Tom Leonard, In Process Masterclass Scottish Writers Centre, CCA, 12 September, 2017

‘In Process’ Masterclass with Tom Leonard
Tom Leonard first became known for his four phonetic poetry sequences published 1969-79, featuring uncompromised and exacting representation of working class speech in Glasgow and the west of Scotland. Following from Hamilton Finlay in Scotland and Carlos Williams in America this was the first time such language and its registers was presented by a poet for whom the spoken language was his own. The speakers were not “other”. He later referred to these sequences as being of “neither tribe nor nation but community and the music of its language pool.”
In the nearly fifty years since their writing he has published much poetry and prose, translated Chekhov and Brecht for the stage, written literary and political criticism, edited a reclaiming anthology of nineteenth century west of Scotland poetry, and published the standard biography of the west of Scotland poet James Thomson, author of “The City of Dreadful Night.” In the seventies he was involved in performative poetry using tape recorders, his own participation in and curating of the then Third Eye Centre’s Sound and Syntax festival of 1978 the subject of an interview recently taken for CCA archives. Performances from that festival can be seen in the CCA collection on Vimeo.
A few years ago Leonard used the occasion of a Scottish Writers Centre reading partly to explore philosophic themes in some of the work from which he read. This time he will again show some of his slide-poems, give a full reading, and explore some other aspects of the position of the language.
Further information about Tom Leonard
Tickets: £6/(£3) Concessions, Free for SWC Members
Tuesday 12th September 2017: CCA Club Room @7pm
CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts
350 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow, G2 3JD
This section: Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events, What's On Glasgow West End: cinema, clubs, theatre, music, events, festivals, community and more
Related Pages
- The Future is Now – Poetry Workshop with Tom Murray
- Take 2: Ernest and Celestine at GFT
- Collateral at GFT
- Hidden at GFT
- Miller’s Crossing plus Introduction
- Red Path at GFT
- Arlington Baths Club Gala 2025
- The Iron Burgh screening at The Deep End
- The Big Stupit Summer Ceilidh at Cottiers
- Glasgow Jazz Festival 2025
- WestFest – Kirklee Allotment Open Day 2025
- Joint Book Launch: Stephen Watt and Spencer Mason
- Tilka Documentary plus Q & A, Civic House Glasgow
- tell it slant at Locavore
- Take 2: Flow at GFT
- Children of Heaven at GFT
- Code Unknown at GFT
- The Insider at GFT
- Lollipop at GFT
- Refugee Festival Scotland 2025 – Milestones
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.