PIG UPDATE #15
31st of August 2025
After a slight summer lull, things are definitely picking up pace in the poetry scene now. So let's jump straight in!
Events (1 to 14 September 2025)
I am very happy to see that the team behind Inside Voices have rescheduled last month's event which was cancelled due to severe weather warnings. The new date is Monday, 1 September. As always, Inside Voices are taking over King Tut's. This very special edition is presented in collaboration with Glasgow Review of Books and will include performances by Jamie Bolland, CD Boyland, Julie Laing, Pepita Mwanga, Giuliano Piacentini, Victoria McNulty and Morag Smith. Tickets are free! If you can't make it along to King Tut's, don't worry: there are more options. Naturally, the weekly Poet's Corner Open Mic at Hillhead Bookclub is on (this week's theme is 'changing of the guard'); and Candlelight Poetry open mic at the Old Toll Bar in Govan is also returning. Beginning on 1 September are also two events designed to give your writing practice a little boost. You can sign up to the 30-day challenge 'The Writing Life', which offers writing exercises, prompts and toolkits delivered straight to your inbox every day for a month. The challenge is offered by the National Centre for Writing, and although it's aimed more towards fiction writing, there might be some interesting prompts for poetic work as well. Also starting on 1 September is a new DIY writer's course at Mount Florida Books inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's Steering the Craft. Sadly, that one is fully booked now. But maybe it'll prompt you to pick up a copy of the book yourself - I absolutely adore Le Guin's work and actually added it to my book wish list recently.
Katherine Sowerby is presenting her last (for now) Open Book Creative Writing session at Glasgow Women's Library on Tuesday (2 September). The session starts at 10:30 and attendance is free of charge. On the same day, in the evening, you are cordially invited to attend the third poetry open mic and fundraiser by Postpartum Poems. Come down to Inn Deep on Great Western Road for an evening of poetry by mothers for mothers, raising money for important charities.
The next iteration of the Carcanet online book series takes place on Wednesday, 3 September. The session will be dedicated to a new edition of selected poems and essays by Alice Maynell and will feature readings and discussions with the book's editor, Alex Wong, and the author’s great-granddaughter, Laura Mulvey. Audience members pay £2 to join the Zoom event but the cost is redeemable against the cost of the book at the end of the night.
On Thursday, 4 September, Dove Cottage Poets returns after a short summer break. This informal afternoon writing group meets every month at Wordsworth Grasmere as well as online via Zoom.
Two absolutely brilliant poetry events are competing for your attention on Friday (5 September): Friday Night Remedy is back at Theatre 118 in Merchant City with an outstanding line-up of music, song, performance poetry and more. The night is hosted by Cat Cochrane, with full sets from San Fran, AKEEL, Erin Goodall, Megan McCorquoldale, Ronan and Taia Sian and Amy Brennan-Clark. Make sure to book your £7 ticket before it sells out. Equally exciting is the unique show Fourteen Poems are putting on to celebrate the release of their new spicy anthology of queer crip poetry, 'eff-able'. We are promised Glasgow's hottest queer crip drag talent alongside an erotic extravaganza of cabaret, poetry, and spoken word, hosted by Himish MacBeth, and featuring performances from Bolly Ditz Dolly and Butch Cashidy. Tickets start at £4 (more if you want a BYOB allowance).
A weekend opportunities to get your pens and notebooks out is offered by the Writing School and Candlestick Press on Saturday, 6 September. Under the title 'School Days', you are invited to a fun, inspiring workshop all about the joys and drama of school. The online workshop is led by Jeanette Burton and Jonathan Edwards and tickets are £33, which also includes a free copy of the pamphlet 'School Days' by Candlesticks Press.
The new week starts on Monday, 8 September with your friendly weekly open mic at Hillhead Bookclub. As always, make sure to check the organiser's Instagram to confirm the theme of the week. Doors open at 7pm. But don't worry, there are loads more opportunities to get behind the mic this week!
On Tuesday (9 September), Inn Deep is opening its doors for its monthly poetry, spoken word and performance night.
But the true poetry landslide happens on Wednesday (10 September). There are no less than six events on offer! Three in person open mics and three online readings. After a bit of a break and a rebrand, SpeakEasy is back to serve you spoken word, hip-hop, prose and poetry with full house band backing and hosted by RJ Hunter. The team secured a new host venue (Adrian's Bar on Victoria Road on the Southside) and will present Aditya Narayan as the headliner for their grand return. Also happening on the Southside, just a few streets away, is the monthly Open Mic at Glasgow Zine Library. Returning after a little one-month hiatus is Crisp Packet Poetry. The team have secured a new venue: Vic Cafe & Bar at GSA, just a stone's throw away from their old location at the CCA. But as I promised, that's far from all for the day. If you struggle to get out of the house, here's your choice of online events: Carcanet is celebrating the launch of 'The Idea of an Entire Life' by Billy-Ray Belcourt, the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution is throwing a big fundraising event with readings from Maggie Brookes-Butt, Martyn Crucefix and Timothy Adès; and Wordsworth Grasmere is inviting you to join a Zoom reading by David Morley, whose latest collection weaves together Romani and English.
On Thursday, 11 September poets and scholars Lucy Dougan and Alan Fyfe are hosting an online poetry masterclass which aims to explore masking and distancing, personas and personification. The session will look at work by Emily Dickinson and Fay Zwicky as starting points for discussions and writing exercises. Tickets for the 2.5h workshop are £30.
A special type of book launch is hosted by Glasgow Women's Library on Saturday, 13 September. Seahorse publications is celebrating 'Siren Calling' by Linda Jackson as well as Lesley O’Brien’s debut collection, 'On the Scent of The Honeyed Hive.' Both local poets present work which weaves together poetry, music and storytelling. The event starts at 1pm and it's free of charge.
Before the week ends, you have one more chance to put pen to paper. Poet Malika Booker takes a dive into the role of ritual in writing on Sunday, 14 September. The online workshop will explore everyday and ceremonial rituals of writing, living and expressing. Tickets are £30 for the 2.5h journey into poetic rituals.
Opportunities
Today's pick from among the long list of opportunities currently on the PIG website:
Paperboat Zine, part of the larger Paperboat movement for climate action in Scotland, is open for submissions around the theme 'Nature’s Voice.' The team is looking for writing that challenges the dominant, human-centric lens through which we so often view the world. Submissions in English, Scots or Scottish Gaelic, are welcome from writers within and outwith Scotland. The deadline is 26 September.
Glasgow's independent literary magazine Glyth has decided to accept poetry submissions for the first time! The online magazine was previously focused solely on prose. But the upcoming fourth issue will now also include poetry and graphic art. The issue's theme is 'Friends & Lovers'. You have until 30 September to get your work in.
The same deadline applies to submissions for the Seaford Review, a British online poetry magazine that has its home on Substack. The editors don't give any special guidance on the type of work they would like to read, but the whole magazine is available for free online, so check out previous issues to get a feel for the publication and see if your work would be a fit.
California’s oldest literary journal Reed Magazine is currently seeking submissions for its 159th issue. Submit up to two poems for free until 1 October.
I also wanted add a quick reminder about ongoing submission windows I have included in previous Updates. Submissions are still open for Shearsman Magazine, the Scottish Book Trust's New Writers Award and the Great Big Glasgow Poem. Check for details on the PIG website!
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.
Today's spotlight is about kennings. If you aren't familiar with the concept: kennings are figures of speech used by Viking and Anglo-Saxon poets in days of yore. Kennings are a type of metaphor. They generally have two parts, a base-word and a determinant. You might think of the word 'skyscraper' as a modern-day version of a kenning. A traditional kenning is 'whale's road' as a metaphor for the sea. Like other metaphors, kennings are a lovely way to shed a different light upon a familiar object or concept. As it happens, the Poetry Society's Young Poet's Network has a handy little guide to kennings, including advice on how to craft them. Why not have a go yourself?
PIG's Poetry Pick
My choice today has no particular rationale other than simply this: I adore this poem.
Imago
by JL Williams
He thought of so many ways to make this
(veined wing, weightless thing),
walked in nothingness dreaming.
Gathered and tossed stars like coins or
(gold, glass)
marbles.
The stars weren’t anything.
He decided to separate first
earth sky sea land heaven air
(heavy earth, light heaven),
let them find their places
in and round the world.
How he enjoyed the splashing sound
(azure, periwinkle, emerald, cobalt, violet, cornflower, blue)
that snaked and pooled and froze, in places, rose.
The winds, his children, he banished each to their rooms.
The sea made fish, the air birds, the heavens gods, the land beasts
and man was moulded by Prometheus, who found in mud
flakes of scattered stars, and wetting them in rivers shaped
creatures with eyes looking upwards, who walked dreaming.
That's it from me today. See you in two weeks!
Love,
Annie