New Voices: Reading in Glasgow and Dumfries

One of the most exciting things to have happened to me on the writing front this year was my being asked to do a couple of events with the Scottish Poetry Library under its New Voices banner. Details of both are below.

New Voices promotes poets who have published one collection so far. Usually, a New Voice will do one reading in Edinburgh and one elsewhere in Scotland. However, as the vast majority of the readings I've done have been in Edinburgh, both of mine will be outside the capital: namely, in Glasgow and Dumfries. I'm particularly excited about performing in Dumfries, as it'll be the furthest west I've gone to read so far. The Glasgow reading will be only my second appearance there.

The events will also be ununsual in that they'll be a combination of a workshop on building a profile from Helena Nelson, who published Tonguefire, and a reading from me. Here are the details, fresh from the Scottish Poetry Library events listings:

New Voices

Andrew Philip

with Helena Nelson of Happenstance Press

How do you set about building your profile as a new poet – getting your work read, published, heard? Poet and publisher Helena Nelson will show you the ropes and help you develop a ‘writer’s CV’.

Andrew Philip’s pamphlet Tonguefire was published by Happenstance last year, and he’s one of our New Voices for 2006. The workshop is followed by a short reading of Andrew’s work and first-hand discussion of how he got started.

Glasgow

Thursday 2 November, 6.30pm, Free

Level 5, Mitchell Library

Advance booking essential – call 0141 287 2999 to reserve a place

Dumfries

Monday 13 November, 1.30pm-4pm, Free

Lochthorn Library, Dumfries

Advance booking essential – contact Andrew Forster on 01387 253383 or email andrew@dgaa.net

This season's other New Voice is Cheryl Follon; previous participants include Jen Hadfield and Tim Turnbull.