Poetry for all as festival showcases array of talent
by Neil Young
The wee coastal town of Stonehaven will be a-buzz with poetry in August when more than 80 poets from across Scotland, Ireland and England perform at the Wee Gaitherin festival.
Three days of readings will take place from Thursday-Saturday August 1-3 in the main function hall at Number 44 Hotel, Allardice Street, in the Market Square. The events will feature poets ranging from the renowned to the unknown, and from twenty-somethings to octogenarians, all on an equal footing.
Well-kent poets such as Hugh McMillan, from Galloway, Aberdeen’s Jo Gilbert and Julie McNeill – reading from her hugely popular new book ‘We Are Scottish Football’ – will share the stage with new and emerging talents such as Shasta Hanif Ali from Edinburgh, Rowan Heggie from Perth, and Genevieve Ray from Bedfordshire.
Alongside readings in English, Scots and Gaelic, there will be book stalls, book launches, publishers’ showcases and a heritage exhibition in the town’s library. The festival will culminate in a Saturday night ceilidh, which will be hosted by the band Halesom Farin and Stonehaven Folk Club.
In keeping with the organisers’ ethos of making poetry accessible to all, all events will be free to attend, and a warm welcome is extended to everyone to ‘Turn up and tune in’ according to the festival motto. The organisers are especially keen to encourage more of the Stonehaven townsfolk to drop by to see what’s on offer.
In addition, there will be workshops on Friday and Saturday mornings at the festival venue, led by visiting Irish poet Jessamine O’Connor and Karen Macfarlane, and a one-hour reading by a group of writers on the theme of Resistance, Peace and Justice, at the War Memorial on Black Hill.
Lesley Benzie, one of the trustees of the Wee Gaitherin charity, said: “Whether you’re new to poetry or a devotee, we invite you to join us for Scotland’s most democratic poetry festival.
“It’s free to attend, and our ethos of including as wide a range of poets as possible, and making poetry accessible to all – regardless of income – means there will be a great entertaining mix, from quiet to louder poets, sonneteers to outright performers.”
This year, the Wee Gaitherin organisers are also delighted to announce the two winners of the inaugural Sheila Templeton Bursary. Sheila, who died last year, was much admired as a brilliant poet from a working-class north-east background who was always keen to encourage other people’s talents.
“The bursary pays fitting tribute to her by funding the attendance of two young poets who might not otherwise be able to afford to take part in the festival. The winners are Elspeth Wilson from Edinburgh and Eleanor Tennyson from London.
This will be the fourth Wee Gaitherin. The festival was created by Stonehaven-based poet Neil Young in 2021 and first took place as a bold experiment on the weekend that lockdown ended.
Since then it has grown in scale and activities and now functions as a charity with six trustees. Its year-round activities include the regular Wee Words open mic events in Stonehaven, workshops at Mackie Academy and Stonehaven Library. It has also drawn in significant funding to assist with costs.
Lesley added: “We’re immensely grateful to all our funders, National Lottery-Awards for All, Aberdeenshire Council, Hugh Fraser Foundation, William Syson Foundation, and local business sponsors (Whittaker Engineering, Macphie Bakery and Firstdrive Cars) who have generously supported us to cover essential costs of staging the festival, linked activities and subsidised the poets’ expenses.
“In supporting the Wee Gaitherin, the funders allow us to ensure that the festival remains free to attend, draws in new audiences, and that working-class poets especially, and poets who would struggle financially to get here to take part, can share and showcase their work. They’re also helping to enhance the town’s reputation as a vibrant cultural destination.”
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