My little soda pop
Community events and open calls for writers & writing
Hi, welcome to The Good Egg Project Newsletter!
This week’s newsletter title is borrowed from Soda Pop by Saja Boys, Andrew Choi and Neckwav (I watched K-Pop Demon Hunters last week, which finally nudged Epic the Musical out of my ears. Welcome to the next batch of newsletter titles).
We’re barrelling towards festival season in Edinburgh. The Fringe is only a few weeks away, which means our streets are about to get even more packed and unruly as we welcome performers, crew, artists, hospitality staff, and tourists to this vibrant little corner of the world.
If you’re a Scotland-based performer or organisation bringing something to the stage this festival season, please fill out this form as I’m looking for listings for this year’s Fringe round-up. There’s a plethora of talent coming to the city and I love to see it, but this list will be highlighting our local creatives who make up Scotland’s wonderful cultural and literary scenes year-round.
They’ve created these shows for Fringe, but they’ve been hard at work writing new words, testing material at open mics and scratch nights, asking friends and fellow writers to look over drafts and help them move in the right direction, so the least I can do is put a spotlight on those people and ensure the creative community continues to thrive when all the posters and billboards come down in September.
So, performers, poets, theatre makers, artists, musicians, and all other writers and creatives, get in touch with your festival pieces and reach out to our fabulous community of creative writers.
Community events
Join Kelvingrove Writers at Dram in Glasgow this month for editorial and creative writing sessions. Their Monday meetings on July 14 and 28 will be creative writing sessions and this Tuesday, July 8, will be another editorial night. Spaces are limited for editorials and so KGW does kindly request that you only RSVP to an editorial session if you’ve been to at least one writing session before. For all other sessions newcomers are more than welcome!
Message KGW on Instagram to RSVP
Join guest host Dale McPhail at Inn Deep in Glasgow, tonight, Tuesday, July 8, for an evening of poetry. Sign ups will be open on the night, so get down to Inn Deep early to secure a spot.
Follow Poetry at Inn Deep on Instagram to stay up to date with their events
Flourish is back on Wednesday, July 9, at Mcchuills Bar in Glasgow. Join host Emma Dee for another night of music and poetry at this free to enter event. If you’d like to sign up for a slot or for future Flourish events, get in touch with Emma and Cee on Instagram.
Find out more about Flourish and stay up to date with their events on Instagram
The crisps are crunching into The Glad Cafe in Glasgow’s Southside this Wednesday, July 9 from 7-9pm. They’re joined by an absolute smashing lineup of readers! You may have noticed Crisp Packet has recently changed venues, and if the change of venue to proves prohibitive to you, the Crisp Packet team encourages you to submit a request for financial support from their access fund. They have an access fund in place to provide financial support (no questions asked) for those in need of travel support, childcare support, carer support, and other forms of access needs to ensure you don’t miss out on their events.
Find out more about Crisp Packet on Instagram
Marginalia: Scribbling in the Margins of Scottish Culture
Join hosts and organisers Kevin P. Gilday and Nasim Rebecca Asl at The Stand Comedy Club in Glasgow on Wednesday, July 9. This time, they’re welcoming iconic stand-up and one third of Here Comes the Guillotine podcast, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, novelist, playwright and performer, Alan Bissett, award-winning poet, Iona Lee and writer and musician Carrie Marshall.
Book tickets on The Stand website
Hotchpotch is back this Wednesday, July 9, at Blend in Dundee. Hotchpotch is an open-mic night where each reader gets a five-minute slot on a first-come basis to share poems, stories, and comedy. There’s absolutely no pressure to read—many people come along just to be part of the audience, and that’s more than welcome! Doors open at 6.00 pm, and readings will begin at 6.30 pm.
Learn more about Hotchpotch on Facebook
Kelvingrove Writers x Glasgow Women’s Library guided tour and creative writing workshop
Kelvingrove Writers are working with Glasgow Women's Library to offer KGW members a visit to the Glasgow Women’s Library! You’ll be getting a guided tour of the library, followed by a wee writing workshop responding to what you’ve seen and read. You are eligible to attend if you have been to at least one KGW session before!
The trip is free, and there is the option to contribute to a group donation to support the library and its work. KGW is expecting spots to fill up quick so get in touch and book your place!
Find out more or get in touch with KGW on Instagram
Join host and storyteller Dougie Mackay at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh on Thursday, July 10, for an evening of storytelling, music, and artistry. This month, Dougie is joined by storyteller Daiva Ivanauskaitė, artist and musician Miwa Nagato-Agthorp, and multidisciplinary artist and Scots singer Josie Vallely.
Get tickets for Heart Fire Sessions on the SSC website
Loud Poets Slam Series Inverness Heat
The Loud Poets are at The Bike Shed in Inverness this Saturday, July 12, for their last slam heat of the season! This is the final qualifier for their Grand Slam Final, which takes place next month at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The winner of the Inverness Heat will receive £200 and the chance to compete against 9 other finalists for the £3,000 prize and the title of Loud Poets Grand Slam Champion 2025!
Get tickets for the Inverness Heat on Eventbrite
Fringe 2025 Spoken Word Preview
Candlelight Open Mic is hosting this Fringe 2025 Spoken Word Preview at The Old Toll Bar in Glasgow on Monday, July 14. The evening will feature 10 poets with solo shows at this year’s PBH Free Fringe performing 10 minute tasters of their shows. So far, India de Bono, Stephen Durkan, Dean Tsang, Meron McCardle, Spencer Mason, and Shannon O’Neill have been announced as part of the line-up!
Find out more about the Spoken Word Preview on the Candlelight Instagram
Speakin' Weird spoken word night is back on Monday, July 14, at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. This month they’re welcoming headliner Lucy Beth. You can sign up to perform on the night from 7.30 pm. Bring your poems, your prose, stories, comedy and anything else you have to say. Tickets are £4 or £3 for students, unwaged people, and OAPs.
Get more information about Speakin’ Weird from this post
Comfort & Disturb: A Creative Writing Workshop with Kirsty Strang-Roy
Join writer Kirsty Strang-Roy for a two-hour online creative writing workshop on Tuesday, July 15, where writers of all levels can explore the 2025 festival theme of Comfort & Disturb in preparation for this year's writing competition. Through generative prompts, sensory writing, and reflective exercises, you’ll explore how stories can both soothe and unsettle. How words can offer comfort. How they can resist, provoke, and rewrite the narrative in times of uncertainty. This session is open-ended, pressure-free, and designed to spark ideas. There’s no expectation to share your work, and you're welcome to engage in any format that feels right for you.
Get pay-what-you-can tickets on Citizen Ticket
Join Toppings Edinburgh bookseller Colby for the first session of the bookshop’s new Black Fiction reading group on Tuesday, July 15. This session will focus on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. The novel follows the lives of a post-depression family in Ohio, blending searing cultural critique and coming-of-age tale. There’s no need to prepare, but please feel free to discuss any passages or characters that you found especially memorable.
Toppings has a wide range of reading groups on throughout the month as well, including the Contemporary Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reading Group, Poetry Reading Group, Tiny Tales Picture Book Reading Group, Feminist Fiction Reading Group, Queer Fiction Reading Group, and the Science Fiction Reading Group (different to the Contemporary Sci-Fi and Fantasy group).
Book tickets for the BFRG on the Toppings website and browse their event programme here
Comfort & Disturb: A Creative Writing Workshop with Jo Gilbert
WayWord Festival is running a free creative workshop on Wednesday, July 16 in partnership with the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival ahead of their annual competition! In a welcoming and supportive space at the Sir Duncan Rice Library in Aberdeen, poet and writer Jo Gilbert will delve into the theme of this year’s festival ‘Comfort & Disturb’ and look at ways you might approach each section of the competition – fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction.
Book your space on Ticket Source
Kitchen Table: An evening of food with Twelve Triangles’ Emily Cuddeford & Rachel Morgan
The Edinburgh Bookshop is welcoming Twelve Triangles' founders Emily Cuddeford and Rachel Morgan to the bookshop to celebrate recipes from their first cookbook, Kitchen Table: Simple Things Made Well. Join Emily, Rachel and the Edinburgh Bookshop team on Thursday, July 17, for a talk and some delicious samples from the book made for you to taste on the night!
Book tickets on The Edinburgh Bookshop website
Persistent & Nasty x _and friends Scratch Night
Persistent & Nasty and _and friends are hosting their next scratch night on Sunday, July 20, at The Old Hairdressers in Glasgow. They’ll be showcasing new work from theatre writers Marnie Thomson, Louise Oliver, Titana Muthui, and Lindsey Campbell, performance by Andrea and Jen Kelly, and spoken word from Sarah Grant.
Get tickets on Skiddle
Join writer and poet Ralf Webb at Toppings Edinburgh on Thursday, July 24, for an evening of poetry and conversation with chair and bookseller Sanna Wearn. Ralf Webb is the author of Rotten Days in Late Summer, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, and the nonfiction book Strange Relations, which was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. His poems, essays, and fiction have appeared widely, including in the London Review of Books, Fantastic Man, Granta and the Guardian. Sanna and Ralf will be talking about his new poetry collection Highway Cottage which weaves the story of a strange homecoming.
Get tickets on the Toppings Edinburgh website
The Chicken Coop Writing Group Open Mic
Join me and The Good Egg Project Writers on Tuesday, July 29, from 6.30-9.30 pm for an open mic special celebrating our writers and their work. We’ll be at Lost in Leith Bar and Fermentaria for this evening of performances and readings from our writing community and I would love to see you there to support our writers! There’ll be poetry, prose, comedy, songs, and so much more showcasing the depth of talent of our community of creative writers. If you’ve ever wondered what we write at the Coop, Words and Friends, the Good Egg Community Writing Groups, and our other events, this is an evening you don’t want to miss!
Get tickets on Eventbrite
Join In Solidarity Edinburgh at Lighthouse Books in Edinburgh on Tuesday, July 29 for an evening of poetry, solidarity and fundraising for Palestinian families in Gaza. They’re joined by writers Shasta Ali, Sunnah Khan, Andrés Ordorica, Zain Rishi and Tisya Sanchez. This event is raising desperately-needed funds for families in Gaza. As the Scottish and the UK governments are active partners in Israel’s genocide, ISE says we all have a part to play in providing material support to families in Gaza, many of whom have been displaced multiple times and are struggling to survive Israel’s deadly ongoing blockade. Mutual aid is a deeply meaningful act of solidarity.
Tickets are by donation with a suggested minimum donation of £20. All proceeds will be sent directly to families in Gaza. Where possible, generosity is encouraged. There will be occasion to make donations on the night too.
Tickets are available on the Lighthouse Books website
Open calls for writers and writing
Working It Out Call Out for Performers
Theatre 118 and Short Attention Span Theatre are looking for acts for their next Working It Out event on Thursday, July 31, at Theatre 118 in Glasgow. They have enough play extracts, but are open to work from stand-ups, poets, novelists, and anything else you want to share. Email info@shortattentionspantheatre.co.uk to secure a spot and get more information. There is no stated deadline, but the event is at the end of July, so get your submissions in as soon as possible.
Get more information about Working It Out on the SAST website
Gutter Magazine Issue 33 Guest Reader
Gutter is seeking one enthusiastic Guest Reader to help select work for their forthcoming issue. The Reader will be appointed for Issue 33. Please note they’re inviting applications from candidates who identify as POC. Applicants should be based in Scotland. This is a paid opportunity. The deadline for applications is Friday, July 25.
Find more details about applications on Gutter’s website
Emerging Writer Fellowship in Hybrid Writing
The Emerging Writer Fellowship in Hybrid Writing offers editorial support, guidance, and mentorship to previously unpublished writers who demonstrate exceptional promise in hybrid and cross-genre writing. The fellow will work alongside the Brink editorial team to prepare their piece for publication. The virtual fellowship takes place over a period of four months in the fall and provides the following one-on-one developmental editing with an emphasis on developing the innovative hybrid aspects of the selected piece, advice and guidance on career development via the submission and publication process, publication in a print issue of Brink, and four copies of the journal issue in which the winning submission appears.
The fellowship is open to all writers and artists who identify their work as hybrid or cross-genre in nature or who are interested in the process of learning how to hybridize their work in a readable, creative manner. The deadline for submissions is Thursday, July 31. Please note, there is a $22 one-time submission fee for this opportunity.
Find out more on the Brink Literary website
Perverse is open for submissions of strange and unusual poems for its ninth issue. They publish poems by weekly digital newsletter which are deliberate, obstinate, unreasonable or unacceptable, contrary to the expected practice. You can send up to 3 unpublished poems and you’ll receive decisions by the end of September. The deadline to submit is Thursday, July 31.
Read the guidelines and submit using this Google Form
Submissions at Birmingham-based The Emma Press are opening on Friday, August 1. They’re open to submissions of novellas, short story collections, poetry pamphlets, essay books, children’s fiction, and children’s poetry. If you need some guidance on submitting your manuscripts and work, TEP team has a handy guide to submitting on their website, as well as eligibility criteria, FAQs, response time information and so much more. The deadline for submissions is Friday, August 15.
Head to The Emma Press website for more information
Thanks for reading!
I’m still looking for a few performers and readers to share their work with us at our Chicken Coop Open Mic special on Tuesday, July 29, from 6.30-9.30 pm at Lost in Leith Bar and Fermentaria.
This month, I’m handing the mic over to you, our writers, to share your words and celebrate our community.
If you’ve been to the Chicken Coop Writing Group, Words and Friends, the Good Egg Community Writing Group, or you’ve used our prompts to create something, I want to hear from you! You can share poetry, prose, comedy, fiction, non-fiction, theatre, (unplugged) songs, or whatever else you’ve created through The Good Egg Project.
The deadline to sign up for a slot is this Friday, July 11, just get in touch with me through Substack or Instagram to secure a spot. We’ve already got a beautiful line up of writers, but we’d love to hear from more of you to make this a very special celebration before we take a break over August and September.
There’s no pressure to perform with us, but if you’re a community member who’d like to come along and support your fellow writers, you can get a ticket for the Chicken Coop open mic on Eventbrite.
Until next week, take care of each other,
Naomi
P.s. Do you know a writer looking for a community of hilarious and playful creatives? Send them this newsletter to connect them with more events and opportunities for writers curated by a writer.