what but imagination could have read
granite boulders back to their molten roots?
And how far back was back, and how far on
would basalt still be basalt, iron iron?
—Edwin Morgan certainly though so, and was inspired – by Burns & Hutton – to write “Theory of the Earth” (first published in New Writing Scotland 2, 1984)
3/3
Anyone else worried that we’re replaying the #20thCentury, pre-#WWII; except now #USA and #Israel are the #AxisPowers, the fascists?
“To study Josephine Tey’s literary connections is to draw out a different picture of the inter-war & post-war Scottish literary scene: one that foregrounds women, & draws out forgotten areas of popularity”
Jennifer Morag Henderson uncovers the mysteries of Goldan Age crime queen Josephine Tey
4/8
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2025/06/josephine-tey-mystery-writer/
The Muse hersel sent her dochter til us
To set this lamp in the jungle, “to lighten the gentiles
And to be the glory of thy people”, Poetry.
—Tom Scott, “In Handsel o Poetry’s Fifty Light Years”
from POETRY magazine’s 50th Anniversary issue, Oct 1962
3/3
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=29232
Remember this ae thing, whaeer ye are:
There’s ae place in this toun ye daurna be,
For scholars maunna drink at Paddy’s Bar.
—Tom Scott, “On Hearing a Certain Pub is Not Proper for Academics”
Published in POETRY magazine, Oct 1961
2/3
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=28825
Ye think thon wes the end?
Yon meetin in the wuids
When Thracian Orpheus heard the drum, the cries,
The whud o the bacchantes’ thrangan feet…
—“Orpheus”, by Tom Scott (1918–1995), born #OTD, 6 June
Published in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS
1/3
https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/
Gaelic & Scots: Cultural Connections & Inspirations in the 20th Century
Talks form the FRLSU’s May 6 webinar are now online, looking at
George Campbell Hay | Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa William Neill | Uilleam Nèill Douglas Young translations between Gaelic & Scots Derick Thomson | Ruaraidh MacThòmais & GAIRM
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLWE-AoQoGZ7NF6Vt2oYlKn74u0_TKsW
The manuscript for Archie Hind’s THE DEAR GREEN PLACE, along with other papers & materials, is now in an archive at the University of Strathclyde
Archie Hind (1928–2008), author of THE DEAR GREEN PLACE (1966), was born #OTD, 3 June
“The only other 20th-century novel I know that places a writer’s struggle in an equally well-imagined city is Nabokov’s THE GIFT”
—Alasdair Gray
https://www.scotswhayhae.com/post/with-hind-s-sight-a-review-of-archie-hind-s-the-dear-green-place
A selection of titles by Neil Munro are available as free ebooks from @gutenberg_org
4/4
Neil Munro was also a very fine historical novelist – & possibly the first who really knew the history, language & culture of the Highlands from the inside. In “The Ell-Wand & The Sword”, Ronnie Renton examines Munro’s JOHN SPLENDID and THE NEW ROAD
2/4
“Of aal the fish there iss in the sea,” said Para Handy, “nothing bates the herrin’; it’s a providence they’re plentiful and them so cheap!”
Neil Munro (1863–1930) – journalist, novelist, short-story writer, & poet – was born #OTD, 3 June. Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of Herring discusses Munro’s PARA HANDY stories, as well as giving the full text of the tale “The Herring – A Gossip”
1/4
Twentieth-Century Radical Scottish Gaelic Magazines and Contacts with Wales
A recording of Dr Petra Johana Poncarová’s talk, given on 22 May at the Centre for Advanced Welsh Celtic Studies
“With anti-immigration rhetoric on the rise, the poetry of A.C. Jacobs achieves a new relevance in its celebration of humanity and diversity”
—read Will Burns’s review of NAMELESS COUNTRY in The Bottle Imp
6/6
An aunt of mine remarked to me:
‘Ah’m no froom
Bit whan Ah see them
Ee’in the trayfi meat
It scunners me.’
I found this very striking.
—AC Jacobs, “Dear Mr Leonard”
5/6
‘Where do you come from?’
‘Glasgow’
‘What part?’
‘Vilna’
‘Where the heck’s that?’
‘A bit east of the Gorbals,
In around the heart.’
—AC Jacobs, “Place”
4/6
“Diaspora may be a state of mind, an intellectual and emotional homelessness. The poem works its way through that dislocation, and finds the confidence to offer the absent deity some mischievous but penetrating advice”
—Carol Rumens on AC Jacobs’ “Supplication”
3/6
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2019/mar/25/poem-of-the-week-supplication-by-ac-jacobs
Lord, from this city I was born in
I cry unto you whom I do not believe in:
(Spinoza and Freud among others saw to that)
Show me in this place in which I started
Where I have gone wrong…
—AC Jacobs, “Supplication”
2/6
When you were people
We could have loved you,
Found out your names
And brought you presents…
—“Poem for Innocent Victims of War” by AC Jacobs (1937–1994) – born #OTD, 30 May
Published in NAMELESS COUNTRY: Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2018)
A 
1/6
Greenland: Sgeul Isobel Wylie Hutchison
Curstaidh NicDhòmhnaill a’ leantainn cheumannan Iseabail Wylie Hutchison bho Chaisteal Carlowrie faisg air Dùn Èideann chun na Graonlainne
Currently on the BBC iPlayer: Kirsty MacDonald follows in the footsteps of Isobel Wylie Hutchison. In Gaelic with English subtitles
4/4
