Save me, save me, save me from this squeeze
Community events and open calls for writers & writing
Hello! Welcome to The Good Egg Project Newsletter!
This week’s newsletter title is borrowed from Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks
It’s been a busy summer so far and this next week (and month) don’t disappoint! There’s loads to do from open mic revivals and workshops, to cabarets and live performances for children and adults in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, and online.
We’ve also got a bunch of open calls for new and established writers below. Whatever you’re getting up to I hope you all have a great time and inch ever closer to sharing your work whether you submit it or get behind a microphone!
I’m looking forward to seeing some of you this evening for the next Chicken Coop Writing Group at Lost in Leith. I’ve got some good prompts to get your creative juices flowing as we enter the final week of Pride month.
Community events
The Chicken Coop Writing Group
The Chicken Coop Writing Group is back at Lost in Leith tonight, Tuesday, June 24, from 6-8.30 pm. We’re saying bye to Pride month with our usual writing tasks, book swap, and chance to share your drafts with our curious and creative community of writers. Writers of all levels and genres are welcome at this monthly group and as always I’ll guide you through open-ended, multi-disciplinary writing exercises.
Get a pay-what-you-can ticket on Eventbrite
Join Edinburgh Literary Salon at The Outhouse in Edinburgh tonight, Tuesday, June 24, for this month’s salon with the International Ghost Society – Edinburgh’s newest and most easily-distracted paranormal investigation society. They’ll be presenting an interactive journey through the life of William McGonagall (a man generally known as the worst poet ever to have lived) whose 200th anniversary falls this year.
You’ll hear readings of some of McGonagall’s ‘finest’ poems, follow in his footsteps as he travels to Balmoral to accost the Queen, and learn about his tendency to end up covered in all the ingredients of a cake after most of his readings. The Presentation will last around 45 minutes, and will use of a variety of formats, including a playable big screen RPG, hidden Easter eggs, and a virtual McGonagall experience.
Book a ticket on Eventbrite
Dundee’s news Queer Spoken Word Night, Un-Hushed is back for June. Join the Nicemaker team at Blend tonight, Tuesday, June 24, for an evening of poetry and spoken word headlined by Loud Poets Grand Slam Champion 2023, RJ Hunter, with support from Hannah Linda, Tabby and Nic J Hutson.
Get pay-what-you-can tickets on the Icebreaker Dundee website
Well Versed Creative Writing Group
Join Open Book on Wednesday, June 25, from 12 pm, for this online shared reading and creative writing group. You’ll hear all about a featured poet and use their work to spark your own writing. You don’t need to have any writing experience to join and these sessions are suitable for all writers over the age of 18+.
Book a free ticket on Eventbrite
Join Hame-ish on Wednesday, June 25, at The Snug Bar, Assembly Roxy in Edinburgh for a Hame-ish Live Cabaret! Hame-ish Live is Mairi-Claire and Ed’s version of an open mic, with acts signing up in advance. This month’s show features Hollerin’ Franklin and Caro Bridges, Gilad Zinman, Naomi Head (yes, that’s me!), Fi Them, Beth MacDonald, Sid Ozalid, and Sarah M Davies. The Snug bar will be open before, during, and after the show, and there’ll also be another Hame-ish-tastic raffle for your enjoyment!
Book tickets on Ticket Tailor
Neurodivergent Creative Writing Group
Join Open Book for this 90 minute online shared reading and creative writing session on Thursday, June 26. You’ll be reading poems and stories together and using them to create your own writing in a gentle, guided session led by neurodivergent writer Emily Dodd. No experience is necessary to attend the session. Please note this session is for neurodivergent participants ages 18+.
Book tickets on Eventbrite
Join House of Zeus for a complete lineup of Edinburgh's most radical Poets and Performers at St Margaret’s House on Friday, June 27. You’ll be treated to work by Sarah M Davies, Q Manivannan, Alma Baalbaki, Myrna McMeeking, Colin Donati, and Heather Rose. Doors open at 5.30 pm and the event is on the 3rd floor in the Drawing Room. Beverages will be provided but you're always welcome to bring your own too!
Get more information on the Poets of the Night Instagram
Join the Scottish Storytelling Forum for another fun and friendly session of Edinburgh’s monthly storytelling club at the Waverley Bar on Friday, June 27. Their guest storyteller this month is Anna Lehr. Originally from Germany, Anna is now based in Glasgow working as a professional storyteller who specialises in performance based interactive and educational stories. There will also be the usual open-floor section for anyone to share a story, song or poem around the theme or otherwise. Guid Crack is non-ticketed, with cash donations welcome on the night with a recommended donation of £5.
Get more information on the Scottish Storytelling Centre website
Generator Projects invites you to we speak for us, an evening of trans poetics on Friday, June 27, in Dundee. The evening will feature readings by Belladonna Paloma, Carl(e) Gent, Len Lukowski, Leyla Hussain, Jo Watters, and Rose Zinnia. The event is free to attend, but donations are welcomed and will go to the Good Law Project’s legal case on the UK Supreme Court ruling from April 2025.
Get more information from Generator Projects on Instagram
Edinburgh Climate Festival returns to the Meadows this Saturday, June 28. They have a range of events kicking off at 12.30 pm and finishing around 5.30 pm. Highlights from the programme include an introduction to seasonal herbs, a filmmaking workshop, a photo frame making workshop, a recycling, paper making and art creating workshop, a children’s writing workshop, and a make your own nature crown workshop. The festival will also include stalls from climate organisations, food, and small businesses.
For more information, follow Edinburgh Climate Festival on Instagram
Join storyteller Niall Moorjani at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh this Saturday, June 28, for their show aimed at budding gardeners from ages 2–6, this show is green-fingered fun for horticulturalists of all ages. The Gardener has agreed to look after their friend’s allotment. They’re very excited to grow a plant. But there’s a problem. Growing a plant is really hard! What is the Gardener going to do? Head along for some adventure, sun songs, hose wrestling, and hilarious clowning around in a joyful show celebrating nature and things that grow.
Book tickets on the Scottish Storytelling Centre website
Voices Neurodivergent Open Mic
Join host Màiri Macleod on Saturday, June 28, at Slow Progress Records in Edinburgh for an afternoon of songs, poetry, and stories from people with Autism, ADHD, and other forms of neurodivergence. This is a laid back, low pressure open mic where everyone is welcome. You can sign up by emailing Màiri at 40536551@live.napier.ac.uk.
Get more details on Facebook
Theatre 118 presents Saturday Night Remedy, a one-off evening of poetry, song, music and plenty of gallus patter on Saturday, June 28, in Glasgow. SNR brings together a mix of talents to the mic. The evening features Cat Cochrane, Spencer Mason, Jordan Taylor, Michael Mullen, and Hannah Doyle who will perform their latest work showcasing why Glasgow can hold her head high when it comes to collective weekend revelry.
Get pay-what-you-can tickets on Ticket Source
Join 10red on Sunday, June 29, from 1.45 pm to 4.30 pm at The Strathmore in Leith for this rebooted open mic. The line up features Amanda Baker, Spike Munro, Nazaret Ranea, Carol MacKay, Nicole Carter, Mike Dillon, Brendan Moohan, Hadley-James Hoyle, Gabriel Weiss, and Ken Kelly.
Get more information on Facebook
Edinburgh's anarchic open mic night is back this Sunday, June 29 for 90 minutes of controlled chaos. Time slots are decided on the night when the Typewronger team divides the 90-minute run time by the number of performers who sign up. There's a bell 30 seconds before the end of each set, and a gong at the end which performers CANNOT go past! Sign up is from 7-7.30 pm and comedy, music, poetry, short stories, film scripts, magic acts, and any other kind of performance is welcome!
Find out more on Facebook
Seahorse Publications Book Launch with Stephen Watt and Spencer Mason
Join Seahorse Publication on Tuesday, July 1, at Avant Garde in Glasgow for a joint book launch with Stephen Watt and Spencer Mason. Stephen and Spencer will be sharing work from their books Barbed Halo and Khartic the Graverobber. There’ll be music provided by the Linda Jaxson Trio and open mic opportunities for audience members. This promises to be an exciting, dark, and curious evening of macabre wit and gothic content.
Find out more on Facebook
What if Women Designed the City?
Join Glasgow Women’s Library for a powerful workshop exploring how our cities could look, feel, and function if they were designed with women, girls, older people, and all gender identities at the centre, on Thursday, July 3. Based on research with 274 women across Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, and case studies from across Europe, this session introduces 33 leverage points for greener, more inclusive, poetic cities.
Through participatory and reflective methods, you’ll discover gender-sensitive ways to shape better urban spaces, explore how planners, residents & communities can work together, and reimagine power, participation, and place planning. The session is free and open to all.
Book your place on the Glasgow Women’s Library website
Zines for Climate Justice: From Eco-anxiety to Collective Action
Glasgow Zine Library is hosting this online workshop led by Solastalgia Zine. This interactive session invites you to explore how zine-making can be a powerful tool for expressing eco-anxiety, processing climate grief, and building collective resistance.
Through guided reflection, discussion, and hands-on skill-building, you'll unpack your own eco-emotions, connect local and global perspectives on climate justice, and learn how zines are used in grassroots movements for healing, education, and organizing. Drawing on experiences from Vancouver (the unceeded Coast Salish territories) and Glasgow, you’ll explore themes of land justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and community care—inviting you to reflect on what climate resistance looks like in your own life. Please note this event is for BPOC people only.
Get a ticket on Eventbrite
Join host Anna Ball for this generative and supportive monthly writing workshop at Leith Depot on Sunday, July 6, from 1.30 pm. Poets, prose writers, and playwrights can engage in creative practice together. Practioners of all genres welcome, whether you're a moonlighter or it's your vocation by day. The cost of admission is one writing prompt. You can bring an exercise in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or playwriting that can be done in 15 minutes. The session will draw these prompts at random from a hat to determine what the group writes. If you feel it can act as a catalyst, feel free to accompany your prompt with a brief example of published writing. There will also be the chance to share what you've written as a result of the prompts.
Book a space on Eventbrite
Open calls for writers & writing
Push the Boat Out & National Theatre of Scotland Poetry Commissions
Push the Boat Out is still open for submissions for its brand-new opportunity in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland. They’re commissioning three bold, poetry-led performance pieces that respond to this year’s Push the Boat Out theme: Anthropocene: The Human-Altered World. PTBO and NTS are offering £1,500 per commission, along with creative development support, to artists (or groups of artists) based in Scotland to explore the profound impact humans have had on the planet, examining how the things we’ve created have transformed our world, and even our own bodies, in potentially irreversible and unexpected ways. Possible areas of focus include microplastics, forever chemicals, waste, and the built environment.
The open call welcomes innovative works that push the boundaries of poetry and intersect with other art forms, helping to create a powerful, multidisciplinary showcase of responses to this urgent theme. The commissioned pieces will be performed at Push the Boat Out Festival at the Pleasance Theatre in November 2025. The deadline for applications is Monday, July 7.
Get more information on how to apply on the Push the Boat Out website
Following two successful years of the Emerging Voices programme, the Village Storytelling Centre is delighted to again offer an opportunity for three Emerging Storytellers to take part in a fully paid, 12-week placement. Successful applicants will receive structured support throughout the 12-week placement from the VSC team to hone their craft in oral storytelling and gain skills in applied methods.
The placement will include training in both oral performance and applied storytelling, shadowing Village Storytellers during applied storytelling workshops with a range of participants, attending networking events within the storytelling and wider arts network, and attending and performing at events in a range of settings, including small groups, schools and community events.
You’ll work collaboratively and independently to develop your performance skills and to find your authentic voice with ample opportunity to practice your performance skills. You’ll also develop a new, contemporary oral performance (collectively or independently) that will be shared at a final event, to be curated and marketed by you, with full support and guidance from the VSC team. Emerging Storytellers will be engaged for two days per week (flexibly) and be paid a fee of £2100 for their participation in this opportunity. The deadline for applications is Monday, July 21, at 9 am.
Get more information on how to apply through the Village Storytelling Centre website
Writer Bursaries for Work-in-Progress
Literature Alliance Scotland are offering writer bursaries for work in progress. LAS is offering direct support to five established writers currently resident in Scotland. The bursaries will be £3,000 each. In this pilot programme LAS is trialling a random lottery selection process. Through the pilot they hope to learn more about how random lottery selection processes can work to reduce gatekeeping or perceptions of unfairness in the literature sector in Scotland, and to better understand levels of demand for this type of support.
The opportunity is open to writers in Scotland over the age of 18+ and not in higher or further education. You can submit an application to work on a novel, graphic novel, full-length non-fiction, short story and poetry collections. The deadline for applications is Friday, July 25, at 5 pm.
Get more information on eligibility and how to apply on the Literature Alliance Scotland website
Melbourne City of Literature opens the virtual residencies programme for applications for 2025. Writers connected to Edinburgh, Melbourne City of Literature are inviting you to apply to work virtually with a literary organisation in their city. From poets to playwrights, this is an opportunity to get to know Melbourne’s varied and vibrant literary community up close by spending November working with one of the many organisations that make them a City of Literature.
Each writer in residence will be connected with their selected organisation and will be required to produce agreed upon content for the organisation. This content will be any three of the following or three of just one of the following: a workshop, a written piece, an appearance or panel, or a social media takeover. The successful applicant will be paid $1500 AUD and you retain all copyright for your work. The deadline for applications is Monday, August 25.
Get more information and apply through the City of Literature website
Thanks for reading!
I’ll see some of you tonight at the Coop for our usual multi-disciplinary prompts designed to get your words on paper, book swapping, and some (optional) sharing time! I’m really looking forward to getting my own words on paper after a lovely afternoon with the Scottish Poetry Choir on Sunday at the Pianodrome.
I was there doing some marketing and communications work, taking photos, and enjoying the results of a great term for Anita and the project. I loved seeing how the choir has changed since our research and development sessions with Soundhouse Choir, and it was so nice to have Soundhouse there with us to share some songs too!
There’s something very special and inspiring spending an afternoon listening to multi-voice poetry performance, storytelling, music, and to be in community with lots of other people too. It was such a fun way to end the pilot term for such an exciting and people-focused project.
Sometimes, I remember to take a moment to appreciate how projects have developed, and having this little pause has given me lots of reasons to take a bit more time to appreciate how much my own projects (like this newsletter) have changed and grown since they started. Thank you for coming on this journey with me and for sharing your own in return. It’s the kind of joy and motivation I need right now.
I hope you can also take some time to stop and enjoy your work, marvel at the changes, and then keep going to the next finish line!
I’ll be back in your inboxes tomorrow with our prompts from the Coop.
Until then, take care of each other,
Naomi
P.s. If you know a writer who is looking for a curious and creative writing community, please share our newsletter with them! Word of mouth is just one way your support can help us to grow and connect more writers with the opportunities they need to grow.