Beyond the Swelkie & The Storm Watchers

Beyond the Swelkie & The Storm Watchers

As part of Culture Perth and Kinross’ Soutar Festival of Words 2022, join us for a screening of George Mackay Brown’s The Storm Watchers. This short film was directed over Zoom by Gerda Stevenson during lockdown 2021, for the St Magnus International Festival. Gerda will be joined by Jim Mackintosh, Laura Fyfe, John Glenday and Morag Anderson for a selection of poetry readings following the screening.

Gerda Stevenson's award-winning work has been widely published, staged and broadcast in the UK and internationally. Two of Gerda's collections have been published in Italian translations and her play ‘Federer Versus Murray’ toured to New York in 2012. Her latest book, ‘Letting Go’, is a collection of short stories published in 2021 by Luath Press. She gave the Thomas Muir Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh Festival 2018 and the George Mackay Brown Memorial Lecture 2019.

Jim Mackintosh is the Makar of the Cateran EcoMuseum in east Perthshire and the Angus Glens. He is the author of six poetry collections and the editor of three poetry anthologies. The most recent anthology, ‘Beyond the Swelkie’, was co-edited with Paul Philippou in 2021 and is a collection of poetry and essays celebrating the centenary of George Mackay Brown.

John Glenday is the author of four collections. ‘Grain’ (Picador 2009) was shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize and the Ted Hughes Award, whilst ‘The Golden Mean’ (Picador 2015) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year and won the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2016. His most recent publications are a limited edition artbook ‘mira’, (Coast to Coast to Coast 2019) and a pamphlet, ‘The Firth’ (Mariscat Press). His Selected Poems came out with Picador in 2020.

Morag Anderson's debut chapbook, ‘Sin Is Due to Open in a Room Above Kitty’s’ (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021), explores human connections: concealed violence, love and everything in-between. Her collaborated chapbook, ‘How Bright the Wings Drive Us’, won the Dreich Alliance Competition 2021. Morag was commissioned by the Scottish Poetry Library to write poetry for Burns Night 2022 and her work appears in various collections and anthologies, including Finished Creatures, The Scotsman and The Broken Spine Arts Collective, where she was poet of the month in December 2021.

Laura Fyfe is the Stirling Makar and suffers from a chronic low boredom threshold. She writes poetry out of necessity, teaches out of compulsion and writes stories for fun. Laura supports other writers across Scotland and online by mentoring, editing and facilitating writing workshops and communities. Her work has been published in Butcher’s Dog, Postbox and Northwords Now and her pamphlet ‘The Truth Lies’ by Red Squirrel Press. Her non-fiction books Wellspring and Magpie Mind help people defeat procrastination and live more creative lives.

Julie McNeill is the author of Mission Dyslexia, a non-fiction book for neurodiverse learners. She is the Poet in Chief of The Hampden Collection and Makar for Saint Mirren FC CF. Her first poetry pamphlet Ragged Rainbows is available through Dreich press.

You can see what other events are happening across Perth and Kinross on the Culture PK website.

Date and time: Friday, 22nd of April 2022 from 6:45pm - 8:45pm.

Tickets: £6, or £5 for students and over 60s