Michael Mullen & Len Pennie: Sparkling Scottish Poetry

Two effervescent new voices in Scots poetry have burst onto the scene in recent years with joyous impact: Sunday Times bestseller Len Pennie and Edwin Morgan Award-winning Michael Mullen. Pennie’s Poyums Annaw and Mullen’s Goonie demonstrate the fun, versatility, and depth possible in contemporary Scots. Join us for a special event exploring two clever new collections and the rude health of the Scottish poetry scene. Chaired by Beth Cochrane.

Book Festival News

60 new events now available on demand 60 new events now available on demand
Tuesday 4 November

Enjoying this event? You can help us produce more like it.

Donate

Share

Watch more

Playing with Books: The Yellow Door by Kathleen Jamie Playing with Books: The Yellow Door by Kathleen Jamie In the fourth year of our celebrated co-productions with the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, we present theatrical and musical explorations of scenes from much-loved books, followed by a discussion with the author and creative teams. Kathleen Jamie thinks… Writing Wrongs: Voices from the Queer Arab Vanguard Writing Wrongs: Voices from the Queer Arab Vanguard Gender non-conforming and sexually diverse people are oppressed, persecuted and erased all over the world. The cultural concepts used to justify this — religious or secular, traditional or imported — are various, as are the histories that got us here. But… Interview - Bonnie Greer (2014) Interview - Bonnie Greer (2014) We caught up with the wonderful Bonnie Greer before her Book Festival event for a quick chat about the first volume of her memoirs, A Parallel Life. You can also see her hour-long event, filmed live at Edinburgh International Book Festival, here on our… Isabel Wilkerson: America’s Unspoken Caste System Isabel Wilkerson: America’s Unspoken Caste System As America seemingly implodes its way toward the 2020 election, pundits and political classes continue to try to understand how the Land of the Free has found itself in such disarray. And — as it has throughout Western democracies — the conversation… Graeme Armstrong, Jenni Fagan & Caleb Femi: Take Your Place  Graeme Armstrong, Jenni Fagan & Caleb Femi: Take Your Place  Since early 2020 our sense of home and our relationship to place has changed dramatically. Recurring lockdowns and ‘stay at home’ orders have seen people confined to their houses, flats and immediate local area. For some, discoveries of outdoor hidden… David Keenan: A Mausoleum for the Two of Us David Keenan: A Mausoleum for the Two of Us ‘Hallucinatory’ and ‘entirely exhilarating,’ David Keenan’s debut novel This Is Memorial Device was as popular with reviewers as it was with readers. Published in 2017, Keenan’s alternative history of life for the lost youth of Airdrie in the late 1970s… Chris Brookmyre: Thirty, and Counting Chris Brookmyre: Thirty, and Counting Chris Brookmyre’s offbeat brand of Scottish crime has been selling by the millions since his debut in 1996. He joins us now with his 30th novel, The Cracked Mirror, a deeply unusual detective caper that splices the tweedy with the hardboiled… Kayo Chingonyi: The Poetry of Existence Kayo Chingonyi: The Poetry of Existence If there is a disease that is responsible for the title of Kayo Chingonyi’s new poetry collection A Blood Condition, he never names it. Perhaps that’s because the London-based poet’s work is first and foremost about bloodlines – about the people and… Trevor Royle speaks with Magnus Linklater at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Trevor Royle speaks with Magnus Linklater at the Edinburgh International Book Festival While Scotland has been free of major military conflict since the 1940s, it could have been different had the Cold War escalated. In Facing the Bear, broadcaster, author and former associate editor of the Sunday Herald, Trevor Royle discusses how integral… The Front List: Alan Cumming & Forbes Masson in conversation with Jackie Kay The Front List: Alan Cumming & Forbes Masson in conversation with Jackie Kay One of Scotland’s most beloved comedy double acts of all time, Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson, are delving back into their comedy past, to present ‘Victor and Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium’, a riotous romp through their formative years treading the boards…