mastodon 4.7.2ASL is an educational charity, promoting the reading, writing, teaching and study of Scotland's literature and languages, past and present.
“…on one occasion the Highland Queen was berthed by the master and a boy, the rest of the crew being quite incapable…”
In this blog post, Donald Meek explores the origins of the terms, common to Scots & Gaelic: “steaming drunk” & “smùid”
https://meekwrite.blogspot.com/2013/04/maritime-and-linguistic-studies.html
#Scottish #literature #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #DoontheWatter #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #boozecruise
jack an jill
went up thi hull
“tay huv a wee refreshmint”
guess whut
—published in Tom Leonard’s INTIMATE VOICES 1965–1983 (Galloping Dog Press, 1984)
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #KeepTheHeid
20 July is World Chess Day! ♟️
Episode 2 of the Alasdair Gray Archive’s UNLIKELY OBJECTS MOSTLY looks at Alasdair Gray’s chessboard & the part #chess played in his practice, uncovering its role in the making of his Hillhead Subway mural & the novel POOR THINGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vbB7OeYkeo
#Scottish #literature #AlasdairGray #art #mural #visualart #chess #WorldChessDay
Argyll & Isles Online Heritage Cafe with Dr Alasdair Whyte
29 July, free online
The July online Heritage cafe will host Dr Alasdair Whyte, singer, writer & research fellow in Celtic & Gaelic at the University of Glasgow.
Dr Whyte will be speaking about the songs & music of Argyll & Bute, & how they can help us understand the history & heritage of this part of Scotland.
#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #song #folksong #music #history #musichistory #heritage
Belle Stewart (1906–1997) – singer, storyteller, tradition-bearer – was born #OTD, 18 July, in a bow tent on the banks of the Tay at Caputh, near Blairgowrie. She ranks alongside Jeannie Robertson in the roll of the finest Scots ballad-singers.
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A liuthad soitheach a dh’fhàg ar dùthaich
le sgiathan geala a’ toirt Chanada orra.
Tha iad mar neapaigearan ’nar cuimhne
’s an sàl mar dheoirean,
’s anns na croinn aca seòladairean a’ seinn
mar eòin air gheugan.
—Iain Mac a’ Ghobhainn, “Na h-Eilthirich” (Iain Crichton Smith, “The Exiles”)
published in Nua-Bhardachd Gaidhlig / Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems, @canongatebooks@bookish.community 1999
https://canongate.co.uk/books/193-modern-scottish-gaelic-poems-a-bilingual-anthology/
#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poem #poetry #Clearances #emigration #exile
Edinburgh Poetry Tours
Various dates in August, Edinburgh. Pay-what-you-can tickets, from £4.50
Poet Ken Cockburn presents, on & around the Royal Mile, an Edinburgh alive with literature. If you’re new to Edinburgh you’ll see some key sights, & if you know the city you’ll experience it afresh by slowing down & listening to the words of poets writing across the centuries.
New Open-Access ebook
Atlas of Scottish History to 1707
published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Almost 15 years in the making, the atlas contains maps, diagrams, plans, charts and tables covering the history of Scotland from the earliest times up to 1707, along with explanatory texts
https://books.socantscot.org/digital-books/catalog/book/25
#Scottish #history #IronAge #Roman #Picts #Scots #DálRiata #Vikings #Norse #AngloSaxon #earlymedieval #medieval #latemedieval #renaissance #earlymodern
In Conversation: Aslı Tohumcu with Kirsty Logan
28 May, Glasgow Women’s Library – free
Aslı Tohumcu & Kirsty Logan unpack the power of queer feminist folklore re-tellings. Drawing on their own writing, both writers will explore how traditional folklore, whether from Turkey or Scotland, can help us understand present-day complexities
https://womenslibrary.org.uk/event/in-conversation-asli-tohumcu-with-kirsty-logan/
#Scottish #Turkish #literature #folklore #queer #queerfiction #feminism #Scotland #Turkey
“A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings.”
Shipyard union leader James Reid was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1971. He gave his rectorial address #OTD, 28 April, 1972. The New York Times reprinted it, & called it the greatest political speech since the Gettysburg Address. Read it online at
https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_167194_smxx.pdf
#Scottish #literature #politics #alienation #politicalspeech #Glasgow #GlasgowUniversity #TradesUnions #workingclass #WorkingClassHistory
Laid-back in orbit, they found their minds.
They found their minds were very clean and clear.
Clear crystals in swarms outside were their fireflies and larks.
Larks they were in lift-off, swallows in soaring…
—Edwin Morgan, “A Home in Space”
from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)
#OTD, 20 July, 1969, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/
#Scottish #literature #MoonLanding #MoonLandingDay #poem #poetry #scifi #sciencefiction #scifipoem #spaceflight
The Long Drop
5–20 June, Citizens Theatre Glasgow
Equal parts psychological thriller & pitch-black comedy… a darkly stylish descent into the heart of a city – & the haunted minds of the men who shape it.
Adapted by Linda McLean from the novel by Denise Mina
https://citz.co.uk/whats-on/the-long-drop/
#Scottish #literature #drama #theatre #DeniseMina #crimefiction #thriller #Glasgow
She’s goat her legs oot –
her foldin plastic chair
oan the gress at Glesga Green –
an her airms an enough
creamy dimpled bosom
tae please Renoir…
—Sheila Templeton, “Glesga Fair”
published in Songs of Other Places: New Writing Scotland 32 (ASL, 2014)
The Glasgow Fair is a holiday dating back to the 12th century CE. Happy Fair Weekend to all the Glasgow Fairies!
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair
Come to Where I Am
11 Aug, Edinburgh. £15 / pay what you can
A special one-off new writing showcase presented by Paines Plough in association with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland
Three Scottish playwrights – Uma Nada-Rajah, Hannah Lavery, & Linda McLean – present monologues about the places & people that shape them
Gintinn is giùlan / Bearing and Begetting
A story in Gaelic & English written by Mairi Kidd & illustrated by Tom Morgan-Jones. Inspired by a poem in the National Library of Scotland’s collections attributed to Iseabail Ní Mheic Cailéin & preserved in the sixteenth‑century Book of the Dean of Lismore.
https://www.nls.uk/collections/stories/literature-and-poetry/bearing-and-begetting/
#Scottish #literature #shortstory #shortfiction #Gaidhlig #Gaelic
Environmental Scotland IV: Garry MacKenzie & Coinneach Maclean
A recording of the latest Environmental Scotland seminar on “Ben Dorain: A Conversation with a Mountain” (Garry MacKenzie) and “The Tourist Gaze on Gaelic Scotland” (Coinneach Maclean).
Facilitated by Monika Szuba (University of Gdańsk) and Petra Johana Poncarová (University of Glasgow / Charles University, Prague)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5xXbocNE60
#Scottish #literature #environment #environmentalism #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poetry
“Our Three-Voiced Country”: 20th-century cross-currents in Gaelic & other Scottish writing
26–28 June, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye
This conference will examine the shared influences & interconnections between Gaelic & other Scottish writing, from the Celtic Revival & the Scottish Renaissance to the beginnings of the new millennium
https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/co-labhairt-bhliadhnail-asl-2026/?lang=en
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #conference #Gaidhlig #Gaelic
Higher than the craw-stepped
gables of our institutes – chess-clubs,
fanciers, reels & Strathspeys –
the old kingdom of lum, with crowns agley…
—Kathleen Jamie, “The Republic of Fife”
first published in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (Bloodaxe, 1994)
Today, 9 May, is Europe Day
🏴 🇪🇺
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/selected-poems/9781509882953
Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature I: Holly Faith Nelson & Graham Morgan
15 May, free online
The Dis/ability & Scottish Studies Working Group has formed to encourage critical engagement with narratives of illness & dis/ability in Scottish literature & culture. This webinar series will balance 2 15-minute presentations with a lively discussion period
