Join us for a spectacular launch event celebrating EmmaClaire Brightlyn's stunning debut pamphlet, supported by a cast of stellar poets including Makar of the Scottish Women's Football Association Poetry Society Donna Matthew, Scottish and World Poetry Slam Champion Biff Smith,  Scot's screiver Keeks Mc, and multi-disciplinary, multi-award-winning Loud Poets Slam Champion Spencer Mason. This will be a night like no other, join us!

Conversational and honest, The First Bit is an emotional reflection on early motherhood. Varying in form throughout, EmmaClaire steps into sleeplessness and frustration, and how matrescence changes her view of everything else in life. This collection is often funny, even in its struggle, and resonates with the relentlessness that comes with having a baby.

PLEASE NOTE: the £5 ticket price can be redeemed against a book purchase!

"Evocative and inventive, these poems play with format and voice to examine motherhood from all angles. Brightlyn's striking physicality onstage translates to a driving rhythm in the page: you can hear these poems as you read them, whether you've seen her perform them live or not. Fans of Hollie McNish, Maria Ferguson, and Harry Baker will find a new favourite in Brightlyn, and any new parent will hopefully find this pamphlet an empathetic friend." - Dr. Katie Ailes, Loud Poets

EmmaClaire Brightlyn (she/her) is a Performer, Director, and Action Designer, as well as being an award-winning Spoken Word Artist. In 2024, EmmaClaire was the Loud Poets Grand Slam Champion, and was the recipient of the 2026 Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. Her poem “unicorn” was short listed for the Glasgow Women’s Library Bold Types Competition. She has performed at the Edinburgh International Festival, The Belladrum Festival, and the Push the Boat Out International Poetry Festival. Her work often voices the churning experience of matrescence, and the joy and terror of living with a small girl shaped dragon. For more of EmmaClaire’s work, check out www.emmaclairebrightlyn.com .

Donna Matthew is a poet, performer, event producer and creative writing facilitator. She is current Lead Reader for Open Book in Paisley and her debut pamphlet, Remembering Myself, was published by Seahorse Publications in 2024.

Biff Smith is singer-songwriter with the Glasgow band A New International. He began writing and performing poetry as he was attracted  by the idea of not having to carry a guitar. In 2025, he won both the Scottish and World Poetry Slam Championships and has been shortlisted for the 2026 Forward Prize for Poetry. His debut pamphlet, dance with the silence, is out with Stewed Rhubarb Press, and he will be presented as an upcoming, feature length, spoken word theatre show. Biff’s specialist subjects include joy, depression and existential dread. He enjoys fine wines and likes a good belly laugh.

Keeks Mc, a poet and performer from Glasgow, showcases the Scots language as it is and always should be - a bold, descriptive, colourful and musical way of expressing the realities of life, glorious to rough. Keeks is a voice of strength and solidarity in tumultuous times and has gained wide acclaim both for her use of Scots and candid approach. Her new collection, That Jaud, published by Drunk Muse Press launches in Autumn 2026.

Spencer Mason is a multi-disciplinary storyteller based in Glasgow’s East End and current chair of City of Poets. They followed graduating their MA in Creative Writing with the publication of 3 poetry chapbooks in 12 months - Times I Thought Silence Could Save Me (Dreich), Khartic, The Graverobber (Seahorse), and The Hundred Headed Song (SP Square). Winner of the Rosamund Prize in 2023, the Sheila Templeton Bursary 2026 and UK Magnetics Society Prize 2024, they are a multi-slam winner and frequent user of form. Their debut album the fox and the butterfly was also nominated for the Wordplay and Flow Best Musical Spoken Word Project 2023. Their poetry has been internationally anthologised, and have published short stories to obscure acclaim.