🎵 Mediaeval prayerbook on display The final Monday of September! But when this tune begins to play Inside your head, please do remember...

Wrote about putting together a short story collection for Scottish Book Trust, some top tips and things to think about! 👇✍️

LIBRARY VANS AND HIDDEN DOORS "Libraries are, of course, fantastic places to learn, to discover the world. But for me, personally, perhaps they are most exciting as places to hide." - Peter Mackay, Scotland's Makar, on a lifelong love of libraries www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/2025/09/libr...

For one day only, the Blackadder Prayerbook – made for Glasgow’s first archbishop, Robert Blackadder, c. late 1400s – will be on display as part of Glasgow’s 850th birthday celebrations & @natlibscot.bsky.social’s centenary 29 Sept, Glasgow Cathedral. Free #medievalsky www.nls.uk/whats-on/bla...

@michaelpedersen.bsky.social & Peter Mackay in conversation with Gemma Cairney about their work, their love of language, & the inspiration they draw from Scotland’s landscapes, contemporary culture & ways of living 28 Sept, Braemar. Tickets £10 www.tickettailor.com/events/thefi...

Yestreen I heard a birdie sing Inbye a bonnie beech tree hedge As if it didnae ken nor care Autumn wis hidin in the sedge… —Sheena Blackhall, “Autumn IX” via @byleaveswelive.bsky.social #poem #poetry www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/autumn-...

“... whatever our past failure, listen. / The geese sing still. Just listen.” ~ @taylor-strickland.bsky.social (2024) irishpages.org/product/vol-... @byleaveswelive.bsky.social @asls.org.uk

The Battle of Prestonpans was fought #OTD, 21 September 1745, & was a stunning victory for the (largely Highland) Jacobite army. The song “Johnnie Cope”, composed soon afterwards, exists in numerous versions & arrangements – including one by Beethoven – but it is originally a pipe tune #C18th 1/3

Gavin Douglas’s Aeneid, the first complete translation of any major classical work into an English-related language, through the years. The 1553 title-page is here represented by its facsimile in our 1710 printing, photographed also for picture 2.

“The goal with this type of literature is that spark of recognition” @theskinnymag.bsky.social speaks with Glasgow author Selali Fiamanya whose debut novel BEFORE WE HIT THE GROUND is a tender & wrenching account of immigrant family dynamics 💙📚 www.theskinny.co.uk/books/featur...

Call it not vain:—they do not err, Who say, that when the Poet dies, Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, And celebrates his obsequies… —from Canto V, “The Lay of the Last Minstrel” by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) – died #OTD, 21 September #romanticism #C19th www.theotherpages.org/poems/canto0...

SAVE THE DATE Sequential Scotland 2026 will be happening on Saturday August 8th! As with 2025 we will be going for Creative Scotland funding to make this possible. To stay up to date sign up to the mailing list at the website below. And keep your fingers crossed for us! sequentialscotland.co.uk

this exists it is called thinking

“Their novels interest me because of what I’m calling their domestic naturalism—an unrelenting, entirely matter-of-fact focus on the events of everyday life” —Prof Juliet Shields on the late #C19th / early #C20th novels of Jane & Mary Findlater #BookwormSat www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2015/04/the-...

And here's Lisa MacDonald, with an exquisitely well-judged reflection on the tricksiness of translation. taiwaninsight.org/2025/09/19/o...

Here's Elissa Hunter-Dorans, being brilliant about grandmothers, mothers, and mother tongues. taiwaninsight.org/2025/09/17/g...

Why translate from Taiwanese to Gaelic and back again? Here, @drhannahstevens.bsky.social and I try to give an answer on #Taiwan Insight. Do read the other essays in this special issue as well (from Elissa Hunter-Dorans and Lisa MacDonald, with the final one soon to land from Naomi Sím).

‘The Good Liar’ is about the perils of speaking the truth in a world full of cowards and liars. Or it’s just a big dumb mystery. You chose.

Hello. Very new here. Just finding my feet. Will post a few things once I get the hang of it! (In the meantime, nice to meet you all!)

Today, 20 September, is Batman Day. You’d think there would be a signal or something but #comics #Batman

So I stopped my walk, climbed the gate to help an old farmer cursing his deaf god bringing in the last of a poor harvest… —Jim Carruth, “Only Human” published in A Little Touch of Cliff in the Evening: New Writing Scotland 30 (ASL, 2012) #poem #poetry

Coming very soon now-a comprehensive single volume history of Scotland from brochs to Brexit with something for everyone from Old Street Publishing-with thanks to @willdalrymple.bsky.social for his assessment ! @sahavoice.bsky.social @broadcastscot.bsky.social @asls.org.uk @iassl.bsky.social

“If there is sich a thing as a Author, I’m his favourite chara’ter. He does me fathoms better’n he does you—fathoms, he does. And he likes doing me. He keeps me on deck mostly all the time, crutch and all” —Long John Silver sticks up for himself 🏴‍☠️🦜💙📚 #talklikeapirateday asls.org.uk/publications...

“Newton had a way of making everyone in the movie react to him like astonished children, agog at the snarling, bug-eyed, peg-legged creature in their midst” Today is #TalkLikeAPirateDay – but really it’s #TalkLikeRobertNewtonPlayingLongJohnSilverDay 🏴‍☠️🦜 www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/f...

On leaving you playfully punched my left shoulder. The sensation remains But your voice fades The sensation remains But your image fades I short of breath tremble I think you’ve cracked a rib. —“Gone but Not Forgotten”, by Maud Sulter (1960–2008) born #OTD, 19 Sep – a 🎂 🧵 #poem #poetry 1/9

Grandmother Islands: Oral Memory, Mother Tongues, and Literary Kinship between Taiwan and Scotland by Elissa Hunter-Dorans 👇

Learn about the 'History of Witchcraft in Edinburgh' with this walking tour. The tour can be accessed through the Witches website and the Curious Edinburgh app. #OER #History #Scotland #VisitEdinburgh #Witchcraft open.ed.ac.uk/history-of-w...

“Alcohol in the dust clouds. Goddamn stuff is everywhere… Humanoids are the galaxy’s way of trying to get rid of all that alcohol.” —Cheradenine Zakalwe gives his own take on the anthropic principle in USE OF WEAPONS, by Iain M. Banks (1990) #scifi #beer www.gravitywellbrewing.co.uk/collections/...

AC Collective presents The Makar’s Mark 25 Sept–1 Oct, Glasgow. Free. AC Collective is a group of artists based in & around Glasgow. Their third group exhibition presents artworks inspired by the poetry of Scotland’s former Makar, Liz Lochhead. www.accollectiveglasgow.com/makarsmark

Writing Scotland’s Future: Perspectives from Writers of Colour 15 Oct, Glasgow – free Talented writers from the Black & People Of Colour (BPOC) community will share their experiences & discuss how diverse literary voices are shaping Scotland’s cultural future www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-sc...

#WritingCommunity! Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct! Submit free via Submittable 👇 nws.submittable.com/submit

One Book. One Story, about the Book itself karenmcaulaymusicologist.blog/2025/09/18/o... Not really #BookHistory, but a nice wee anecdote!

La libertad es una cosa noble: Bruce and Wallace translated into Spanish 2 Oct @uofglasgow.bsky.social – free A talk by Fernando Toda of the @usaloficial.bsky.social exploring the translations of Barbour’s THE BRUS & Blind Hary’s THE WALLACE into Spanish www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/la-liberta...

Dandie Dinmont terriers are named after a character in Walter Scott’s GUY MANNERING. Scott was a committed dog-lover: his favourite, a Pyrenean Wolfdog/Highland Deerhound cross named Maida, has his own memorial at the entrance to Abbotsford #BookologyThursday www.countrylife.co.uk/out-and-abou...

Academia dot edu licensing agreement says it can use your likeness and voice and publications in any manner they want, world wide.

George Sutherland Fraser (1915–1980) “S.S. City of Benares” (Drowned refugee children, 1940) On 18 September, 1940, at one minute past midnight, the SS CITY OF BENARES was torpedoed in the Atlantic. Of 134 passengers, 90 were child refugees bound for Canada. Only 13 children survived. #poem #poetry

Edinburgh City of Literature is looking for new trustees! If you have an interest in Edinburgh’s literary past, present or future, and relevant skills you might be willing to share with us, then do consider applying. cityofliterature.com/trusteerecru...

"Why translate from Taiwanese to Gaelic and back again? What possible reason could there be to publish a book of translations between these two small languages? And what challenges are there in embarking on such an enterprise?"

Spent my early Saturday afternoon watching @jmacr.bsky.social’s incredible new play, Our Brother. It’s a compelling and enduring story of utopia, dystopia, violence and the character of human memory and story telling as the crimes of the 20th century fade from human memory.

I'll be hosting Ely Percy at Cumbernauld Library, where we'll talk about their Scottish classic Duck Feet. In preparation, I dug this iconic old jacket out of the wardrobe. Visit the link below for tickets... librariesnl.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spyd...

Poetry at the upcoming Wigtown Book Festival! Great assortment, variety and entertainment! Loud shirts! Come along! www.wigtownbookfestival.com/blog/poetic-...

Instead of embracing the use of AI to create art, we should encourage everyone to make art themselves. Then they won't miss out on the process of creating & the (mental) health benefits attached to that, nor the memory of having created something, the where, how, & why, etc. Irreplaceable. Human.

Cumaibh 14mh–16mh Iuchar 2026 airson Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig aig Oilthigh Ghlaschu. Gairm phàipearan & fiosrachadh clàraidh uile ri thighinn. Hold 14th–16th July 2026 for the Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig conference at the University of Glasgow. Call for Papers & Registration information all to follow.

The latest issue of Scottish Archives has now been published, featuring work from @mchapelproject.bsky.social @nicolemaceira.bsky.social @ksmcgregor.bsky.social and myself, among others. If anyone would like a PDF of my article, just send me a message! #bookhistory #scottishhistory #Archives

We have recently uploaded 300+ magazine issues from our Aberlour Children's Charity Archive for you to browse. You can read more about the items available and how to access them on our blog: archives.stir.ac.uk/2025/09/16/a... #ExploreYourArchive #CultureOnStirCampus #AberlourArchive

The latest issue of the Journal of Irish & Scottish Studies 12/1 (2025) is now available free online jiss.aberdeenunipress.org/issue/38/info/

A #poem for #NationalFoxDay! 🦊 #fox #poetry Ian Hamilton Finlay FOX see me wan time ah wis a fox an wis ah sleekit! ah gaed slinkin heh an snappin yeh the blokes aa sayed ah wis a GREAT fox aw nae kiddin ah wis pretty good had a whole damn wood in them days hen

“If the insect […] shall be successful, I will venture a seventh time to try my fortune in Scotland; but if the spider shall fail, I will go to the wars in Palestine, and never return to my native country more.” —A spider inspires Robert the Bruce to keep fighting against the English #WyrdWednesday

'With Carcanet I have the confidence to have creative conversations at the production level, which is one of the characteristics of working with small, independent presses.' Anthony Vahni Capildeo, in an interview for @gutter.bsky.social Read in full here: www.guttermag.co.uk/recent-writi...

@asls.org.uk how about a little repost of the cover for my new poetry book HIGH BALL TO THE WEE MAN - in which I measure out my life in Scotland World Cup campaigns - out on 1st Oct and available for preorder in the usual places now???