Tag Archives: writing

The New Coo

by bmcuser

This Thursday is National Poetry Day, which is the perfect excuse to delve into our collections of some of the lesser-known poetry of Ayrshire’s past. The theme for National Poetry Day is water, but given it is East Ayrshire Leisure’s Harvest Festival this weekend, we’re finding an enjoyable theme of cows in some of our local collections. For example, this little pamphlet printed in Beith in 1829 -

Copy of Old Hawkey or the properties of the cow, a poem

Our favourite poem of the week however, comes from John S. Gall of Stonebriggs, Cumnock, whose 1928 collection Muses behind the plough contains poems about the First World War and miners’ strikes as well as farming.

Copy of Muses behind the plough

The first poem ‘The New Coo’ contains the happy chorus:

“Breed a coo that can fill the pail;
Breed a coo that can tap the sale;
Breed a coo that can breed a male
          Worth seventeen hunner guineas.”
 

John S. Gall was a dairy farmer, champion ploughman, singer and fiddler. He was born at East Montgarswood Farm in the parish of Sorn in 1875. The foreword of his collection states that his poems “were often jotted down with his pipe-stem on the beam and stilts of his plough and transferred to paper by the fireside in the evenings when the day’s toil was over.” He died in 1966 age 91.

National Poetry Day is being celebrated at Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute with a special event by acclaimed poet Chris Powici, Thursday 3rd October (for more info, call ).

Writing Workshop with Rab Wilson

by bmcuser

Festivals, Fairs, Pageants and Parades

Acclaimed Ayrshire poet Rab Wilson will lead an intensive afternoon creative writing workshop on the theme of Festivals, Fairs, Pageants and Parades.  This workshop is part of our ‘Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ event, which was established last year to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the Kilmarnock Edition.

Saturday 3rd August, 1 – 4 pm (with a short break) at the Burns Monument Centre, Meeting Room.

Muirkirk Furnace Rd3

Image – Parade on Muirkirk’s Furnace Road, early 20th century.

Rab Wilson will use examples of local writing about fairs, festivals, pageants and parades, from the area’s past and present. Writers will be able to develop a piece of writing (poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction), read their work in a friendly environment, and receive constructive feedback from peers and the workshop leader. Writers should bring along a piece of writing to be developed, if possible on the theme of ‘Fairs, festivals, pageants and parades’ but this isn’t a necessity. Writing doesn’t have to be in Scots and Rab will be happy to receive pieces in advance of the workshop.

Tickets are £5 are can be booked by calling .

An Evening of Crime

by bmcuser

As part of Crime Writing Month, there is a very special Evening of Crime at the Dick Institute on Wednesday 19th June. Bestselling author Aline Templeton, creator of DI Marjory Fleming, will talk about her latest book Cradle to Grave.

See the poster below for more details (tickets only £2!!!).

crime-evening-email

Treasures Writing Workshop

by bmcuser

We’re proud to be the only Ayrshire venue for Scottish Book Trust’s Treasures writing workshops, a project to get people writing about the things they love the most. We’re delighted to have the highly acclaimed novelist Ewan Morrison (Tales from the Mall, Close Your Eyes) here for the workshop, on Saturday 15th June at 1.30 pm.

And it’s free! Contact Scottish Book Trust to book a place – 0131 524 0160 or .

treasures-workshop-email

A Sense of Belonging

by bmcuser

At this year’s Imprint Book Festival we have a very special event featuring William McIlvanney and Stewart Conn, in converstation with Scotland on Sunday‘s Stuart Kelly. They will be discussing and reading around the theme of ‘A Sense of Belonging’ - from the anthology A Sense of Belonging: Six Scottish Poets of the Seventies (Blackie, 1977) in which McIlvanney and Conn appeared alongside Douglas Dunn, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan. This little book is a major document of twentieth century Scottish poetry. That it features two writers with strong Ayrshire connections (both were taught at Kilmarnock Academy) means that it’s a treasured part of the area’s literary heritage.

 

The event is on 13th November, 8.30 pm – 9.30 pm. It’s preceded by an appearance by Janice Galloway, again in conversation with Stuart Kelly, discussing her award-winning memoir All Made Up (7 pm – 8 pm). For more information on the events go to Imprint Book Festival or call to book tickets.