It still blows my mind when I consider the massive part Robert Burn's plays in the Scottish collective consciousness. Burns Night is considered a key cultural heritage event, there is no Hogmanay without Auld Lang Syne and I bet there is virtually nobody who grew up in Scotland who wouldn't be able to name at least one of his poems or songs. Independent of whether or not I enjoy his work, this feels monumental to me because he was a poet. Poetry can sometimes seem extremely niche and unimportant in the face of all the madness and horror around us. It can feel frivolous, self-absorbed, escapist. As if poetry wasn't part of it all. I don't need to talk about why poetry (still) matters. Others have written about it much more eloquently than I ever could. But every year in late January, I like to remind myself, just how significant, how respected, communal and joyful a little "silly" verse can be.

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Events (19 January to 1 February 2026)

Your new poetic week begins at Curler's Rest on Byres Road. Ross Wilcock is back with the first Curler's Cosy Corner of the year on Monday, 19 January. As a little nod to the bard, Ross has invited one of Glasgow's true champion's of Scots poetry for a special performance: Keeks Mc.

On Wednesday (21 January), you have the chance to hear Nick Makoha, London-based poet and playwright as well as founder of the Obsidian Foundation as part of the online reading series Well Versed. Tickets for the midday session are free, but you can also catch-up on the session and all of the other events from the series via the StAnza YouTube channel. In the evening, you can either head over to the Hillhead Book Club for the regular open mic night, or join the team behind Inside Voices for a special evening of poetry and music that celebrates the launch of Who We Are, a landmark anthology of worker's poetry, compiled by the Morning Star. The event is held at Mono in Merchant City from 8pm.

The Poetry Review is celebrating the launch of its winter issue with free online readings on Friday night (23 January). Guest readers will include Imogen Cassels, Rachel Long, Jean Sprackland and Eric Yip.

The New Year Wild Writing session with Lorna French on Sunday, 25 January is already sold out. However, if the event sounds interesting to you, you might want to check out her 6-week online course for Wild Writing presented by the Scottish Poetry Library. The course is £90 and starts on 12 February.

The Inn Deep opens its doors on Monday, 26 January for its regular open mic night. Alternatively, you might want to consider the online writing workshop on 'poetic mapping' presented by the Poetry Society and delivered by JLM Morton. Tickets are £17 for members and £27 for non-members.

You are spoilt for choice on Tuesday, 27 January. The Midnight Verse returns to the Drake with a Burn's Night Special that promises an event "where passion, protest, and poetry meet the midnight hour". Are you intrigued? Get there for 8pm. If you'd rather take a break from the Rabbiemania, I can offer you a very exciting poetic treat: The Poetry Society has partnered with the Obsidian Foundation to offer you a free online showcase of some fantastic up-and-coming Black poets. The new poets will read alongside Obsidian Foundation founder, Nick Makoha. You'd rather get creative yourself? Why not join the online elegy writing workshop offered via the Cheltenham Poetry Festival's online programme. The writing session is run by Anna Saunders and tickets are £25.

I am particularly excited about the book launch of Cameron Wilson's Corn at Good Press on Wednesday, 28 January. The event celebrates Cameron's new pamphlet of experimental poetry which is based entirely on one poem: Corn by Bernadette Mayer; translating, transcribing and transforming it in 30 distinct iterations. For the reading event, Cameron will be joined by Robert Thomas James Mills, Meredith Macleod Davidson and Sean Wai Keung. If that's not really your cup of tea, you might want to consider swinging by Hillhead Bookclub for the weekly Poet's Corner Open Mic.

The first iteration of Not A Salon, a new monthly reading series open to writers of all genres, styles and experience levels is taking over the backroom of Rufus T Firefly on Thursday, 29 January. The organiser's are promising a space to share creativity, fuelled by curiosity and exploration. If you have some spare time on Thursday morning, you might also want to consider the online writing workshop by creative copywriter and poet Rishi Dastidar all about punctuation in poetry. Tickets are £24.

The full-day creative writing retreat at Govanhill Baths organised by Kelvingrove Writers, Pluriversal Writing Group, and The Good Egg Project on Sunday, 31 January is sadly already sold out, you can however still join the waiting list, if you like.

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Opportunities

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

A few more days are remaining until the deadline for submissions for the Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets. The award celebrates pamphlets published in the UK which includes self-published pamphlets alongside traditionally published books. Publishers, authors and illustrators have until 21 January to get their submissions in. Winners receive a prize sum of £5,000.

Glyph Magazine, the Glasgow-based literary magazine for the casual writer has expanded its vision and is now also publishing poetry. The upcoming issue is dedicated to the topic of horror. So if you have some scary stanzas in your drawers: send them in until 31 January.

Also open until 31 January is the current reading period for the online poetry magazines Seaford Review. The journal is free to read via Substack, so make sure to check it out before you submit.

The same deadline applies for the 7th issue of the Paperboats Zine. The Scottish publication is focused on topics around nature and the environment. The theme for the upcoming issue is "Edens": is it possible, even now, to set a vision of Eden against the all too real prospect of environmental breakdown? The editors are looking for work about  lost Edens, future Edens, broken Edens, improbable Edens, small Edens, rural Edens, city Edens, plant & animal Edens, poor Edens, personal Edens, radical Edens, real and imagined Edens, those remnants of paradise we may yet shore against ruin.

A unique opportunity is on offer via DG Unlimited, the creative and cultural network for Dumfries and Galloway. DG Unlimited are hosting this year's Dr Gavin Wallace Fellowship which offers writers a stipend of £24,000 alongside structured support, time in Dumfries and Galloway, and meaningful engagement with the region’s diverse creative community. The programme is seeking applications from writers working in fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid forms, spoken word, experimental writing, and graphic fiction. The deadline is 9 February.

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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.

Naturally, today's spotlight is all about Robert Burns. The Scottish Poetry Library (SPL) has put together a brilliant collection of resources all about the bard, including a Burns Supper guide, a selection of his poems and a detailed article with insights from leading Burns scholars all about his legacy and his (arguably) many faults.

Maybe even more exciting than the poet's well-known classics are the contemporary responses the SPL is showcasing. They include The Trysting Thorns, a series of creative responses by women to the life and work of Robert Burns, as well as Burns Night Skies, a collection put together last year to mark the rare celestial alignment of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on 25 January. Included is work by a range of contemporary Scottish poets who took the stars and planetary exploration as their inspiration for new work. This year, the library collaborated with the Jamaican artist Fabian Thomas to curate commissions that shine a spotlight on the relationship between Scotland and Jamaica. Each featured Jamaican poet also recorded a video reading of their work.

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PIG's Poetry Pick

It had to be Rabbie Burn's today, naturally. I selected this one as I have a soft spot for poetry about poetry.

A Sonnet upon Sonnets

by Robert Burns

Fourteen, a sonneteer thy praises sings;
What magic myst’ries in that number lie!
Your hen hath fourteen eggs beneath her wings
That fourteen chickens to the roost may fly.
Fourteen full pounds the jockey’s stone must be;
His age fourteen – a horse’s prime is past.
Fourteen long hours too oft the Bard must fast;
Fourteen bright bumpers – bliss he ne’er must see!
Before fourteen, a dozen yields the strife;
Before fourteen – e’en thirteen’s strength is vain.
Fourteen good years – a woman gives us life;
Fourteen good men – we lose that life again.
What lucubrations can be more upon it?
Fourteen good measur’d verses make a sonnet.

That's it from me today. See you in two weeks!

Love,
Annie

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