Performers

One of Scotland’s most celebrated writers, Liz Lochhead is a poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Appointed Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011, she held the title of Scotland’s Makar from 2011 to 2016.

Liz began performing poetry in the 1970s and her first collection of poems Memo for Spring won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award. She has since published numerous award-winning poetry collections, including The Colour of Black and White and Dreaming Frankenstein.

Liz uses Scots in various poems and is a champion of the aural and oral tradition of poetry reading. Her work also draws frequently upon aspects of Scottish history and culture.

Liz’s writing often reveals her roots in the West Central Scots dialect area. This is a large area, encompassing Scotland’s biggest city and many of its largest towns and its dialect shows great variety from place to place. 

Founding member of Orange Juice, James Kirk has continued to create and make music in various forms. Currently, with a truckload of songs in the wings, expect a new release and gigs sometime in 2022.

Ciara MacLaverty was born in Belfast, grew up on Islay and lives in Glasgow. She has published short stories and two pamphlets of poetry - Seats for Landing and Past Love in the Museum of Transport. In 2006, 'Peeled' was selected by Janice Galloway as one of 'The Best Scottish Poems of The Year.'  A New Writer's Award from the Scottish Book Trust followed in 2017. Commissions include poetry for Scottish Opera and Edinburgh Book Festival. She's been blogging for twenty years and is currently working on a memoir. 
The Times Literary Supplement described her as 'a born enthusiast.' 

Antonia Abbot is a writer, poet and spoken word artist based in the southside of Glasgow. She has three daughters and started her writing career after the birth of her first child. Her children serve as a constant inspiration for much of her work which contains a deep connection to motherhood but also looks at the human condition as a whole. She shows an ability to reach into the psyche and evoke an emotional response through her writing, much of which is a reaction to events that influence her and the world around her.

Eugene is a Glasgow born musician/songwriter who began writing and recording music in 1987 with The Vaselines.

The Vaselines released two singles and one LP on Edinburgh label 53rd & 3rd and remained in obscurity until Seattle band Nirvana recorded three of their songs.

The Vaselines song  'Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam was included on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged LP.

The Vaselines 1980s career was brief and ended with the band splitting up the week their debut album Dum Dum was released in 1989.

The Vaselines reformed for a one off support to Nirvana at Edinburgh Calton Studios in 1990. He was invited by Nirvana onstage at the 1991 Reading Festival to sing the Vaseline's song 'Molly's Lips' and his band Captain America went onto support Nirvana on the their U.K. 'Nevermind' tour.

Eugene continued to record and tour throughout the 1990s with new band 'eugenius' releasing LP's 'Oomalama' and 'Mary Queen Of Scots' on Atlantic Records.

Eugene has toured as a member of The Pastels and BMX Bandits and collaborated with members of Snow Patrol in The Reindeer Section and with members of Teenage Fanclub in Astro Chimp.

He has contributed vocals on Future Pilot track Beat Of A Drum and toured with Isobel Campbell as stand in vocalist for Mark Lanegan as she toured their album throughout Europe and the U.S.A.

His solo album 'Man Alive' was released in 2004 on Rev-Ola records in U.K. and Sympathy For The Record Industry in the U.S.A. and P-Vine Record in Japan

The Vaselines reformed in 2008 releasing albums Sex With An X on Sub Pop records in 2010 and V For Vaselines on Rosary Music in 2014 and they found a new audience for their music when touring Europe, USA, Japan and Brazil.

photo © Niall Webster

Starry Skies are Warren Starry Sky (vocals/guitar), Johnny Moondial (lead guitar), Heather Phillips (violin/vocals), Jen McKee (cello/vocals), Adam Scott (bass guitar/vocals) and Sophie Pragnell (viola/vocals).

The band are currently finishing their third album 'Do it with Love' and the single ‘Here Comes the Moon’ is the first single from the new album.

Last album, ‘Be Kind’, was released October 2018 and the follow-up to the band's debut ‘Ask the Animals’. It was produced and engineered respectively by Glasgow musical luminaries Johnny Smillie (Thrum) and Stevie Jackson (Belle & Sebastian) and recorded at Belle and Sebastian's rehearsal room & La Chunky studios. The album was mastered by Geoff Pesce at Abbey Road.

Be Kind was well received in the USA and in November Starry Skies played the Saturday night headline slot at the IPO Festival in New York. While there the band recorded live sessions for WFMU & Heat FM. Tracks from the album have been played regularly in Germany, France, Canada and Argentina plus a range of stations from the Western Isles to Tennessee.

Video for single ‘Be Kind’ - https://youtu.be/-iiUGpZghfY
Video for Starry Skies: https://youtu.be/oVxO-sTcxEU

• ‘Starry Skies’ - Single of the week – Afternoon show - BBC Radio Scotland
• Album of week / Be Kind featured in best tracks of 2018 on Roddy Hart Show
• Album of the week - BBC Radio nan Gàidheal
• Video of the month - Jock Rock
• UK Artist of the Week - The Vinyl Directory (Washington DC)

"Finest of the current crop... kind of off piste power-pop gem” - Clash Magazine
"Full of upbeat and uplifting pop - perfect for all seasons" - Rough Trade Records
"Starry Skies could just have provided the perfect soundtrack” - Scots Whay Hae
“Shimmering musicality, sweeping strings soar, creating a majestic grace” – Fortitude

Andrew Cattanach is a Glasgow-based writer and editor. He has published fiction in thi wurd, New Writing Scotland and Gutter magazine. A graduate of The Glasgow School of Art, he is a former reviewer and editor for The Skinny and gets by working as a freelance copy writer and magazine editor.

Alan McMunnigall was born in Glasgow. He is editor at thi wurd, which he founded in 2006 as a platform to put on literary events and support writers. Eventually thi wurd grew into an indie publisher that produces its own literary art, publishing an array of new and established writers/artists in book and magazine form.

Brendan Breslin was born in Glasgow in 1988. He studied an MA (Hons) Liberal Arts Literature degree at the University of Glasgow. His most recent fiction appeared in The Common Breath’s The Middle of a Sentence anthology (2020). He currently lives in Dumfries.

Gill Davies is a writer and radio producer from Helensburgh who lives on the loudest street in Glasgow. Her short stories have been published in thi wurd and From Glasgow to Saturn. Gill writes for the travel blog Spotted by Locals.

Kate McAllan is an artist and writer, based in Glasgow. She studied drawing and painting at the Edinburgh College of Art. Kate is a member of thi wurd. She is currently developing an illustrated collection of her short stories.

Katie Paterson is a writer from Glasgow. She completed a Literature RMA at Amsterdam University in 2015 and, after a stint in London, returned to Glasgow, joining thi wurd in 2018. She now works as a freelance content and copywriter. 

Born in Japan, Aya is an independent dance artist based in Glasgow. She has performed for numerous number of dance companies and independent choreographers past 15 years. She practices improvisation performance and is a member of Collective Endeavours and teaches at Royal Conservatoir of Scotland. She works with range of communities and groups and currently leads intergenerational company Wolfpack of Barrowland Ballet. Her work develops interdisciplinary, which are presented in galleries such as Tate, V&A museum of Childhood, Edinburgh Fruitmarket and Tramway to lead the education workshops and participatory performances. 

Nichola Scrutton

Nichola Scrutton is an award-winning composer, vocalist and artist with extensive experience as a collaborator in interdisciplinary and participatory contexts. She is currently developing a new body of work under the umbrella title Night Vision with support from Creative Scotland, and an album, due for release in 2022 supported by the PRS Foundation Open Fund.

nicholascrutton.co.uk

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103 - 109 French Street, Dalmarnock, Glasgow G40 4EH

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