Scottish Poetry News: January 2020

January emerges as a sleepy month for new publications and events. But, on the plus side, at least there will be plenty of time to get those 2020 submissions calendars at the ready.

The annual Scottish National Slam Championship rolls round once again, this year taking place on 12 January in Glasgow’s Tron Theatre. It’s usually a sell-out gig, so well worth pre-booking tickets ahead of time. Slam winners from 2019 will take to the stage to fight for the title of National Slam Champion and go on to represent Scotland in the International Championship in Paris this summer. 

Another highly-anticipated annual event in the literary calendar is the Scottish Book Trust’s New Writers Awards Showcase. With a line-up of exceptional talent from both poets and prose writers, the winners of last year’s New Writers Awards will be reading short excerpts of their most recent work. This year, the showcase will be hosted in Assembly Roxy on 30 January.

Spoken word pamphlet publisher Stewed Rhubarb is looking to have an incredibly busy year, with four upcoming pamphlets announced before 2019 drew to a close. Poets Chris Boyland, Colin Bramwell, Carly Brown and Bibi June will be releasing 'shiny, lyrical, visceral' pamphlets. Stewed Rhubarb hasalso launched a new initiative for preordering their poetry pamphlets: becoming a paid member of The Fellowship of the Stewed Rhubarb. With two payment options available (£30 or £60), all Members of the Fellowship will have the four pamphlets posted to them post-publication. There are lots of extra goodies attached to the top-tier membership, including your name printed in each pamphlet and a signed limited-edition art print made by Stewed Rhubarb’s founder and designer, James T. Harding.