PIG UPDATE #27

1st of March 2026

It's March. That means, its StAnza month! The festival is just around the corner and there is plenty to get excited about. But travelling to St Andrews is purely optional, since this year's programme also includes a record number of online events to enjoy from the comfort of you home. That's on top of all the local poetic delight Glasgow has got to offer almost every single day. Don't believe me? Have a look below!

Events (2 to 15 March 2026)

Launch into your new week with Nicky Melville. He will be reading his work and chatting to his colleagues at the UofG Creative Writing department from 1pm on Monday, 2 March. As always, you can join the Creative Conversations event series in person at the University Chapel or via Zoom. In the evening, you have the chance to see Jake Wild Hall perform at Candlelight Open Mic night at the Old Toll Bar on the Southside. Jake is this month's special guest. But there will also be the usual open mic slots. Meanwhile, the online programme by Cheltenham Poetry Festival continues. On Monday, there will be readings by Romalyn Ante and Hanna Komar during an online poetry event on the theme of healing.

Tuesday, 3 March is near overflowing with poetic energy. There's so much to choose from. If you are looking to get creative yourself, you might want to consider joining the Paisley Writers group, going to the Open Book writing session at Glasgow Women's Library or taking part in the online writing workshop by Cath Drake, all about 'Craft and Choice in Revision'. More in the mood to read rather than write? Argosy Poetry Open Mic night is back at the Argosy Pub in Hillington. Or would you rather sit back and enjoy? Jo Gilbert is celebrating the release of their brand new collection 'The Department of Stuff and Things' with a fabulous night of readings with guest appearances from Donna Campbell, Lolo Sithole, Dr Normul, Cat Cochrane and Wendy Millar. Pretty sure it's going to be amazing.

Hillhead Bookclub is opening its doors for the weekly Poet's Corner Open Mic on Wednesday (4 March). This week's theme is still to be confirmed, so if you fancy reading, check the organiser's socials ahead of time.

A very special Creative Conversations event is presented by UofG's Creative Writing department on Thursday, 5 March. The team has invited the Irish poet Pádraig Ó Tuama for an evening of readings and conversations. Pádraig’s poetry and prose centre around themes of language, power, conflict and religion with his latest collection addressing the criminal justice system in Scotland. The event takes place at the UofG Bookshop from 6:30pm. On Thursday afternoon, you can also join the monthly hybrid meeting of the casual writing group Dove Cottage Poets.

Poet and visual artist Ria Bronte is organising an evening of poetry and music at Yama Studios in Dennistoun on Saturday, 7 March. The event is a charity fundraiser to mark International Women's Day. Proceedings will go to the charity Women for Afghan Women.

The new week kicks off with the regular Open Mic night at Inn Deep on Great Western Road on Monday, 9 March. Spam Press has also announced the next edition of AFK at the Doublet that same night. Sadly, I can't tell you more. The details will only be published tomorrow.

Are you suffering from Alasdair Gray withdrawal after last week's Gray Day event? AGA is inviting for a mid-morning workshop at the Whiskey Bond all about 'Expanding your practice through quick-response drawing and writing' on Tuesday, 10 March. In the evening, you can enjoy poetry and conversation at Strathclyde University's main library. The university's creative writing department is organising the event to mark the launch of Lena Khalaf Tuffaha's National Book Award winning collection, 'Something About Living'.

Wednesday (11 March) is Open Mic day. You have three options: the monthly open mic night at Glasgow Zine Library, Poet's Corner at Hillhead Bookclub or SpeakEasy at Adrian's Bar on the Southside. This month's headliner for SpeakEasy is still to be confirmed, so make sure to keep your eyes on the organiser's socials for the big reveal.

Opportunities

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

A few more days are left until the closing date for the Joseph Bell Writer in Residence at St Andrew's university. The writing residency is part of a unique Medical-Humanities collaboration and is open to writers across fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, screenplay, literary and/or historical scholarship. The university is looking for a writer to pursue a project that interrogates the holdings of the archive of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews. A stipend of up to £15,000 is offered.

You have until 15 March to throw your hat in the ring for the Forward Prize for Best Single Performed Poem. Unlike the other Forward Prizes, entries in this category can be submitted by the poet themselves. Entries must be submitted in video format and the winner receives £1,000.

The independent publisher art.earth is currently looking for contributions for its upcoming book. The publication is designed to explore  the connection and perpetual unfolding between art, environment and embodiment. The theme is 'The Breath We Share.' Submissions close on 15 March.

The Saltire Society has published a call for submissions to celebrate its 90th anniversary. The commission is open to creative practitioners across a wide range of forms including poetry. Its thematic focus is on work that explores the topic of commemoration and memorialisation in the public sphere (monuments, statuary, cultural objects, stories and sites). Applications are open until 23 March and commissioned artists will receive a fee of £1,200.

Closing the same date is the submission window for Fried Egg Press's second issue which will be dedicated to the theme 'Queer Kitchen'. The editors are keen to read work that deals with the connections we make around food, cooking and eating.

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.

StAnza Poetry Festival is just around the corner. As always, there will be an amazing mix of events, exhibitions, workshops, readings and socials including a virtual who-is-who of poetry in Scotland and beyond. It's undoubtedly worth every minute of the 2.5-hour public transport odyssey to get there from Glasgow.

Thankfully, for those of us who are unable to make it along to St Andrew's in person, the festival programme is now offering more online events than ever before. While many events are already sold out, the below are still available for a spontaneous poetic drop-in.

Friday, 13 March

  • 8am - Welcome to StAnza from Artistic Director Ryan Van Winkle

  • 6pm - Open Book Pamphlet Launch: Words from Around Scotland*

  • 7pm - You Are Not Alone: festival opening night with Andrés N. Ordorica, Isabelle Baafi, Jim Carruth, Kate Ireland, Marjorie Lotfi, Nick Makoha, Rachel McCrum and more*

Saturday, 14 March

  • 8:30am - Marjorie’s Table with Marjorie Lotfi: part writing warm-up, part close reading

  • 10am - Wake up, Poetry with Charles Lang & Isabelle Baafi*

  • 1pm - Golden Time (and Other Behavioural Management Strategies) by Kate Ireland: club-meets-classroom performance blending spoken word and theatre*

  • 1pm - Writing Hour with Fife Writes

  • 2:30pm - Bards & Blether: Anthony Joseph & Nick Mahoka*

  • 2:30pm - In the Company of Poetry with Polly Atkin

  • 3:45pm - Bad Betty Showcase featuring Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Ciara Maguire and Keith Jarrett*

  • 4:45pm - Loud Poets Slam featuring Doroti Polgar*

  • 7pm - Poetry Centre Stage: Carl Phillips & Pascale Petit*

  • 9:30pm - Saturday Night StAnzas with Caitlin O’Ryan, Georgie Jones & Malaika Kegode

Sunday, 15 March

  • 8:30am - Marjorie’s Table with Marjorie Lotfi: part writing warm-up, part close reading

  • 10am - Something Borrowed Live Podcast with Michael Mullen

  • 11am - A Home in Space: exploring Edwin Morgan’s concrete poetry with Greg Thomas and Julie Johnstone

  • 11:30am - The Stepmother: an unflinching suite of narrative poems by Amélie Prévost and Rachel McCrum*

  • 1pm - Locating the Trace: The StAnza & Poetry Association of Scotland John Masefield Lecture with Palestinian poet Yousif M. Qasmiyeh and migration scholar Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

  • 1pm - Writing Hour with Fife Writes

  • 2:30pm - Border Crossings with Durs Grünbein and Karen Leeder*

  • 4pm - Versus Versus with Chisom Okafor, David Wheatley, Karthika Nair and Rachael Boast

  • 5:30pm - Noriaki by Endre Ruset & Harry Man*

  • 6:30pm - Poetry Centre Stage: Sarah Howe & Terrance Hayes*

Events with a * are streamed via YouTube and are included in the £30 Digital Festival Pass.

PIG's Poetry Pick

International Women's Day is coming up on 8 March. To mark the day, I thought I'd dedicate the Poetry Pick to the poetry collective Femina Culpa. It brings together three Irish poets: Linda McKenna, Emma McKervey and Milena Williamson, all three of which are interested in women's voices throughout history, and their work deals particularly with the lives of working class women. I have picked one poem by each poet.

Genesis

by Linda McKenna

This was a house of piano keys.
The clocks kept fairy tale time,
dinner was a guess, no one wore
pockets. I wove a nest of straw,
placed inside it a brother’s curl
(which one?), buttons from a midden,
scraps of paper where I wrote
my name in ash, charcoal, blood.

My new husband said leave it,
it’s worthless. Why buttons,
here’s beads, that’s not your name
anymore; a house of straw will
always blow down. But I hoarded
the treasure; stored it in a crevice
I carved into a Bible, hid it
in the attic against judgement day.

Available via Linda McKenna's website.

Craft

by Kelly Creighton

I teach myself to fly a plane.
I always think, how hard can it be?
This is a thing that women do.

Last month I sent a request to the pilot
in charge and they have yet to reply, so
I teach myself to fly a plane

because I can’t wait for an offer
of lessons that may never come.
This is a thing that women do

pull a plane door open
and make themselves a place.
I teach myself to fly a plane

over the ocean, avoiding boats
and areas dark with shark and seal.
This is a thing that women do

find a craft of their own and
grant themselves permission to fail.
I teach myself to fly a plane,
this is a thing that women do.

Available via The Honest Ulsterman.

In the Treatment Room

By Milena Williamson

While nurses flank my head to chit-chat,
the chair rises, making space for the doctor
to inject local anesthetic and acetic acid
(vinegar will turn certain cells white).

The stirrups are softer than imagined,
yes there is someone to take me home,
no I will not drive or operate machinery
or cook until I have recovered feeling.

I recite paintings I have yet to see: woman
with a bandage; woman taken unawares;
woman before a mirror; in street clothes,
with chrysanthemums, with field glasses.

He threads the electrified wire loop
inside me and I startle at the sound,
a sigh of vacuumed birds. I am grounded
as the current passes up and through.

Available via Propel Magazine.

You can read more about Femina Culpa via this article on NPL. The collective is also reading at an event at the Irish Cultural Centre in London on 8 March - just in case, you happen to be in the big smoke...

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

Love,
Annie