Part of where I'm going is knowing where I'm coming from
Community events and open calls for writers & writing
Hey! What’s up?! How’s it going?
This week’s newsletter title is borrowed from I Don’t Want To Be by Gavin DeGraw. Yeah, I was a One Tree Hill fan once upon a time.
I feel like I blinked, and it’s March. Does anyone have any idea how that happened?
Last Friday, I was in Glasgow for the launch of Glyph Magazine’s second issue, Foreign. I have been lucky enough to have my first creative nonfiction piece published in this issue and was invited to read it at the launch.
You can read Glyph issue two on their website.
We heard from the editorial team: Sofia, Rach, Eleanor, and Giovanni. They spoke about their journeys as writers and shared the story of their first year in making a literary magazine for the casual writer and how they are creating space for writers to get their work in print. The issue’s Editor in Chief, Sofia, also opened up about what the theme, foreign, meant to her.
Sofia made some excellent points about what it means to be foreign, to be a stranger and an outsider, and to try to find your place in the world. She spoke about how we build belonging and our sense of home, how the people we find become part of that rich tapestry of self and place at the same time. It reminded me of living abroad. It reminded me of the things I loved about being a stranger and how I still feel strange here in Scotland, five years after moving back.
It was a thoughtful and insightful opening before we heard from several of the writers published in the issue, including Fiona Nicol, Moir McCallum, Alasdair Watson, Holly Fleming-Gunn, P. W. Garrick, and myself.
I had a great time listening to everyone’s stories, which explored foreignness through different lenses. From Moir’s Foreign Affairs, I remembered the freedom of living abroad and leaving everything behind, the boundless space to be whoever I wanted to be without getting hung up on who I was before and who I think I should be going forward. To P. W. Garrick’s look at how kindness and love can change a life and help create belonging even when we’re made to feel like outsiders and how we hold onto that when anger and resentment rage around us and bump into us.
Each story shared that evening, and all the others printed in the magazine, are a reminder of the importance of sharing our work and our words. They help us to understand each other. To figure out that we are not alone, they allow us to understand how we and others find belonging and how we build our sense of home and place.
So, with this experience in mind, I’m happy to announce that this month’s writing theme is belonging and home. That means our community writing prompts and events will focus on our sense of place and self and how that’s informed by the people around us and the communities we belong to.
Become a paying subscriber today to get the first of our prompts next Monday!
Community events
Flourish returns tonight, Tuesday, March 4, at Mcchuills Bar in Glasgow. This month’s Flourish includes a special launch for Finola Scott's new collection of poetry. Trembling Earth. This new pamphlet looks at the impact and threat of Climate Change on our daily lives. Throughout, Finola encourages us to appreciate what is at risk, to pay attention to the small everyday magic that surrounds us. Open mic slots are also available. Message host and organiser Emma Dee on Instagram if you fancy a slot.
Get more information about Flourish on Instagram
Sophie Lewis on Enemy Feminisms
Not all feminisms are created equal, nor do they have the same goals. But Lighthouse Books’ feminism is always antifascist and intersectional. Over the coming months, they’re hosting a number of authors who are boldly exploring new territories in feminist thinking and struggle - its pitfalls and its immense possibilities. This Tuesday, March 4, they’re welcoming Sophie Lewis to Leith Hall to speak on Enemy Feminisms, from 19th-century imperial feminists and police officers to pornophobes and TERF feminists. The event will be chaired by Nat Raha.
Book your tickets on the Lighthouse Books website
Join The Sad Song Club at the World Famous Sketchy Beats on Wednesday, March 5, for a night of music performed by people who'd much rather be anywhere but the present moment. Sign-ups are on the door from 7 pm, and host Dan Collins will try and get the ball rolling around 7.30 pm. Entry is by donation, but it’s a free night, and no-one can make you give money, but Dan and the SSC encourage everyone to contribute a small gratuity to the venue to help keep the beats sketchy for future generations.
To stay up to date with future SSC events, follow them on Instagram
Push the Boat Out’s open mic returns for the first time in 2025 this Thursday, March 6. Hosts Catherine Wilson Garry and Julia Sorensen are at their new venue, Inspace Gallery, from 7-9 pm. This month they’re featuring screenwriter, playwright, and poet laureate, Zach Polis. Pre-registration slots are closed, but the RTB team encourage you to go along to listen or to see if you can snag any spare spaces on the door.
For more information about Rock the Boat, follow Push the Boat Out on Instagram
Gathering Ground invites you to their space in Glasgow for an evening of Chai, Chaat & Poetry on Saturday, March 8. This is the first of their regular gatherings. Creating space for togetherness, sharing experiences and being in community. Gathering Ground believes getting together should be as simple as sharing some good heartwarming food and engaging in a meaningful way. The theme of Chai & Chaat night will change (this time it’s Poetry & Spoken Word) but they will always serve homemade Chai Tea & Chaat Platters (delicious Indian Small Bites).
Book tickets on Eventbrite
Quiet Experiments: a poetry workshop
Join writer and poet Alycia Pirmohamed on Sunday, March 9 for this online poetry workshop in collaboration with the87press. ‘Somewhere beneath this poem,’ writes Victoria Adukwei Bulley, ‘is the one you sat down to write.’ What lives in the space between said and unsaid? How do our inherited narratives and embodied truths unfold in many kinds of quiet on the page? In this workshop, you will look at poems from Bulley’s transformative debut collection Quiet to think about quiet as technique, quiet as form, and quiet as the body’s logbook. The session will include close reading, discussion, and writing exercises.
Get a ticket for this workshop on Eventbrite
The wonderful Kelvingrove Writers return to Dram in Glasgow on Monday, March 10. This month, they’re hosting not one, not two, but three sessions, including their first-ever editorial night on Wednesday, March 19. So, as well as their usual creative writing and community events, they’ll be making space for you to get feedback from the community. Spaces are limited for March 19, so RSVP to Kelvingrove Writers on Instagram to secure your spot.
Stay up to date with KGW or RSVP for their events on Instagram
Bright Futures Sci-Fi Book Club: The Dispossessed
The Bright Futures Sci-Fi Book Club returns to Lighthouse Books on Monday, March 10. This month, they’ll be discussing Ursula K Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. The book follows Shevek, a brilliant scientist who is attempting to find a new theory of time - but some are jealous of his work and will do anything to block him. Shevek leaves his homeland, hoping to find a place of more liberty and tolerance. Initially feted, Shevek soon finds himself being used as a pawn in a deadly political game. With powerful themes of freedom, society, and the natural world's influence on competition and cooperation, The Dispossessed is a true classic of the 20th century.
Book your ticket for Bright Futures on the Lighthouse Books website
Poetry Night: Oluwaseun Olayiwola with Alycia Primohamed
Join poet and choreographer Oluwaseun Olayiwola for the Edinburgh launch of his book Strange Beach at Lighthouse Books on Tuesday, March 11. Intimate and erotic, ecological and philosophical, the poems in Strange Beach illuminate the body as a porous landscape across which existential dramas, filial fractures, and sexual reckonings occur. The collection ventures across the same ‘Atlantic Ocean’ as Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, which is the same ‘Atlantic Ocean’ in Lowell’s Life Studies, to reveal a queer consciousness deeply steeped in poetic traditions of nuanced confession and moving abstraction.
Get your tickets on the Lighthouse Books website
Clowning Through The Week with Mairi-Claire
Join Hame-ish Arts’ Mairi-Claire Traynor at The Melting Pot in Edinburgh on Wednesday, March 12, for the first session of Clowning Through The Week. Mairi-Claire will lead this fun, lighthearted series of taster sessions where you can unwind, let go, and be unapologetically you! No skills or planning needed, just join in with the games and laughter, and build new connections.
Book your tickets through the Melting Pot website
Introduction to British Sign Language (BSL)
all things BSL is at Southside Community Centre in Edinburgh on Friday, March 14, with this hour-long session introducing beginners of all ages to BSL. all things BSL wants to make public services more accessible to BSL users by making BSL more accessible to the public - so if you’re interested in learning head along! Tickets are £10 per person on arrival.
Get in touch with the organisers to secure a spot on Facebook
An Evening of Poetry in Czech, English, and Gaelic
The Czech Literary Centre and Kulturalis is hosting this evening with Petr Hruška, widely considered one of the most important Czech poets, at Biggleston Books in Glasgow on Friday, March 14. Petr will be launching the English edition of his prize-winning collection, translated by Joshua Mensch as I Caught Sight of My Face (Kulturalis, 2024). Based on The First Voyage around the World, written exactly 500 years earlier by Antonio Pigafetta, I Caught Sight of My Face turns the glorious saga of Magellan’s voyage of discovery into an unsettling exploration of human behaviour. Petr will be joined by Scottish poets Rob A. Mackenzie and Gerald Mangan, and by Czech poet Petra Johana Poncarová who writes in Scottish Gaelic.
Book tickets on Eventbrite
Loud Poets Spoken Word Showcase
Don’t miss the next showcase from Loud Poets at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh on Friday, March 14. This month, they’re featuring poetry from Maria Ferguson author of Swell, host of Versaye! Lorna Callery-Sithole, this Scottish Slam Champion Biff Smith, and Ciara Maguire, with live music from Jack Hinks, hosted by Kevin Mclean.
Grab tickets on the Scottish Storytelling Centre website
Join Hame-ish Arts for their Cabaret in The Snug at Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh on Tuesday, March 18. This month, they’re featuring Scott Ashworth, as well as hosting their usual Hame-ish Live lineup which will be revealed later this month. The Snug bar will be open before, during, and after the show. There’ll also be a Hame-ish-tastic raffle for your enjoyment.
If you are a poet or solo/duo music act with plenty of material to draw from and would like to enquire about taking part, please email yerhame.ish@gmail.com to register your interest in performing!
Book tickets for Hame-ish Cabaret on Brown Paper Tickets
Join Diverse Voices Media for this 6-week workshop designed for POC by POC. These workshops are designed to empower people of color by providing essential skills and insights into the worlds of media, storytelling, and freelance work. Each workshop is crafted to celebrate diverse perspectives while equipping participants with practical tools to grow professionally, build confidence, and make their voices heard in impactful ways.
Starting Tuesday, May 6, this online course will help you craft your unique story, get your work published, master content creation for social media, build a professional portfolio, and learn to pitch and navigate freelancing as a POC. Please note this workshop series is for people of colour.
Sign up for a space on the Diverse Voices website
Open calls for writers & writing
The Scottish BPOC Writers Network is looking for your pitches for guest blog posts. The open call theme is ‘Sustain,’ and they’re looking for pitches about any interpretations of the concept of ‘sustain,’ from tradition to food to the climate crisis and anything else that comes to mind. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 14. Please note this opportunity is for Black writers and writers of colour from or based in Scotland.
Get more information, including the pitching guide, on the SBWN website
Sketchy Beats Fundraiser Artist Call Out
The Ginger Nomad is looking for artists to join the next Sketchy Beats Fundraier on Saturday, March 22. After the success of February’s Fundraiser, TGN is making this a regular feature at Leith’s not-for-profit arts space and cafe. TGN is keen to hear from and showcase talents from Edinburgh and across Scotland. There is no set deadline, but get in touch with The Ginger Nomad as soon as possible to secure your space in these varied and fun line ups!
Find out more by messaging The Ginger Nomad on Instagram
Submissions for fiction, poetry, and essays are currently open for Issue 32 of Gutter Magazine. If you’ve got something great that needs a home, the Gutter team wants to see it. You can submit poetry up to 3 poems totalling no more than 100 lines, or fiction and essays up to 2500 words. The deadline for submissions is midnight on Monday, March 31.
Find the full guidelines on the Gutter website
Magma Poetry is open to submissions for Issue 93: liberation. The issue will explore personal and political forms of liberation: liberation as protest and emancipation; as authenticity and self-actualisation; as holding on or letting go; as moving past, moving through, moving towards. Issue 93 will be edited by Isabelle Baafi, Sohini Basak, and Tim Tim Cheng. The deadline for submissions is Monday, March 31.
Find the submissions guidelines on the Magma Poetry website
After the launch of Issue 2: Foreign in Glasgow on Friday, February 28, the Glyph team has opened submissions for Issue 3. The theme is Heroes & Villains, and they’re looking for stories and prose that explore dastardly deeds, paragons of virtue, and muddling moralities. Send in your prose, flash fiction, short stories, or novel extracts between 100-3000 words. The deadline for submissions is in April. Keep your eyes on their socials for more information on the deadline.
Get the submission guidelines on the Glyph website
IS&T’s new editing intern IB (aka Abu Ibrahim) is open for general submissions of poetry, short prose, word & image pieces, film poems, and reviews. You can submit 4-6 pieces of poetry or 1-2 prose pieces. Email your submissions to IB at interns@inksweatandtears.co.uk. There is no published deadline for submissions.
Read the guidelines on the Ink Sweat & Tears website
Thank you for reading!
March is shaping up to be a big month for writers. Make sure you don’t miss out on what is sure to be an exciting month in Scotland.
Speaking of exciting things, new Words & Friends and Chicken Coop Writing Group tickets will be available soon!
Become a paying subscriber to get early-bird ticket access for Good Egg events, to get fortnightly creative writing prompts straight to your inbox, and to join us for our next community writing groups on Monday, March 17, and Monday, March 31. Community writing groups are free to paying subscribers.
It’s a joy to host multiple writing groups and chat with people about all things writing, including editing, submitting work, performing, and a whole host of other things that make up a writer’s working life.
In the last couple of weeks, some of our community members have shared their successes with me, including performing at their first open mics, starting their own writing exchanges with friends, and finding new places to connect with other writers and get inspired. It’s lovely to see how everyone’s journeys are unfolding, and I hope to hear more of your stories soon!
Until next week, take care of each other,
Naomi
P.s. If you know someone who wants to start or return to writing, or build up their writing practice, please share this newsletter with them today!