrove

Cassius Becoming Ali will show at GFT for Black History Month 2023 with Q & A Stuart Cosgrove, Monday 9 October. Cassius X: Becoming Ali at Glasgow Film Festival 2023 “I’m delighted that Cassius X will premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival. I can’t wait to be there to celebrate the film and the legacy […]
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Tuesday, June 1, 2021 | Filed under: writers
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 […]
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
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 and Tours Glasgow
A Walk in the Kilpatricks – poem by Christina Byrne

(Looking down from the Kilpatricks to the River Clyde – by Gary Mullen) A walk in the Kilpatricks Onward and upward, my weary boots trudge They said it was a gentle slope To me it seems a mountain Just don’t look up, keep walking Your mind intimidates You think you just can’t do it Then […]
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Monday, June 15, 2020 | Filed under: Christina Byrne, Coronavirus stories and poems
‘Where God put the West’ – travelling through the land of the Navajo Ian R Mitchell

Ian R Mitchell “Do you ever get tired of that view?” I asked, sitting in the cafe of the visitor centre. “How could I?” said the young Navajo waitress, “John Ford said Monument Valley was the place where God put the West. He was right.” She is from a nation living in an area roughly […]
Friday, June 5, 2020 | Filed under: Ian Mitchell
Ian R. Mitchell – Some Images From Glasgow’s Past

Photographs From Early 1980s – With Some History Finnieston Corruna St and St Vincent Crescent Now the hippest place in the UK according to some London papers but back them it was only beginning to recover from its lowest ebb as a multi-occupancy slum with a fair population of ladies of the night, criminals and […]
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Monday, May 18, 2020 | Filed under: Art, Photography, Exhibitions what's on-glasgow, Ian Mitchell, Pat's Home Page Blog
Let Glasgow Flourish: The Case for a Metropolitan City Boundary, Ian R. Mitchell

Over the last fifteen years or so there has been a marked improvement in the built fabric of Glasgow. Change, however, has been uneven. While some areas have been transformed almost beyond recognition, the increase in poverty over the past ten years means others have declined further into ghetto-isation and marginalisation.The reasons are obvious. The […]
Thursday, October 31, 2019 | Filed under: Ian Mitchell, Pat's Home Page Blog, Writing
Two poems by Finola Scott: ‘Garlic’ and ‘Rhubarb’

(Image: Olga Oginskaya) In the iron-dark shop piled with companions it’s functional mottled white on white waiting contained wrapped in disguise Beneath gauze veils folded in parchment it parcels itself cloaks taste holds secrets a cupped palm’s width of flavour home on my worktop it casts wing-thin skins & explodes Finola […]
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Thursday, May 16, 2019 | Filed under: stories and poems, Sweet or sharp summer stories and poems, writers
Glasgow Writer: Mary Irvine

Mary Irvine, is a writer who hails from Yorkshire but has made her home near Glasgow. She is involved in numerous projects writing short stories, collaborating in producing local history pamphlets about Dumbarton with the illustrator Anne Marshall. Mary also works tirelessly promoting other authors through the many literary events she initiates and organises. Her […]
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Tuesday, May 14, 2019 | Filed under: Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene, writers
Govanhill; no single-ends by Ian R. Mitchell

The Talk Govanhill is almost certainly the most intact area of working-class tenement housing left in Glasgow. Apart from on its north-eastern fringes, very few of the four storey blocks dating from the later nineteenth century have been demolished, and the grid-plan of the streets remains exactly as it was laid out over 100 years […]
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018 | Filed under: Ian Mitchell, Walks and Tours Glasgow
Tarnished Jewels, U.S.A.’s Public Lands Under Trump by Ian R. Mitchell

Ian R Mitchell, author of Encounters in the American Mountain West, examines the issues facing the USA’s public lands under Donald Trump’s presidency MANY PEOPLE, both in the United States and abroad, view the country’s National Parks as the jewel in its somewhat tarnished environmental crown. Travelling through the USA – especially in the staggeringly […]
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018 | Filed under: Ian Mitchell
Leela Soma: ‘Vermillion’ a poem for Autumn

‘Autumn’ in the broadest sense. It is how Indian widows had to undergo a ritual in olden days to give up all their ornaments, even the red dot on their forehead wear only white. Life stopped if their husbands passed away. Vermillion Leaves fall down, blown away in the autumnal blitz Gold strewn paths crunch and crackle underfoot A […]
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Sunday, August 26, 2018 | Filed under: Poems and Stories for Autumn, Poetry, stories and poems, writers
Denise Mina: Writer
Denise Mina is one of Scotland’s most talented writers and when you have finished one of her books you just can’t wait for the next. Thankfully they just keep coming and I am amazed at her productivity – a busy mother of young children and part of a large extended family – she has […]
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Wednesday, February 7, 2018 | Filed under: writers
Tags: Denise Mina, Denise Mina: Writer, writer
Glasgow’s West End: Ian R Mitchell: Writer and Mountaineer
Ian R Mitchell is a long-established author, who has published over 20 books which range from fiction, to historical and biographical works, and to mountaineering and travel books. About Ian Mitchell Photographs of Glasgow at The Mitchell Library – February, 2023 A selection from the images Ian Mitchell has taken of Glasgow over the last […]
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Thursday, November 2, 2017 | Filed under: writers