The Wee Gaitherin strives to be the most democratic poetry festival in Scotland, offering a platform for poets – from the unknown to the acclaimed – to showcase their work on an equal footing.

Stonehaven will again be a-buzz with poetry when poets from across Scotland, Ireland and England perform at our fifth Wee Gaitherin festival on 4th and 5th September, 2026.

In keeping with the organisers’ ethos of making poetry accessible to all, all events will be free to attend, and a warm welcome is extended to everyone to ‘Turn up and tune in’ according to the festival motto. The organisers are especially keen to encourage more of the Stonehaven townsfolk to drop by to see what’s on offer.

Whether you’re new to poetry or a devotee, we invite you to join us. It’s free to attend, and our ethos of including as wide a range of poets as possible, and making poetry accessible to all – regardless of income – means there will be a great entertaining mix, from quiet to louder poets, sonneteers to outright performers.

We’re immensely grateful to all our funders, National Lottery-Awards for All, Aberdeenshire Council, Hugh Fraser Foundation, William Syson Foundation, and local business sponsors (Whittaker Engineering, Macphie Bakery and Firstdrive Cars) who have generously supported us to cover essential costs of staging the festival, pre-festival activities and subsidised the poets’ expenses.

Call for Submissions

We're looking forward to welcoming poets fae a the airts to Stonehaven in September (3rd-5th). Could you be one of them? If you'd like to apply for a slot to perform your work, suggest a workshop or have a publisher's table, follow this link to complete our submission application:

https://form.jotform.com/261052510230337

We look forward to reading your applications.

The submissions window is open from 4th-24th May 2026.

Please note that submissions cannot be considered after this window closes, or by other forms of contact.