Celebrating Robert Tannahill’s 250th Anniversary
Monday, 3 June, 2024
An Evening of Song and Verse
Free event
Paisley Central Library, 22 High St, Paisley PA1 2BS

Shaun Moore Tannahill Makr
The first OneRen event takes place on 3 June with an evening of song and verse at the stunning new Paisley Central Library. Celebrating the life and works of Robert Tannahill on his 250th birthday. The free event will include a brand new poem from the Tannahill Makar, Shaun Moore, plus live musical interludes, a Q&A session with members of the Tannahill McDonald Club and guest speakers.
This event is completely free to attend, however, pre-booked tickets are necessary.
Tuesday, 4 June, 2024
Paisley Central Library, 22 High St, Paisley PA1 2BS
On 4 June, Paisley Central Library will host the Paisley Weaver Poet Robert Tannahill Lecture with Professor Fred Freeman. This is the first of four lectures planned by the library. This talk explores Robert Tannahill’s radical people’s tradition in relation to multiculturalism in Scotland and the poet’s unique body of anti-sectarian, abolitionist and anti-war songs and poems. Musical illustrations will feature throughout the talk.

Robert Tannahill
A dedicated display to Tannahill’s legacy is also being planned for the Paisley Museum once it has gone through its £45 million refurbishment.
Professor Gerard Carruthers FRSE said: “Robert Tannahill is one of Scotland’s greatest songwriters.
“Inspired by Burns certainly, he is a great lyricist of nature in his own right during the early nineteenth century Romantic period, and his lyrics and tunes resound around the world down to the present day.
“There is so much more still to discover and present too about the Paisley poets and songwriters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,” he added.
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