Poetry in the Persian Tent

fresh

FROM August 22nd to 26th there will be a series of poetry readings in the Persian Tent featuring leading and up-and-coming poets from Scotland and beyond.

Join M.C. Stephanie Green to retreat from the Festival for an hour and help raise money for a great charity.

On Wednesday 22nd the poets will be Liz Lochhead, poet, dramatist, former Poet Laureate of Glasgow and Scots Makar, John Glenday, multi-award winning author of collections Grain and Undark, Stephanie Green, poet, novelist, and playwright, and Ryan van Winkle, Reader in Residence at the Scottish Poetry Library, with music from John Sampson, a virtuoso on various wind instruments including the crumhorn who has worked with poets such as Steward Conn and Carol Anne Duffy.

Liz Lochhead will be back on Thursday 23rd, this time with Jackie Kay, MBE and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Newcastle, William Letford, roofer by day, poet by night, and Helen Mort, five-times winner of the Foyle Young Poets award and youngest ever poet in residence at the Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, with music from Shetland folk singer Lise Sinclair.

An fresh, all-women line up on Friday 24th with Vicki Feaver, Emeritus Professor at University College Chichester, Jane McKie, author of When the Sun Turns Green and owner of Knucker Press, and Patricia Ace, founder member of Lippy Bissoms, an all-women poetry collective. The music will be provided by Irene Railley's a capella group 'Just Voices'.

Saturday 25th brings an especially Scottish selection of poets: Aonghas MacNeacail, native of the Isle of Skye and bilingual poet, Niall Campbell, a new poet from South Uist, and Jim Caurruth of Kilbarchan, described as 'Scotland's leading rural poet'. Musical accompaniment from Patsy Seddon, Gaelic singer and clarsach player.

Finally, on Sunday 26th, there'll be one last reading with Steward Conn, described as 'one of Scotland's most skilled and wide-ranging poets', Eunice Buchanan, Scots language poet, and Mandy Haggith, writer and environmental activist based in the highlands. Carole Clarke will be singing a selection of light songs accompanied on the piano by George Wilson.

Money raised will go to Old MacDonald had a Farm for Africa, a project devised by Liz Lochhead and Jim Carruth to set up farms in Africa and provide 'clucking, mooing and baaing livestock'.

Across the five sessions there will be a diverse range of poets and poetry, all in the beautiful and cosy Persian Tent. Come along to hear some of the best of contemporary poetry in an unconventional setting and to raise money for a good cause.

Wednesday 22 to Saturday 26 August, 11am-12pm, in the Persian Tent at St John's (Venue 127). Buy tickets here or at the venue box office.