What's New

• 24 January 2012

  Robert Burns goes back to school with Celtic Connections

  

  This week pupils at Parkview Primary School in Glasgow were joined by a tribute to Scotland’s favourite son, Robert Burns, as they prepare to take to the stage for a unique performance at Celtic Connections.

  For the past two weeks Primary 3 pupils at the school have been learning about the life and times of Robert Burns, exploring his poetry and songs in preparation for what’s set to be a show-stopping performance at this year’s Celtic Connections, as part of the festival’s education concert series.

  The EventScotland funded initiative enables young people to learn about Scotland’s traditions and background as well as introducing them to cultures from across the world.

  On 25th January the musical pupils will take to the stage with the Celine Donoghue Band to perform a series of Robert Burns’ songs. Celine was a member of Scottish folk band Calasaig and has performed at high profile gigs across the globe, including the inaugural Burns Memorial Lecture given by Kofi Annan at the United Nations, New York in 2004.

  Click here to find out more on how EventScotland invests in literature

  Category: National Events
• 20 January 2012

  POC King and Queen of the Hill Announced For TweedLove

  

  TweedLove, the ten day Bike Festival set in the very bike-friendly Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders, has just announced a major new all-mountain enduro race to be staged at Forestry Commission Scotland’s Glentress on 27 May 2012. 

  In a new take on the gravity enduro format The King and Queen of the Hill, the first UK event to be sponsored by Swedish kit brand POC, will see riders compete to be crowned the ‘official ruler’ of Glentress, widely recognised as Britain’s best trail centre.

  The course will take riders to near the very top of Glentress Forest’s big hill, and then right back down again, by way of a series of timed race and linking stages, with riders required to have at least one uphill stage included in their overall points score. The King and Queen of the Hill also features a massive final descent stage, running from near Spooky Wood all the way back down to Peebles, with a big proportion of natural trails along the route.

  Entries for the race are now open on the TweedLove website - www.tweedlove.com -  which has more info on the race and the whole TweedLove programme – ten days of good times on and off the bike.

  Click here to find out more on how EventScotland invests in cycling

  Category: National Events
• 12 January 2012

  StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival brings world-class poetry to Scotland in an outstanding international line-up.

  

  StAnza brings world class line-up of international poets to St Andrews. Each year, StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival invites poets to Scotland from across the world. Some are coming to these shores for the first time and many who, though established in their own countries are little known here, go on to gain new audiences. For 2012, the line-up features two major poets based in the USA and poets from Palestine, New Zealand, Poland, Republic of Macedonia, Sweden and Holland.

  Based in the USA, Kwame Dawes was born in Ghana and raised in Jamaica. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and many books of fiction, non-fiction and drama. His collection, Hope’s Hospice (Peepal Tree), was published in May 2009. He is Distinguished Poet in Residence at the University of South Carolina and the programming director of the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica.

  Chase Twichell was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and has lived for many years in the Adirondacks. A practicing Buddhist, her work often reflects her spiritual practice and her experiences of the wilderness surrounding her. Horses Where the Answers Should Have Been: New and Selected Poems was published by Bloodaxe in 2010.

  Tusiata Avia is a poet, performer and children’s book writer. Of Samoan descent, she was born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand and attended Canterbury University before moving to Auckland and then overseas. From 1990 she spent time in Samoa, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Africa, before returning to New Zealand in 2001. She has published two collections of poetry, Wild Dogs Under My Skirt (2004), and Bloodclot (2009).

  Having such a wide variety of poets with overseas origins or connections makes StAnza a unique opportunity for cultural exchanges and for some inspiring ideas.

  For updates on StAnza’s programme, including events lists, participant biographies, sample poems and booking information, visit www.stanzapoetry.org.

  Category: National Events