Callander Poetry Weekend 2010
Friday 3rd , Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th Sept 2010
at Kings Bookshop Callander, the Bookshop Garden and Callander Kirk Hall
Onya Wick
The programme for 2010 is shaping up. We have the usual packed programme of short readings with many other features.
Two evening launch parties for diehard's metallic hardback series. The books are Wittins by Sheena Blackhall (Makar, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire) and Good Morning by Charlie Gracie. Readings from Charlie and reading and songs from Sheena. The launches are part of two full evenings entertainment culminating in Onya Wick music and other events.
ALSO:
Complete Book collating, Sewing and Bookbinding demonstrations of the new series.
A talk on Byron in Albania by Morelle Smith.
Presentation of Red Squirrel Press poets.
Sally James and Ron Williams (Lancashire dialect)
Geraldine Green (from Cumbria)
Chris Powici, the new Editor of NorthwordsNow
Brian Johnstone, poems with music and songs
The inimitable Onya Wick with Harpist Edwin Stockdale.
Discussion of the Irish/Welsh/Scottish connections in poetry, led by Elizabeth Rimmer.
Session on poetry for celebration: what makes poems suitable for weddings, funerals and other special occasions? read your favourites.
Your favourite cat poems (any dog poems? other animals? You say)
ALSO:
Photography of the weekend by Dominique Carton.
Programme of shorter readings by poets including Margaret Gillies Brown (Laureate Poetry Scotland), Colin Will, A. Mary Lindsay, Alan Gay, Kona McPhee, Ian Blake, Elizabeth Rimmer, Fred Beake, Lucinda Carey, Anne Connolly, Sheila Wakefield, Maureen Weldon, Mike Penney, Kemal Houghton, A.C. Clarke, Marion McCready, Eileen Carney Hulme, Morelle Smith, Sally Evans, Juliana Geer, Willie Wilson, Jean Thewlis. Alistair Paterson, Sue Hemmings, Fiona Croeser, Geoff Cooper, Sheila Templeton, and others still coming on board. A more detailed programme will be added here shortly.
Callander Poetry Weekend 2009
Colin is putting the usual gallery of readers on the Poetry Scotland website archive, and here I am adding further photos taken (nearly all) by Mike Penney, as there are more photos than we need for the archive and I cant resist them. Heading for the boat, above, is by Lucinda Carey. Colin and I have both had work load problems in September this year so we hope you will forgive the rather late appearance of some of these pictures. We have good portraits of practically everyone who read, so if you would like yours emailed to you, please get in touch.
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A flowery welcome from the hanging baskets, and Elizabeth Rimmer's sunflowers. Sally's bees added to the garden interest & she gave a talk about bees and bee writing on Sunday.
Itinerant Poetry Librarian waits for the boat. Other visitors last year included Catherine Smith and Fred Woodward who talked about Burns and the Stars and Burns and Science. Morelle Smith joined them for the Burns Mini Conference. Les Merton and Angela came from Cornwall, and the Cornish flag was flown from the shop in their honour. Fred Beake and Lucinda Carey came from Devon, Ian Blake from Gairloch and others from Ayrshire, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwickshire etc. Also some local poets and visitors including Chris, Charlie, Val, Jean, Linna and Cara. We had a full Kirk Hall on Saturday for the Burns Mini-Conference, Burns Lunch and afternoon readings.
Robin, Rachel and Star came over on Saturday and Eleanor Livingstone, who was also here on Saturday took them back to the train at Stirling. Geoff Cooper arrived from Ayrshire on Saturday and was found somewhere to stay and a lift home on Sunday so stayed for the whole weekend. We had three Makars, Poetry Scotland's own Margaret Gillies Brown, Magi Gibson of Stirling and Sheena Blackhall who sang on the boat.
Maureen and Morelle lost no time in starting the celebrations on Thursday evening, during the course of which the lights all fused and the cooker went bang. Lighting was recovered but the cooker was not, and one of the miracles of the weekend was the catering which proceeded on bindery hotplates and the Kirk Hall hotplates, so that everyone was adequately supplied with Burns Lunches and various party food. See Start Here blog, left, for some catering (capering) notes.
The rest of the weekend passed equally well ("I did not think I could still be astonished about Burns") and with excellent poetry readings
