PIG UPDATE #7
11th of May 2025
May is my favourite month. I love the lush green of nature and that sense of growth and energy in the air. To match this spirit, the PIG update is jam-packed with poetry events. We have a total of 21 events over a period of 14 days. Pretty impressive, no? Have a look.
This week's artwork is by Glasgow-based designer Chloé Brittany. You can find her on Behance.
Events (12 to 25 May 2025)
On Monday (12 May), Poet's Corner Open Mic at Hillhead Bookclub is here to ease you into another week of poetry. This week's theme is ouroboros, the symbol of eternal cyclic renewal. Feel inspired? The fun starts at 8pm and you can sign up for a reading slot then and there.
Tuesday (13 May) is offering a whole spread of poetry. As usual, Rosie J Hunter invites you to join them at the weekly Sleazy Speakeasy Open Mic at Nice'n'Sleazy on Sauchiehall. Alternatively, head to Inn Deep on Great Western Road for their monthly Open Mic. Or, if you are in the mood for something slightly different, how about attending the launch event for the latest issue of Palimpsest. The Scotland-based arts magazine is presenting a line-up of performances and readings at the Alchemy Experiment on Byres Road.
More outstanding poetry is on offer at the Good Press in Merchant City on Wednesday, 14 May. The event will feature the Copenhagen-based writer Steven Zultanski, Michael Nardone, who came all the way from Montreal and Glasgow's own Maria Sledmere. Each will read from their new collections. The same night and just a few streets away, the monthly Flourish Open Mic at McChuills Bar is on as well. Also happening on Wednesday is the monthly Crisp Packet Open Mic at Third Eye Bar at the CCA.
Discover Poetry, the monthly online poetry reading group hosted by Polly Atkin for Wordsworth Grasmere is back on Thursday, 15 May. Each session focuses on a selection of classic and contemporary poems and invites you to share your own thoughts and ideas.
On Friday (16 May), your favourite afternoon garden reading is back with another fabulous line-up. Join the Bulb! team at the UofG garden at Lilybank to hear work by Louise Welsh, Callum McSorley, David Ross Linklater and Leilani Taneus-Miller. In the evening, you might want to pop over to Category Is Books on the Southside. Red Lady Ego is throwing a poetry launch party. There will be readings by Isaac Harris, Maya Uppal and Sean Wai Keung.
If you missed them at Category Is Books, you have another chance to hear Maya Uppal perform on Saturday (17 May). Hot Towel community party are taking over the Ivory Hotel on the Southside with a fresh mix of delicious food, live poetry, party visuals and great music. Advance tickets are £8. Not your cup of tea? No worries - there's more! The artist collective Q Canvas are presenting their work at New Glasgow Society on Argyle Street over the weekend. As part of the exhibition programme, the team are also organising an afternoon writing workshop facilitated by AJ Reynolds and Eliza Coulson, and an Open Mic night.
In the mood for a relaxed Sunday afternoon poetry reading? Scowth is back on Sunday, 18 May and it's an anniversary edition! There will be special readings by Nazaret Ranea and Hadley-James Hoyles as well as the usual open mic slots. Starts at 2pm at The Mansion in Anniesland. And just when you thought that's that for the week, I have one more: AFK#3: the new reading series by Spam Mag is offering readings by Heather Rankin, Sam Rodilosso and Tim Tim Cheng, plus an extra special transatlantic visit from Peter Gizzi. The fun starts at 7pm at the Doublet.
It's the third Monday of the month on 19 May and that can only mean one thing: it's Curler's Cosy Corner night! Head to Curler's Rest on Byres Road for the monthly open mic hosted by Ross Wilcock. Or, if you like, join the team at Hillhead Bookclub for their weekly Open Mic.
Your chance to read your poetry with backing by the Nice'n'Sleazy house band is on Tuesday (20 May). Sleazy Speakeasy starts at 8:30pm.
Time for One Poem returns to Sweeney's on the Southside on Wednesday (21 May). Regular readers will know the drill: sign-up for your own 5-minute slot from 7pm, bring a pal, make new friends. First-timers are particularly encouraged.
On Thursday, 22 May, you can attend the online book launch of the international anthology '100 Poems by Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent Poets' via YouTube. The volume's editor Rachel Boast will be joined live by Karthika Naïr (India/France), Chisom Okafor (Nigeria) and Daniel Sluman (UK) with other poets' work appearing via film clips.
Bulb! spoken word in the garden are back on Friday (23 May) with a special evening open mic. Make sure to check the Bulb Instagram for details closer to the date.
Opportunities
Today's pick from among the long list of opportunities currently on the PIG website:
The international non-profit publication Planted is currently open for submissions around the topic of 'reverence'. The team is looking for texts that celebrate nature and humanity as one, sharing reverence for both the internal and external worlds. The deadline is 31 May.
Also, open for submissions until 31 May is the US-based literary magazine A Public Space Books. There is no special theme for this submission window, so make sure to check the magazine website to see if your work fits their vibe.
Something slightly different is on offer for writers interested in zine making: Grrrl Zine Fair has launched a call for a paid residency to take place in July 2025. The programme invites artists and writers to spent time at the Grrrl Zine Fair Library in Southend-on-sea to develop their own ideas and plans for a new zine. The application deadline is 22 May.
The American literary journal Rejected Lit Magazine are also currently open for submissions. You have until 11 June to get your poems in. The magazine is particularly keen on visceral, unique, surprising, and experimental writing - but responses may be slow (up to 8 months), so bear that in mind.
Under the headline 'Between Queer Teeth', the arts and lit mag t'ART Press is putting together an anthology of poetry, fiction and non-fiction. Submissions are open until 12 June.
On the PIG website, you'll also currently find quite a few opportunities from publishers who are now accepting submissions for full collections or pamphlets, so do check the Opportunities page if you are at that stage in your work.
PIG Spotlight
This section is designed to shine a spotlight on a particular website, organisation or feature. For each Update, I'll pick something new - either because it is plain awesome or because it's new or really topical.
My pick today is officially filed under the headline 'art installation' (rather than poetry) - but I personally find it very poetic. I always love to see these types of borderline cases where art becomes poetry and poetry escapes the confines of the page. The work is called 24 Things to Tell You and it is a one-off 24 hour durational artwork which took place on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow on 11 April. The artwork was developed by Craig McCorquodale and Molly Jack as part of their six-month residency within the Sauchiehall Street Culture and Heritage District plan. Most of the artistic interventions were one-offs. But you can see a lovely documentation of the text-based work in different contexts along the street via the People Make Glasgow Instagram. Check out there four posts with multiple pictures: post #1, post #2, post #3 and post #4.
PIG's Poetry Pick
Today's pick is from the Glaswegian poet Sharon Black. It was part of last year's National Poetry Library’s 70-Poet Challenge.
Lichen
By Sharon Black
liken it to liquor
fire across a headstone
blinking coarsely a shore of sand
or an arrow licking the flesh
Consider its flight its sure progression
over towns and fields its spread
along the river’s bend
pinning land in place
Let’s say it is provost of the cemetery’s dead
all those sleeping souls
a crust read from a high point
a sacred scroll one hundred thousand
miles in length unravelling
Via the National Poetry Library.
That's it from me today. See you in two weeks!
Love,
Annie