Come join us as we celebrate the publication of Weathershaker by Stewart Sanderson and Dwell Time by Taylor Strickland, two new poetry books from Tapsalteerie.

These are two of our favourite poets writing in Scotland at the moment, so we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome them along to The Alchemy Experiment to read from their brilliant new books. See you there!

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Weathershaker begins with meanings lost, recovered and imagined. Digging into the material and textual record through place names, fictional histories, translations and fragmentary texts, Sanderson’s second full-length collection speaks of the past from an unsteady present. In a small country of big winds and shifting light, where the weather itself is shaken by our actions as a species, these poems turn towards a contingent future while seeking meaning gone astray.

“In this playful, engaging collection, Sanderson displays his natural gift for bringing the life back into words and the words back into life. His poems seethe with a mischievous intelligence – whether it’s a poem generator, a handful of secrets from the God of Silence, or the nine mysterious definitions of the eponymous Weathershaker, he fuses skill, imagination and a ruthless intelligence into something quite unforgettable.” – John Glenday

Stewart Sanderson is a poet from Glasgow, who has published and performed widely in the UK and internationally. He is the author of the pamphlets Fios (2015) and An Offering (2018), as well as the book-length collection The Sleep Road (2021) – all published by Tapsalteerie. Three times shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, his work has also been recognised by accolades including an Eric Gregory Award and Robert Louis Stevenson and Jessie Kesson Fellowships.

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Dwell Time, the full-length debut collection from award-winning poet Taylor Strickland, begins from the idea that ‘dwelling’ requires both place and the experience of ‘being-in-the-world’. In taking us from the US to Scotland to Portugal, Strickland interrogates this central notion, along with ideas of non-place and environment, to explore our contemporary experience of love, language, technology, and spirituality. Ultimately these are poems that advocate for a world against isolation, one in which we go beyond our own witness to embrace another’s, and shrink the distance between us.

"Taylor Strickland’s Dwell Time is ardent and disarming. This is a deeply personal collection that is amazingly intellectually alive. The themes of heritage and transience, shared by many people today, speak to the heart, with the delicacy of almost-silences and birdsong. Yet I almost laughed aloud in admiration and delight at the sheer craft of Strickland’s tough, roiling music. You’ll not only follow these poems, but experience them. They transport the reader into the sensuous instants of a weave of experience, from the Neolithic to the contemporary." – Anthony Vahni Capildeo

Taylor Strickland is a poet and translator from the US. His book Dastram/Delirium was 2023 Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and a PBS Translation Choice. His work has featured in Poetry London, the TLS, New Statesman, and more. His poetry has been The Scotsman Poem of the Week, shortlisted for several prizes, and translated into Irish and Italian. ‘The Low Road’ was adapted by American composer, Andrew Kohn, and performed in Orkney. Nine Whales, Tiree, a filmpoem made with filmmaker Olivia Booker and composer Fee Blumenthaler, was selected for Bloomsday and Glasgow Cathedral festivals, among others. He lives in Glasgow, with his wife, Lauren, and daughter, Eimhir.