Margaret Elphinstone

THE BAKEHOUSE CELEBRATES BOOK WEEK SCOTLAND
Appeared: Tuesday November 26th 2013

Giving voice to the silent: writing a Stone Age novel

Author of Historical Fiction, Margaret Elphinstone, is at the forefront of Scottish Women Writers.  We are delighted to welcome her to The Bakehouse to celebrate BOOK WEEK SCOTLAND.

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Split Screen - Poetry inspired by film & television

Saturday, November 23rd 2013
A light hearted evening of poetry  on themes as wide-ranging as Julie Andrews, Star Trek, Jaws, Ealing Comedy, Bruce Lee and Inspector Morse.

Sally Evans, Sheila Templeton, Carolyn Richardson and Andy Jackson read from the Split Screen anthology (Red Squirrel Press 2012 ed. Andy Jackson) accompanied by visuals and music, with an innovative approach to poetry presentation, with a ‘commercial break’.  Poets represented are Ian McMillan, Clare Pollard, Tim Turnbull, George  Szirtes, Annie Freud and many more.

Followed by a launch of Donald Adamson’s first full-length collection

From Coiled Roots

Donald is a prize winning poet and translator. From Coiled Roots, explores life, landscapes and history in Finland and Scotland. His translations of Lassi Nummi have been described by Finnish Nobel Nominee Eeva Kilpi as ‘like the humming of the trees around our human suffering and joys.’ www.donaldadamson.co.uk

Environmental Art Festival Scotland

An Evening of Poetry & Prose by Kenneth White
Sunday 1st September : 7.00 for 7.30

Kenneth White, founder of the International Institute for Geopoetics has  long enjoyed an eminent international reputation and is now increasingly recognised in his own land as one of Scotland’s finest poets and most creative thinkers. The Bakehouse presents an evening of poetry and prose exploring the many ways in which geopoetics can both illuminate and challenge the world in which we live. With film footage of Kenneth  White,  an introduction to geopoetics by James McCarthy, Chairman of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics, and Kenneth White’s poetry read by Chrys Salt.
This is a Free event
To book ring 01557 814175 or email:   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Place, Identity, Memory
30 August - 2nd September 11am-5pm
Exhibition on for all four days during the Core Festival Weekend.
IRIS a Dumfries and Galloway collective is interested in the artists’ book as a medium. IRIS presents an international exhibition of artists books which develop the idea of ‘place’, including seven panels by Will Maclean illustrating Kenneth White’s poem ‘The Island Road’.

Peter Marinker Performs Samuel Beckett’s ‘Company’

Saturday August 17th

7.00 for 7.30

Peter’s will be a well known voice to any Radio 4 addict but his many stage appearances are no less impressive. He has been a member of both The Old Vic Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company, appeared in London’s West End. has played Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, and founded The Godot Company with Beckett’s publisher John Calder. Film credits include United 93, Love Actually,  Event Horizon, Judge Dredd and The Emerald Forest. He has revoiced countless feature films and recorded numerous audio books including Joseph O’Connor's Star of the Sea, Geraldine Brooks' March and Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Peter will be previewing an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s novella COMPANY at The Bakehouse prior to performing it at The International Beckett Festival in Enniskillen alongside the likes of Hollywood actress Winona Ryder, Fiona Shaw and Juliet Stevenson!

Some of you may remember seeing Peter’s wonderful performance at the Dumfries and Galloway Festival this year. We are delighted to welcome him back to Gatehouse.

Tickets: £7.00/£6.00 concs.

To book ring 01557 814175 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Pauline Prior Pitt

Saturday April 27th
7.00 for 7.30

Pauline Prior-Pitt’s poems have appeared on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Pick of the Week, With Great Pleasure, and Poetry Please; and on Channel 4, Central, and Carlton Television. Her One Woman Shows attract large audiences in Festivals.

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Reel Festival

March 21st 7.30

Reel Festival: A reception and readings at The Bakehouse for poets from Iraq and around Scotland.

This very special event features Iraqi poetry from Ghareeb Iskander, Sabreen Khadhim, Zahir Mousa, Awezan Nouri with new translations from John Glenday, Jen Hadfield, William Letford and Krystelle Bamford.  Reel Festival will also present short readings for Iraq by your favourite poets from around Scotland including Liz Niven, Tom Pow, Chrys Salt, Hugh McMillan, Elspeth Brown, Donald Adamson, John Hudson, Alan McClure and Angus Macmillan. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Iraqi poets, to engage, to ask questions and to enjoy the riches harvested from translation.

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Stewart Conn

Saturday March 2nd 7.00 for 7.30

Stewart Conn grew up in Ayrshire and has for many years lived in Edinburgh.  From 2002-05 he was the city’s inaugural Makar.  Publications include Ghosts at Cockcrow and The Breakfast Room (Bloodaxe Books) and as editor100 Favourite Scottish Poems and 100 Favourite Scottish Love Poems (Luath Press).

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A C Clarke

Saturday November 24th 7.00  for  7.30
Prize- winning poet A C Clarke has had three full collections published, most recently Fr Meslier’s Confession, inspired by the atheist priest, Jean Meslier (Oversteps Books 2012). Her pamphlet A Natural Curiosity, inspired by Glasgow’s Museum of Anatomy, was shortlisted for this year’s Callum Macdonald award for Pamphlet Poetry.

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Tom Pow - In Another World - Among Europe’s Dying Villages

Saturday April 28th
7.00pm for 7.30pm


Tom Pow is one of Scotland’s finest poets. Dear Alice - Narratives of Madness won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust/Scottish Arts Council Poetry Book of the Year in 2009, the same year In The Becoming - New and Selected Poems was published. Locating the Nest, an exhibition with Lizzie Farey and Hugh Bryden is running at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh from 27 April till 22 July.

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Journeys by sea and land : Ian Stephen

Saturday March 24th 2012

Ian was born on Stornaway and still lives there. He worked for the Coastguard Service for many years but has been a full time writer and artist since winning the first Robert Louis Stevenson Award in 1995.

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The Silent Weaver

Saturday February 25th 2012

The extraordinary Life and Work of Angus MacPhee told in prose, poetry and film
Roger Hutchinson with Chrys Salt, and a film by Joanne B Kaar

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