PIG UPDATE #22

7th of December 2025

The festive period is rapidly approaching and much of the world is taking a well-deserved holiday. The same goes for the PIG editor. With little to report on once the holidays start to roll around anyway, Annie will be taking a little break over Christmas and New Year's. But don't worry - she will be back to help you make 2026 the most poetic year yet. So expect the next PIG Update in your inbox on 4th January.

Events (8 to 21 December 2025)

The week kicks off on Monday, 8 December with Poetry at Inn Deep. The team behind the long-running open mic night have fallen into a biweekly rhythm, so there's plenty of opportunity to showcase your craft. Be there are at 7:30pm and message the organisers to secure your 5 minute slot ahead of time. A special online writing workshop focusing on multilingual poetry is available the same evening via The Poetry Foundation. Bilingual Latinx poet Leo Boix will run an interactive session on the playful, revolutionary, and experimental possibilities of writing across languages. Sounds exciting? Tickets are £27 for the 2-hour session - unless, of course, you are a member, then it's only £17.

You can cosy up at home on Tuesday (9 December) and let the poetry come to you. The Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) is organising an online book launch event to celebrate recent publications by some of its members including Mohammed Salihu with his poetry collection Voices from the Soil: Wounds and Wisdom. If you find yourself with a spare morning, you may also consider the online writing workshop by Karen McCarthy Woolf all about 'Writing Vital Nature Poems'. Karen will explore some of today’s urgent and inspirational poems engaging with the natural world by Black, Asian and global-majority poets in the UK.

There is loads of poetry to pick from on Wednesday, 10 December. The long-awaited SpeakEasy SlamEasy takes over Adrian's Bar on the Southside. Come along to witness the epic battle for the inaugural title of the SlamEasy champion with additional performances by Drew Gill and Jack Hinks. The monthly Open Mic at Glasgow Zine Library is on the same evening, as is the weekly Poet's Corner open mic at Hillhead Bookclub off Byres Road.

On Thursday, 11 December, Creative Corner at Strathclyde uni is back with their new writing group for students from all of Glasgow's unis. You can also chose to get creative with a year-end online writing workshop with the poet, essayist, and editor Romalyn Ante. The session will be all about endings, beginnings, and the quiet transitions in between. Later the same evening, you are cordially invited to the last Mirrorball Showcase of the year. Glasgow's premier writer's collective is organising a night of readings featuring award-winning poet Clare Pollard, Taylor Strickland, Stewart Sanderson, Theresa Muñoz and Roger West. But that's not all. Meredith MacLeod Davidson is throwing a poetry party to celebrate the publication of their debut pamphlet. Alongside Meredith, there will be readings by Chris Timmins and Gentian Rhosa, DJ sets from Hot Towel and DJ Tsakrin and specially curated food to match the poetry! The celebrations start at 7pm at the Flying Duck.

More opportunities to get creative are coming your way on Sunday, 14 December. Ross Wilcock is presenting Writer's Corner: a relaxed afternoon of writing and creating at Curler's Rest on Byres Road.

Why not come back to Curler's Rest the very next day (Monday, 15 December)? Ross Wilcock's monthly Curler's Cosy Corner open mic is offering a cosy evening of poetry and prose with a little festive sparkle. Don your favourite Christmas jumper or Santa hat and come along for plenty of poetic merriment.

Ross Wilcock has got one more for you before the holiday break: The monthly Poetry Experiment at the Alchemy Experiment has been moved forward this month and is now taking place on Wednesday, 17 December. For the final event of the year, Ross has invited the incomparable Meredith MacLeod to share poetry from her debut collection. That's on top of the usual open mic slots. The fun starts at 7pm, but remember to book your ticket ahead of time. Spaces are limited. Naturally, you can also swing by Hillhead Bookclub for the weekly Poet's Corner open mic the same evening.

Creative Corner at Strathclyde is back for another relaxed writing session on Thursday (18 December) evening. Wordsworth Grasmere is meanwhile organising the final 2025 event of its monthly 'Discover Poetry' series. The online reading group is lead by Polly Atkin and encourages participants to share their thoughts and ideas about a selection of classic and contemporary poems inspired by the changing seasons and current events. Pretty sure that'll make this one a wintery delight.

Since PIG won't be back until Sunday, 4 January, I am also including a quick shout-out for the final Creative Corner session on 23 December and the online reading event by Broken Sleep Books on Friday, 2 January. This one will showcase some of the publisher's latest releases including readings by Liza Costello, Patrick Davidson Roberts, Katie Hale, Stuart McPherson, Ricky Monahan Brown, Róisín Ní Neachtain, and Eleni Philippou.

Opportunities

Today's pick from among the long list of opportunities currently on the PIG website:

Carrier Bag Press has extended the deadline for its new publication 'Form and Content'. They are looking in weird and wonderful short writings that play in the tension between form and content. The publication will have a run of 100 copies and will take the form of a fold out large format poster. The deadline is now 15 December.

The International Human Rights Art Movement is putting together a publication to celebrate the life and ideas of Hannah Arendt. While this sounds very specific, submissions can actually address some pretty broad themes of Arendt's work including truth, refugees, discrimination, totalitarianism or the banality of evil. Submissions are accepted until 31 December.

A slightly different call is currently open by Cultural Alleys - a non-profit organisation based in Lithuania. They are putting together a virtual exhibition entitled 'Fragments of Becoming' and are seeking creative work of any format that reflects on topics such as perspectives, understanding, and empathy. The submission window closes on 31 December.

Still open until 2 January is the submission window for the latest anthology by the US-based publisher Arcana Poetry Press. The publication has the theme 'Smitten by the Written: A Poet’s Guide to Poetry Made Poetic' and will be all about poems that engage with the craft, joy, or obsession of writing poetry.

The quarterly online art and literature magazine Paloma is accepting submissions for its issue 27 on the topic 'mirror images'. The editors are looking for work that explores uncanny likeness: 'think (re)presentations of self, video game avatars, generational resemblances, gender expressions, the actor in a biopic, an inseparable duo…' The deadline is 4 January.

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.

For today's spotlight, I thought I'd share some poetic reading inspiration for the upcoming winter break. While the holidays can be pretty hectic for many, you may also get a cosy evening or two to curl up with a poetry volume. At least I hope you do.

Naturally, it is also the season of the 'best of' lists. So here are some pretty promising lists you may want to check out if you are still looking for a book for that perfect winter night:

  • The Forward Prizes for Poetry Shortlist: next to the 2025 winners its worth having a look at all the brilliant poets, poems and collections that were shortlisted this year. You can also grab the annual anthology with the best poems picked by the prize jury.

  • The Saltires Poetry Book Longlist: while the Saltires website itself currently only shows the winning entries, you can check out this article by Publishing Scotland that includes the full list of selected collections, each one of them brilliant in their own right.

  • The Best Poetry Books of 2025 according to the California Review of Books: regular reviewer David Starkey has put together his personal 'best of' list for 2025 which includes some really interesting new poetry as well as some noteworthy 'collected/selected poetry' editions.

  • NYPL Best Poetry Books: the librarians at the New York Public Library also release a 'best of' selection of poetry books. The selection is eclectic and comes with some lovely descriptions of the work. Worth having a browse.

  • Best Books of 2025 according to International Researchers: the Conversation features an article showcasing 35 book picks from experts in literature, science, philosophy, criminology, urban studies and so much more. As you'd expect, the list includes a wide range of books across fiction and non-fiction. But a few poetry books are also in the mix.

  • Scots Poetry Collections for the 21st Century: this list isn't dedicated specifically to 2025 but may still be worth a look. It is published by the Scottish Book Trust and includes some brilliant books you should definitely know about if you enjoy Scots-language writing.

PIG's Poetry Pick

Naturally, it's a Christmas poem today. But not the usual type. What's ever usual with Edwin Morgan?!

The Computer's First Christmas Card

by Edwin Morgan

jollymerry
hollyberry
jollyberry
merryholly
happyjolly
jollyjelly
jellybelly
bellymerry
hollyheppy
jollyMolly
marryJerry
merryHarry
happyBarry
heppyJarry
bobbyheppy
berryjorry
jorryjolly
moppyjelly
Mollymerry
Jerryjolly
bellyboppy
jorryhoppy
hollymoppy
Barrymerry
Jarryhappy
happyboppy
boppyjolly
jollymerry
merrymerry
merrymerry
merryChris
ammerryasa
Chrismerry
asMERRYCHR
YSANTHEMUM

via the Scottish Poetry Library.

That's it for 2025. Happy holidays!
See you in 2025.

Love,
Annie