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Readers' Quarterly

Scottish Poetry Library Readers' Quarterly

Rachel Hazell in Antarctica, by Kelly Whybrow

Welcome to the third issue of the SPL Readers' Quarterly, a round-up of what's new at the Library and its collections, featuring book artist Rachel Hazell, poetry awards, poetry new, lost and found… Read on!

Have you seen… snow in summer?

This year you can, at book artist Rachel Hazell's summer exhibition

Book artist Rachel Hazell, above, installs her Antarctica-inspired exhibition Wide White Page in the Scottish Poetry Library from 27 July to 28 September.

Read all about the Wide White Page for a glimpse of the beauty and silence she's found in the unmarked pages of Antarctica, and to discover her unique new job title.

Have you heard…?

SPL News

SPL's new Scottish poetry anthology for children The Thing That Mattered Most, edited by Julie Johnstone and designed by Iain Macintosh, has just won the CLPE Poetry Award for 2007. Ian Macmillan presented a delighted Julie with the award… read all about it in SPL News! Did you see Canadian poet Don McKay's Strike/Slip, recommended in the last Quarterly and featured by Tom Pow in our Scotland Canada Exchange? It's just won the Griffin Poetry Prize for 2007. The second Lifetime Recognition Award was given to the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer… 10 Seasons is the perfect summer book - germinating in Gerry Loose's residency at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, blossoming in a bouquet of poets and dreamy photographs by Morven Gregor.

SPL Events

Alexander McCall Smith's choice of his Favourite Auden Poems was a fantastic evening. (You can read all about it in the new Poetry Reader) Looking ahead to our Summer Programme in Edinburgh, we'll have Simon Armitage choosing his Favourite Poems, the Courtyard Readings, the launch of Luckenbooth, a book of poems about Edinburgh… Can you help us out? We need some friendly readers to form a trial poetry discussion group for an evening… And did you know we list all the poetry events in Scotland that we hear about? Keep ahead of poetry events in Scotland and subscribe to our free email list…

Did you know…?

National Poetry Day: DreamsThis year's National Poetry Day is all about dreams…

We're delighted to bring a special event to Edinburgh on Wednesday 3 October. The 'Dream Poets Tour' features four poets from different corners of the UK: England's Patience Agbabi, Gwyneth Lewis from Wales, Scotland's Robert Crawford and Gearoid Mac Lochlainn from Northern Ireland. As an opportunity to hear four exceedingly diverse voices, this promises to be a unique event.

We have five tickets, each worth £8, to give away to the first five readers who email us with 'Dream Poets Tour' in the subject line. So if you're feeling lucky, send a quick email now to marketing@spl.org.uk - we'll let you know if you've been quick enough off the mark!

Have you read…?

Dreuchd an Fhigheadair

Dreuchd An Fhigheadair/The Weaver's Task

For this Gaelic sampler seven Scottish poets who don't speak Gaelic were given literal English translations of Gaelic poems and asked to write their own versions. Edited by Christopher Whyte, the result tantalisingly weaves together Gaelic, English and Scots…

Scotland in Europe

Scotland In Europe

Our New Books display is packed with books about poetry this month, as well as books of poems. Scotland's literary traffic with the rest of Europe makes a timely summer read for those whose holiday packing includes more than blockbusters…

Lizzie MacGregor, Assistant Librarian at SPLOur pick… Lost for Words

Assistant Librarian Lizzie MacGregor says, 'There's nothing more frustrating than having a few lines of something running around in your head, and not being able to place or complete them.

We know what it's like - the air in this library is thick with fugitive quotes - which is why we set up a 'Lost for Words' section. Here you can send us your questions, or fragments you'd like us to find. If we can't find it here in the Library, we'll post your question online for readers to respond to. Visit the 'Lost and found', browse queries, test your knowledge, send in an answer if you can. It's a two way thing - you can help!'

Have you found…?

Did you know that using our unique online catalogue INSPIRE you can search for poetry by theme? Look for apt quotations for your next presentation, a school project, or simply to suit your mood.

Summer Oh, for the feel of sunshine on your face - but perhaps some sunshine poems would be a more reliable alternative.

Choose 'Subjects by alphabetical order' and search for 'sunshine'

1995 'In Skye I am free of my century', wrote Alexander Smith in his glorious summer book, A Summer in Skye, to be reprinted 130 years later. What other poetry was reprinted and celebrated that year?

Explore poetry in 1995 using ScotBib

And did you know you can use the ScotBib feature to see which Scottish poetry titles were published in different years?

Where are we…?

Shetland Library, LerwickSPL in Shetland

As well as our award-winning Edinburgh building, the Scottish Poetry Library now has thirteen outlying poetry collections round Scotland and counting.

What's the story behind the 'Shetland' address in our list of Outlying Collections? Donald Anderson, Literature and Film Development Officer at Shetland Arts, explains.

We're delighted that Orkney will be next, and we look forward to telling you all about it!

What's next…?

In the September Readers' Quarterly find out about the autumn events programme, explore our new Readers' Website and squirrel away a pile of wonderful new books to read.

For SPL Friends, The Poetry Reader is just going to print in a fresh new design for our bi-annual newspaper.

What do you think of the Readers' Quarterly?

Mail comments and suggestions to Lilias Fraser, SPL's Reader Development Officer.


Issue 3, Summer 2007

Have you seen…?
…snow in summer?
Book artist Rachel Hazell's
The Wide White Page

Have you heard…?
Award winners!
The Thing That Mattered Most and 10 Seasons, and more

Did you know?
National Poetry Day
This year's theme is all about dreams

Have you read…?
Picks for summer
The Weaver's Task, Scotland in Europe, Lost for Words…

Have you found?
Finding summer poems
Summer searches in SPL's unique online poetry catalogue, INSPIRE

Where are we…?
SPL poetry collections
The Shetland Library at Lerwick
…and much much more

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