AN international Scottish poetry festival is celebrating the Gaelic language through a number of events and readings at this year’s annual event.
The festival, titled Stories Like Starting Points, is part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022, a year in which stories inspired by, created, or written in Scotland will be showcased and celebrated.
The seven-day hybrid event, combining live and online performances, runs from March 7 to 13 from its festival hub in St Andrews, Fife.
The programme includes a Gaelic Narratives event with readings from Niall O’Gallagher and Louis de Paor, who will read in Gaelic and Irish respectively, as well as in English.
READ MORE: Dúthchas: The word that describes understanding of land, people and culture
O’Gallagher will read from his recent sonnet sequence “Ceann-tighearna” “Kentigern”) while De Paor will join from Ireland on Zoom to share the narrative play, wit and lyricism which has established him as one of the most popular Irish-language poets writing today.
StAnza will also be celebrating the centenary of Orkney poet George Mackay Brown with the event Beyond the Swelkie, which will feature readings from a number of poets, including Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, working across genres in Gaelic and English.
The festival’s Wigtown Poetry Prize Showcase will take place live from St Andrews with Zoom readings from Eoghan Stiubhart and Gillebride MacMillan.
Poet, broadcaster and journalist, Peter Mackay/Padraig MacAoidh, a native Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Lewis, will also feature. He has two collections of poetry, Gu Leor / Galore and Nadur De /Some Kind Of.
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