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Association for Scottish Literature
@asls.org.uk
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Educational charity promoting the reading, writing, teaching & study of Scotland's literature & languages, past & present.

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · Aug 27
A CHAOS OF LIGHT
New Writing Scotland 43
Ed. Kirstin Innes, Chris Powici & Niall O’Gallagher

“writing that unsettles and challenges, that questions assumptions…A rich, boisterous, tender, charming, angry, sorrowful, gleeful mix”

Available now from all good bookshops!
💙📚
asls.org.uk/publications...
New Writing Scotland 43
Edited by Kirstin Innes, Chris Powici & Niall O’Gallagher Published in: Paperback, 184 pages By: Association for Scottish Literature, Glasgow, August 2025 Price: £9.95 ISBN: 9781906841669 Cover image…
asls.org.uk
Reposted by Association for Scottish Literature
strongmisgiving.bsky.social
The most dangerous part of being a writer is that my phone constantly tries to convince me I mean 'punished' when I'm trying to say 'published' and having to catch that before I hit send on posts so that I'm not declaring that "I've been punished"
November 25, 2025 at 12:41 PM
asls.org.uk
“Scottishness is not some pedigree lineage. This is a mongrel tradition!”

William McIlvanney (1936–2015) – author & poet (& provider, at a rally in Edinburgh in 1992, of our profile header, as quoted in Neal Ascherson’s 2002 book STONE VOICES) – was born #OTD, 25 November

A 🎂 🧵
💙📚
1/9
And then, in a tone of tremendous pride, he said this. “Scottishness is not some pedigree lineage. This is a mongrel tradition!” At those words, for reasons which perhaps neither he nor they ever quite understood, the crowd broke into cheers and applause which lasted on and on.
November 25, 2025 at 2:06 PM
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drcleoocy.bsky.social
Looking forward to discussing our new research into the Burns Supper at 225 Years in January!

Tickets now available for the 2026 @glasgowburns.bsky.social conference @uofgarc.bsky.social 👇🏼 all very welcome - do share widely!

#BurnsSupper225Years
glasgowburns.bsky.social The Centre for Robert Burns Studies @glasgowburns.bsky.social · 1h
Join us in Glasgow on Saturday 17th January 2026 for the next Centre for Robert Burns Studies conference, to be held @uofgarc.bsky.social in collaboration with @n-t-s.bsky.social, centring around the Burns Supper.

Tickets and full programme here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for...

All welcome!
Centre for Robert Burns Studies Conference
A conference exploring the life, work, and legacy of Robert Burns, this year celebrating the 225th anniversary of the Burns Supper
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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asls.org.uk
McIntosh Lecture: “Scots as a Cinderella Language”
9 Dec, Glasgow – free & all welcome

Professor Joanna Kopaczyk-McPherson will ask how has the story of Scots been told, & what are the perceptions created
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mcintosh-l...
McIntosh Lecture: 'Scots as a Cinderella Language'
Professor Joanna Kopaczyk-McPherson will ask how has the story of Scots been told, and what are the perceptions created.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 1:57 PM
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histparl.bsky.social
Tonight Natalee Garrett will be speaking at the IHR Parliaments, Politics & People Seminar where she will be discussing her paper on 'Jane, Duchess of Gordon and the Romanticisation of Scottish Identity in London, c.1780-1812'.

Details of how to attend online can be found below:
‘A Tartan Belle’: Jane, Duchess of Gordon and the Romanticisation of Scottish Identity in London, c.1780-1812
Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.
www.history.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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murrayp.bsky.social
Congrats to Suping Li on winning the Roy Prize for best PhD in Scotlit in 2025. A pleasure to supervise her work on the reception of Robert Burns in China, the third of my former PhDs to win this award @glasgowburns.bsky.social @iassl.bsky.social @asls.org.uk ucsl-scotland.com/2025/11/24/r...
Ross Roy Prize – 2025 Winner Announced
The Ross Roy Prize is awarded annually to the best PhD thesis submitted on a subject relating to Scottish literature. Judged by a panel of expert scholars, the Prize commemorates the outstanding co…
ucsl-scotland.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:02 AM
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scottishpen.bsky.social
Thank you, Omar El Akkad, for your powerful words of truth & resistance.
"If we are to do this work of language, we have an obligation to stand in opposition to any force...that if left unchecked would happily decimate every principle of free expression & connection that we come here to celebrate."
dropsitenews.com Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 3d
Omar El Akkad spoke after winning the 2025 National Book Award for nonfiction for “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” his book on the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. He accepted the award at a gala in New York City this week.
November 24, 2025 at 6:03 PM
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brookmyre.bsky.social
I'm heading to Waterstones Nottingham Thursday. Come along and hear Marisa and me discuss Ambrose Parry and the forthcoming Quite Ugly One Evening.
www.waterstones.com/.../an-eveni...
November 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
asls.org.uk
The night tinkles like ice in glasses.
Leaves are glued to the pavement with frost.
The brown air fumes at the shop windows,
Tries the doors, and sidles past…

—Norman MacCaig, “November Night”
published in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2011)
#poem #poetry
birlinn.co.uk/product/the-...
Norman MacCaig November night, Edinburgh The night tinkles like ice in glasses. Leaves are glued to the pavement with frost. The brown air fumes at the shop windows, Tries the doors, and sidles past. I gulp down winter raw. The heady Darkness swirls with tenements. In a brown fuzz of cottonwool Lamps fade up crags, die into pits. Frost in my lungs is harsh as leaves Scraped up on paths. – I look up, there, A high roof sails, at the mast-head Fluttering a grey and ragged star. The world’s a bear shrugged in his den. It’s snug and close in the snoring night. And outside like chrysanthemums The fog unfolds its bitter scent.
November 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
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phdhurtbrain.bsky.social
Impossible how good reading is. You mean I just point my face at the paper for a bit and it does a whole update on my brain?
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
asls.org.uk
Reading Scotland with Margaret Bennet
Why Scotland Celebrates St Andrew's Day
2 Dec, online – free

Dr Margaret Bennet talks about the relevance of celebrating St Andrew’s Day today & dives into the origins of this national holiday
www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scot...
READING SCOTLAND with Margaret Bennett Why Scotland Celebrates St Andrew's Day Tuesday 2nd December 2025 6.00–7.30 pm (German time) on MS Teams www.scotland.uni-mainz.de
November 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
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paulwhitelaw.bsky.social
Far too many to choose from, the man is an actual comic genius, but the 1985 TV special An Audience With Billy Connolly is one of the most relentlessly hilarious stand-up comedy sets ever captured on tape. A masterclass.

"Saddle up and ride your pony..."
sodisappointed.bsky.social So Disappointed @sodisappointed.bsky.social · 1d
Happy Birthday, Billy.

Terry feels proud knowing they’re from the same place as one of the world’s greatest comedians.

What’s YOUR favourite Billy Connolly routine?

#BillyConnolly
November 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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williammeikle.com
New interview with me in The Black Stone Magazine ( Das Magazin für Fantasy, Horror und SF )

In English: blackbookmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/11/an-i...

In German: blackbookmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/11/ein-...
An Interview with the author William Meikle
The Black Stone Magazine - Das Onlinemagazin für Fantasy, Horror und SF
blackbookmagazine.blogspot.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
asls.org.uk
Investigating Irish & Scottish Women Writers of Children’s Literature
12 Dec @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social – free

Exploring regional & national identities in children’s literature c.1750–1940 – an era of major cultural & political upheaval in Ireland & Scotland
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/investigat...
Investigating Irish & Scottish Women Writers of Children's Literature
A one-day symposium on Irish and Scottish women writers of children's literature between 1750 and 1940.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 3:43 PM
asls.org.uk
Computer’s First Christmas Card: a Poetry/Coding workshop
4 Dec, Glasgow – free

Inspired by Edwin Morgan’s poem, attendees at this Poetry/Coding workshop will code a festive poem & leave with a handmade Christmas card! No experience of coding or poetry necessary
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/computers-...
Computer's First Christmas Card: a Poetry/Coding workshop
Poetry Coding Workshop with the Edwin Morgan Collection. An introduction to coding and poetry with Michael Mullen and Claire Quigley.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 3:33 PM
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olgawojtas.bsky.social
Book post! Can't wait to read the latest by the fabulous @shonamaclean.bsky.social. Published by @quercusbooks.bsky.social, in bookshops in Feb.
November 24, 2025 at 3:07 PM
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katelaity.bsky.social
‘Many make a large fortune, who remain underbred and pathetically stupid to the last.’
asls.org.uk Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 1d
“Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.”
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
November 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Reposted by Association for Scottish Literature
peterarnott.bsky.social
A role model for all Scottish writers when afflicted with Calvinism.
asls.org.uk Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 1d
“Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.”
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
November 24, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Reposted by Association for Scottish Literature
neildrysdale.bsky.social
Happy 83rd birthday to Billy Connolly. Here’s the story of how he and Gerry Rafferty appeared at an Arbroath club for the princely sum of £28. Within two years, they were on “Parkinson” and “Top of the Pops.”https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/past-times/2275831/arbroath-billy-connolly-gerry-rafferty/
Were you at the Arbroath folk club where Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty performed for £28?
It was a venue which attracted the cream of the crop through its doors during the Swinging Sixties - including several Scots who subsequently earned
www.thecourier.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 11:23 AM
asls.org.uk
“Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself.”
—“An Apology for Idlers”
Robert Louis Stevenson (1877)
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69825
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Reposted by Association for Scottish Literature
imaginedspaces.bsky.social
The Voyage Out Press invites all to the launch of Roderick Watson's new poetry book @ Dundee Uni Library, 5pm 10/11/25 Free & open to all; to book pp.events/bq8B5y7K
“These are poems made to last, to return to, to keep giving. And they do.” (Alan Riach) @asls.org.uk @byleaveswelive.bsky.social
You're invited to "Book Launch & Reading." Tap here to RSVP - Paperless Post Flyer
pp.events
November 23, 2025 at 6:31 PM
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penfielding.bsky.social
Spent the weekend reading this. When you give it the time that readers had in 1820s, it becomes compulsive. A thriller with a twisty plot, multiple well-drawn characters, and a narrative that keeps everything in place.
November 23, 2025 at 6:01 PM
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nearit.bsky.social
‘I have the powers of exorcism,’ Dougal said, ‘that’s all.’

‘What’s that?’

‘The ability to drive devils out of people.’

‘I thought you said you were a devil yourself.’

‘The two states are not incompatible.’

(Muriel Spark, The Ballad of Peckham Rye)
November 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
asls.org.uk
I’m seeking a young, clever woman, cute enough
to prompt a smile, armed with enough pity for
the dregs of the universe…

—Tracey S. Rosenberg, “The Time Lord’s Job Advertisement”
published in THE FLIGHT OF THE TURTLE: New Writing Scotland 29 (ASL, 2011)
A #sciencefiction #poem for #DoctorWhoDay
Tracey S. Rosenberg The Time Lord’s Job Advertisement I’m seeking a young, clever woman, cute enough to prompt a smile, armed with enough pity for the dregs of the universe. Your tears, frequent but not excessive, would be a charming grace note to my stoic ability to leap towards the next crisis (or to kill, when I decide that’s an act of mercy). When chaos erupts, be prepared to run across sand or grass or slivered emeralds, clutching treasures. (Nebula eggs? Sacred books bound in the queen’s flesh? After the danger, I can explain their importance, and pat your shoulder as you cry again.) If you collect trinkets, you can lay them out in stark rows and ponder, with a light smile, each glittering memory. Don’t fall in love. Long hours a given and by the Gods, you must care. Stay curious – you will learn such strangeness here – and brighten at each fresh spark of wonder I provide you. Ask many questions, and appreciate my answers. Glean useful hints from the natives, even if they have scales or gobble their food upside down, and inform me at opportune times so I may instantly produce the solution. Under no circumstance will you prove me wrong. Strip down your pride. Don’t second-guess me and stop pretending to know what you’re doing. You’ll ask for my help whether you like it or not. Space is bordered by an iron-spiked fence; time collapses into how, this moment, you can assist me. Don’t even think about losing that key. At some hour, I’ll glance across this console, watching you coax your treasures into place, and I’ll know from the tilt of your head that you’re dreaming of spiral torrents – stars spiked into the arch of a tent beneath which we two twine white-hot at infinity’s core. Your final tears will come after I push you out the too-small door, grinning my pitiless smile. Stand bewildered on a pavement, clutching a string bag of tawdry souvenirs. Whirl to seek what vanishes behind you. Save your pity. Stop crying.
November 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
asls.org.uk
Wha’s Doctor Wha? Wha better kens nor he
that jouks the yetts and rides the birlin wheels
o time and space, shape-shiftin as he reels
through endless versions o reality…

—James Robertson, “Doctor Wha”
in WHERE ROCKETS BURN THROUGH (2012) , ed @russjoneswrites.bsky.social
A #poem for #DoctorWhoDay
Doctor Wha by James Robertson Wha’s Doctor Wha? Wha better kens nor he that jouks the yetts and rides the birlin wheels o time and space, shape-shiftin as he reels through endless versions o reality? Bit dis he ken himsel? Weel, mibbe sae, yet wha’s tae ken gin aw that’s kent by Wha maks mair or less or better sense ava nor whit we ithers ken, or think we dae? The universe is fou o parallels: wha’s like us? Hunners? Thoosans? We oorsels micht be mere glisks o life-forms yet tae be. Whit’s real? Whaur’s here? When’s noo? Wha’s quick or deid? Wha’s jist a thochtie in anither’s heid? Wha’s Doctor Wha? Wha better kens nor he?
November 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM