“I’ll ha’e nae hauf-way hoose, but aye be whaur / Extremes meet …”
Hugh MacDiarmid
The School of Night – inspired by the group which included Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh – is our Year Round Poetry Festival. Curated with the help of Don Paterson and playing host to poets as varied as Paul Muldoon and Lorraine Mariner, Simon Armitage and Annie Freud it is anchored to a regular fixture on the last Tuesday of the month. The School of Night offers the chance to explore and discuss the work of some of the best poets on the contemporary scene, and with 3 of shortlisted poets for 2015’s T S Eliot Prize having visited last year, it really is the place to find the best and the brightest the poetry scene has to offer!
Our June School of Night will be exploring the ‘soul of Scotland’ through her poetry. A perfect primer for summer poetry highlights including Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead, we’ll be tackling many facets of the nation’s culture. Leading the charge are the Hon President of StAnza Poetry Festival, Brian Johnstone, and poet Andy Jackson, the editors behind Scotia Extremis; Poems from the extremes of Scotland’s psyche.
With poetic themes ranging from the vibrant Scottish music scene to Ceilidhs, from bustling Edinburgh markets to Charles Rennie Mackintosh; join us for what promises to be an exciting evening in celebration of the nations culture from Brian, Andy, Lindsay MacGregor and Paula Jennings.