Making an Exhibition of Ourselves

It's so un-Ulster-Scots to draw attention to or make an exhibiton of oneself, but I have to confess I was fair pleased with myself this week to see some of my writing has been referenced in the current Robert Burns exhibition at the Linenhall library in Belfast.

This exhibition opened before Burns Night celebrations had taken place and is on until the end of February.

Tracing the influence of Burns from when his 'Fragments of Scotch Poetry' first appeared in Belfast's 'Newsletter' in 1786 to the present day, the exhibition includes some of the poetry books held in the Gibson Collection dating from the late eighteenth century along with a range of Burnsanalia.

The exhibition also references the recent Ulster Scots poetry jukebox curation in which I (along with nine other poets (including two Scots makars!)) have a poem - 'Ballooning' written in response to 'To a Louse'.

It was an honour to be selected to be part of this curation with this group of contempoary Ulster Scots writers and for our work now to be included in the Linenhall library's collection.

The exhibition also includes the Linenhall's publications of the winning entries in their annual Ulster Scots writing competition. I'm honoured to have my stories included in two of these publications.

The exhibition continues until the end of February - a perfect excuse to celebrate Burns Night for a little bit longer.

Snow Day

We woke up to another light covering of snow this morning. Thankfully it didn't result in our writing group plans being cancelled. And there was even a flurry of snow when we were down at Coney this morning. 

There's nothing worse than having writing plans cancelled by winter weather, especially when you're getting back into a routine again after the holidays, so I was glad it was only a light snowfall. Having struggled to find my notebook and a pen amidst a pile of recently taken down Christmas decorations, I was glad to get back to Coney to catch up with writing pals and exercise some writing muscles after a lovely break and get back into a routine.

Over cranberry and chocolate muffins we chatted and made some plans for the year ahead as we eased ourselves into a new year of writing.

National Short Story Day

I've only found out in the last hour that today is National Short Story Day. Coinciding with the winter solstice, it seems like one of the best days to get lost in reading, amidst the busyness in the run up to Christmas.

I do like a Christmas anthology and this year I've been enjoying dipping into this one - 'Tidings' - an anthology of new Irish Christmas stories.

I already knew it was going to be a special day, as it was the day my short story, 'Sugar Lumps' was scheduled to be published in The Sunday Post. I was delighted to be a finalist in their national short story competition for a second year running and also delighted that for a second year running my story was the one published in the bumper Christmas edition of the newspaper's PS magazine.

I'm also delighted with the art work accompanying my story - it's just perfect! When I found out that today is National Short Story day, it made this early Christmas present even more special.

I think there's just time to go and read another short story before resuming wrappping Christmas presents for under the tree.

Festive Fun

It was a busy weekend catching up with several groups of writing friends for the final time this year. On Saturday our writing group met up for some festive food and fun. We caught up on news, reflected on the year in our group and listened to poems and short stories some of us had written before enjoying a lovely meal.

That evening I took my nieces to a local musical society's production of one of my favourite festive tales - 'A Christmas Carol'. It was an excellent show and really got me in a festive mood, albeit a panic over all the things I still need to do.

On Sunday there was another festive catch up with another group of writers. We caught up on news and talked about writing plans for 2026 over more delicious food.

Last night we had our final SCBWI Ireland zoom meeting of the year. With holiday prompts we wrote some festive stories and caught up on news.

I feel very blessed to have made so many good friends through writing and to have several groups for support. Like most writers, there have been many times during the year when I could have very easily stopped working on particular projects. But having supportive writing groups helps get through those difficult days. I know there will be countless difficult writing days ahead. My gift from a Christmas cracker on Saturday is surely a sign to keep going - a tiny notebook and pencil!

Here's to more fun writing times with friends next year.

Flying Visit

I'm just back from a very special, though short visit to Edinburgh - celebrating the launch in Scotland of the UlsterScots poetry jukebox at The Scottish Poetry library.

Earlier this year I was commissioned by the Linenhall library to write a poem in this 'Fragments of Scotch poetry' curation. Along with nine other poets (including the current and former Scots makars) we were asked to respond to a specific poem by Robert Burns. The poem I was given was 'To a Louse'.

At first I struggled to be sufficiently inspired. But on re-reading ‘To a Louse’ I became fascinated with Jenny’s ‘Lunardi’ - a fashionable ‘balloon bonnet’ inspired by Italian balloonist Vincenzo Lunardi. In 1785, the year before ‘To a Louse’ was first published, Lunardi made the first aerial voyage in Scotland taking off in his balloon from Edinburgh and landing near Ceres, Fife, a village close to Cupar, where my late mother was schooled. I don’t recall older generations of my family mentioning Lunardi, yet my Fife great, great, great great grandparents must have known about him and probably knew someone who saw that balloon flight. This connection and the Weaver Poets referenced in ‘Fragments of Scotch Poetry’ who worked in their cottages led me to think about the bonnet maker and the unintended consequences the poem ‘To a Louse’ might have had.

Earlier this year I visited the site where Lunardi's first Scottish balloon flight landed.

I'd driven past it countless times while visiting my family in Fife but had never noticed the plaque in a field.

Yesterday I traced the spot in Edinburgh where Lunardi took off in his hot air balloon just over 240 years ago, the garden of George Heriot's school.

I've been blown away by how this project has emphasised just how poetry can make all sorts of connections. I've made new connections meeting some of the poets in person at both launch events in Belfast and Edinburgh. I've strengthened existing connections with other poets I knew, UlsterScots academics and the Linenhall library and UlsterScots agency teams.

Through the project I've connected with my roots. I like to think some of my Fife ancestors might have witnessed the balloon landing near Ceres. If they didn't I'm sure they knew someone who had winessed it. This would have been a phenomenal sight and something everyone in the area would have talked about for a long time - a bit like twentieth century moon landings. Lunardi's balloon journey started in the city where my parents met as students - across the road from Edinburgh university. 

And today I really connected with Lunardi when my flight arrangements home didn't go to plan. Due to an IT problem at Edinburgh airport, the air traffic contol system wasn't working for a while. Flights were diverted and cancelled. Planes were in different locations from their crews and for a while it was a bit chaotic. Eventually it all worked out ok. I escaped from the chaos by immersing myself in my book - and I couldn't have made a better choice - about an Edinburgh bookshop in December, with chaos and delayed flights - art imitating life?

It's been very special to be part of this project. The Poetry Jukebox is in the Linenhall Library in Belfast until the end of January and in the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh until the end of February. If you can't make it to either venue before then, you can listen to the recordings here, including my poem 'Ballooning':

https://m.soundcloud.com/the-linen-hall/sets/test-fragments-jukebox

Celebrating my roots

On this St Andrew's day, it's good to reflect on some memorable moments during this year's Leid week that's just taken place. It was good to see an increase in the number of events - the downside was that I couldn't get to all events due to diary clashes. Still, some were accessible online, with recordings - in particular I enjoyed listening to Anne McMaster's beautiful poem remembering her old primary school.

On Tuesday evening I took part in the launch of the Ulster Scots anthology Yarns5 in Ballyclare town hall.

I'm honoured to have had two poems and a short story selected for this lovely anthology. At the event I read my poem 'Nestin Blakburds'. It was a lovely evening celebrating Ulster Scots culture with highland dancers and a piper (I felt very at home with the tartan stair carpet!)

Highlights from the launch were on BBC Radio Ulster's Kintra programme this evening, along with an interview with the current makar, recorded at the Fragments of Scotch poetry jukebox launch in Belfast last month.

You can hear me reading my poem 'Grannie's Wundaes' on BBC Sounds for the next few weeks. And here's a view I will never tire of, from Grannie's Wundaes. There couldn't have been a lovelier way to celebrate my roots on St Andrew's day.

A good writing weekend

While I was away catching up with friends in Durham last weekend I received good news about a couple of short stories I'd entered in writing competitions. The winners of The Sunday Post's annual writing competition were announced last Sunday. For the second year in a row one of my stories made it to the final ten.

I'm enjoying reading the winning stories and looking forward to seeing 'Sugar Lumps' in print in the coming weeks. It was a delight and honour to be a finalist again and lovely to receive my certificate and book token prize in the post. 

On Monday the World History Encyclopedia fiction prize published their longlist.

I was excited to see my short story 'Court Games' about Mary, Queen of Scots included in this longlist. Fingers crossed for the next stage in the competition...

I may not have done any writing last weekend, but there was plenty of inspiration in our visit to Beamish museum for when I do sit down to write again.