Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share a project I developed in the spring of 2022: a brand new podcast shining a light on Edinburgh's forgotten women writers. You're probably familiar with the blue plaques placed on buildings across the UK which celebrate historical figures who lived in those places. In Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland … Continue reading Building Stories: New Podcast!
Hello all! After a poetry-packed Edinburgh Fringe, I'm looking forward to busy autumn full of gigs, workshops, and lots of exciting projects. One that I'm particularly looking forward to takes place this Thursday (15th September) in Aberdeen. I'm delighted to be reprising my dance-poetry piece 'Cutty Sark' at the Fabulous Cabaret, a free event coordinated … Continue reading ‘Cutty Sark’ Reprise in Aberdeen
Hello all! After a hectic, wonderful weekend of gigs, I'm spending this week in rehearsals for a brand-new commission. This year the Scottish Storytelling Centre and Edinburgh City of Literature have joined forces to produce Figures of Speech, a series of events bringing together writers and artists to take you on a road trip through … Continue reading Dancing Cutty Sark! Figures of Speech this Friday
Today has been a bit nuts - a tweet I shared last night has gone mildly viral! As it seems to be resonating with folks, I figured I’d share it on the blog as well. It’s election season in Scotland (and, very excitingly, the first election I’m eligible to vote in here due to extended … Continue reading Cutting up Bigotry: my SFP collage
Hello all! I'm delighted to feature another guest post on the website today, this time from the incredibly talented Glasgow-based spoken word artist Shannon MacGregor. Shannon came onto the scene like a thunderbolt in 2015, wowing crowds with her sharply written and dynamically delivered work. She recently represented Team Glasgow at the 2017 UK UniSlam. … Continue reading Guest Post: Shannon MacGregor on the Glasgow Scene
Hello all! My apologies that this site has been so quiet over the past couple of months; I've been quite busy working on several projects so I haven't had the time to post as regularly as I'd like. However, more posts on spoken word are coming! I have several drafted plus a couple guest posts … Continue reading Aiblins: New Scottish Political Poetry
Hello, everyone! I'm very excited to finally share a project I've been developing for a while. Last year, Sarah Hamlin and I co-organised a conference called Poetic Politics: Culture and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, One Year On which took place at the National Library of Scotland in September 2015. The conference focused on the cultural … Continue reading Poetic Politics: A Selection of Contemporary Scottish Political Poetry
Update: there's a great discussion going around this post where I linked it on my Facebook artist page - check it out here and please do join in! -K Yesterday the Scottish Poetry Library released its annual list of the Best Scottish Poems of 2015, a selection curated this year by novelist and poet … Continue reading Best Scottish Poems of 2015: A Response
I was delighted to spend this past weekend performing and volunteering at the wonderful international festival for poetry in St. Andrews, StAnza. It was my second time attending the festival, and I had an incredible weekend of hearing/watching/reading/making/performing poetry, chatting with other poets and organisers, and a huge amount of stimulus and inspiration. My head is buzzing with … Continue reading StAnza 2016: Reflections
Different kind of post this week! Recently I was interviewed by Rebecca McBride, a journalism student writing an article on the Scottish spoken word scene. Since I haven't discussed how I got into spoken word or my influences on this blog much yet, I figured I'd post the interview here. Hope you enjoy! Describe for someone who has … Continue reading Spoken Word Interview
Katie Ailes 