Join Deborah Moffatt in conversation with Meg Bateman as they discuss Deborah’s latest poetry book, Càirdeas ’s Comain ’s Eòlas.
Deborah Moffatt is from Vermont (USA) and has lived in Scotland since 1982. She has published two English poetry collections, and two Gaelic poetry collections. Her fourth collection,Càirdeas ’s Comain ’s Eòlas, was published by CLÀR in 2024.
Càirdeas ’s Comain ’s Eòlas embraces relationships of every kind: friendship, love and respect, grief and honour. There is also hostility, harshness, and brutality. Many historic events make an appearance in the collection, together with daily encounters: from Lady Grange in St Kilda and the shadow of the owl in Cille Choirill. There are migrants and emigrants and pilgrims in these pages, with friendship, fellowship and obligations threading the poems together.
Meg Bateman, the crowned bard of An Comunn Gàidhealach, will be chairing this event.
This event is funded by Book Week Scotland. The event was originally scheduled for Book Week Scotland 2024 but was cancelled due to the bad weather, and so we will instead come together in the new year.
Leugh is Seinn le Linda sessions in the shop on Saturday 25 January have been cancelled due to adverse weather.
But sessions will be live on YouTube instead, so you can still join in the fun!
Leugh is Seinn le Linda sessions in the shop on Saturday 25 January have been cancelled due to adverse weather.
But sessions will be live on YouTube instead, so you can still join in the fun!
Thig dhan Phartaidh Nollaig againn airson seisean-leughaidh sònraichte loma làn sgeulachdan, gheamannan agus òrain airson àm na Nollaig! ‘S dòcha gum bi aoigh sònraichte a’ tighinn a chèilidh oirnn cuideachd!
Join Linda at our Christmas Party for a special session filled with stories, games and songs for Christmas. We’ll also have an appearance from a special guest!
Session 2 (11:00 AM – 11:45 AM) – Children aged 0-5
Please book forhere for the following session:
Session 1 (10:00 AM – 10:45 AM) – Children aged 0-5
Feumaidh tiogaid a bhith aig gach duine chloinne.
One ticket must be registered for each child.
*Please register for tickets using your child’s name. Parents do not need to register tickets for themselves.*
Thig dhan Phartaidh Nollaig againn airson seisean-leughaidh sònraichte loma làn sgeulachdan, gheamannan agus òrain airson àm na Nollaig! ‘S dòcha gum bi aoigh sònraichte a’ tighinn a chèilidh oirnn cuideachd!
Join Linda at our Christmas Party for a special session filled with stories, games and songs for Christmas. We’ll also have an appearance from a special guest!
Session 1 (10:00 AM – 10:45 AM) – Children aged 0-5
Please book for herefor the following session:
Session 2 (11:00 AM – 11:45 AM) – Children aged 0-5
Feumaidh tiogaid a bhith aig gach duine chloinne.
One ticket must be registered for each child.
*Please register for tickets using your child’s name. Parents do not need to register tickets for themselves.*
As part of Fair Saturday, the National Library of Scotland in collaboration with the Gaelic Books Council, is hosting an afternoon of Gaelic stories from different corners of Scotland, some true and some perhaps not.
Gaelic culture cannot be separated from its stories. The oral tales passed down the generations are histories and genealogies, as well as a good way to pass the hours on winter nights.
In the 18th and 19th centuries certain figures visited rural parts of Scotland to collect and commit to paper what they heard from the mouths of the locals – histories and rumors tangled with heroism and comedy. In this event storytellers Ronald Black and Alasdair Whyte will share these stories.
This event is suitable for people aged 16+ as the stories contain adult themes. Please note this event will be in Gaelic only, although English copies of the stories will be available.
About the storytellers
Ronald Black is an esteemed Gaelic academic and editor. His latest work ‘John Dewar’s Islay, Jura and Colonsay’ was published in September. The book contains more than fifty Gaelic stories and histories from Islay, Jura and Colonsay collected by John Dewar in 19th century.
Alasdair Whyte is a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, specialising in Celtic Onomatics (the study of names), as well as Gaelic folklore, linguistics, literature and song. He is a celebrated Gaelic poet and singer-songwriter in his own right.
Christopher Whyte will be reading in Gaelic and in English translation from his tenth collectionAthair/Father, which considers sexual abuse by a trusted family member with startling frankness and sensitivity.
Christopher Whyte is a Gaelic poet with many accolades. After a distinguished academic career teaching Scottish and Gaelic literature in Rome, Edinburgh and Glasgow, he moved to Budapest, Hungary in 2006, where he writes full-time. His work is characterised by its innovative, at times provocative, subject-matter, and by the resolute adoption of a European perspective.
As part of Push the Boat Out poetry festival, enjoy some of the best contemporary and traditional Gaelic poetry and music in a special event hosted by award-winning poet and singer, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. This showcase features poetry from Babs NicGriogair and music from singer-songwriter Rachel Walker, whose recently released album (her first in ten years) evokes love, affection and the human bonds that bind us.
We’ll also present work from a collaboration between poet Robbie Anndra MacLeòid and polymath and soundsmith Kapil Seshasayee, which was originally developed for Sradagan na Sràide – a partnership between Ceòl is Craic and Comhairle nan Leabhraichean (Gaelic Books Council) that provides a platform for the best musical and literary talents in Scottish/Gaelic arts to create new work together.
For Gaelic speakers and non-Gaelic speakers alike, this is a night not to be missed.
In 1940, in Barra in the Outer Hebrides, an 18-year-old woman, Flòraidh, is persuaded to leave her island home when she learns that her stepmother intends to marry her off to the local shopkeeper. She follows her enigmatic friend Lavinia to the city and changes her identity to Laura, like a butterfly, leaving her chrysalis behind, as they join the war effort.
