By Frances Hendron, Scottish Poetry Library
Benmore’s poet in residence, Sue Butler has returned home.
I drove her to the train and as we drove via the Dunoon Ferry to Glasgow her enthusiasm and pleasure being in Benmore Garden for four weeks was catching! I know Sue will have very fond memories of Argyll, despite rain and midgies. She, and we, are thrilled with all the poems that have arrived from the world over to celebrate Redwood Avenue! Thank you for contributing and reading them!
This week my attention is turned to the 2nd month of the project. Mandy Haggith will be in residence at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh throughout July. Her programme is posted on this blog (check the Edinburgh Schedule). She launches her ‘festival of Scotland’s native trees’ guided by the Gaelic alphabet this Saturday. My desk research is limited though, interestingly, I have discovered that Gaelic is written with just 18 letters each of which is named after a tree or shrub … but, Mandy will tell you about this as the days progress.
So, if you are in Edinburgh on Saturday, come along to the launch of the WALKING WITH POETS Edinburgh residency with Mandy Haggith – and spend the afternoon in this splendid botanic garden.
Saturday 6 July – BIRCH
Poetry Reading
Real Life Science Studio
3pm -3.15pm – drop in
A little bit about Mandy – she is from Northumberland and has lived in a wooded croft in Assynt since 1999 (and lived in Scotland since the mid 80s). She is a freelance writer, activist, researcher and poet.
In the mid 1990s she left academia to campaign for the world’s forests. The use of forests for the production of paper has been an abiding interest and she co-ordinated a network of more than 50 organisations campaigning for sustainable paper production. This culminated in a book, Paper Trails: From Trees to Trash – the True Cost of Paper published by Virgin Books/Random House in 2008. It was based on Mandy’s five-month long global journey through Europe, Russia, China, South-East Asia and North America, witnessing where all the paper we use comes from.
Mandy is passionate about literature and has a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Glasgow University. She has two published poetry collections: letting light in (Essence Press, 2005) and Castings (Two Ravens Press, 2007).
Frances
Project Manager
Source: Walking With Poets