Scotia Extremis

About the Book: 

Scotia Extremis brings together a gallimaufry of poets to take a sideways look at what makes - and makes up - Scotland by examining the country's 'icons'. Featuring specially commissioned works by the National Makar Jackie Kay, plus acclaimed poets including Robert Crawford, Imtiaz Dharker, Douglass Dunn, Vicki Feaver, John Glenday and almost 100 more, all are tasked with probing extremes.

Each brace of contrasting poems tackles the extremities of the nation's culture by looking obliquely at 'icons' at opposite poles to each other. From Laphroaig versus Bucklast, to Oor Wullie against Black Bob, to Jimmy Shand meeting Jack Bruce, and Cullen Skink taking on Irn-Bru, these vivid and varied poems bring to life the people, places and motifs that form the complex and contradictory soul of Scotland.

NORTHWORDS NOW

About the Author:

ANDY JACKSON was born in Salford, England in 1965, but has lived in Scotland since 1993. His two poetry collections The Assassination Museum (2010) and A Beginner’s Guide to Cheating (2015) were both published by Red Squirrel Press, and he has curated and edited several poetry anthologies including Split Screen (2012) and Double Bill (2014) for Red Squirrel Press, and Whaleback City: The Poetry of Dundee and its Hinterland (with W N Herbert) for Dundee University Press (2013). In 2015 he again collaborated with W N Herbert on the New Boots & Pantisocracies poetry blog project, chronicling the UK in the months following the 2015 General Election. He was Makar to the Federation of Writers Scotland in 2017.

BRIAN JOHNSTONE was born in Edinburgh in 1950, but has lived in rural Fife since the 1970s. A poet, writer and performer, his work has appeared throughout Scotland, elsewhere in the UK, in North America, Australasia and across Europe. He has published six collections, most recently Juke Box Jeopardy (Red Squirrel, 2018) and Dry Stone Work (Arc, 2014). His poems have been translated into over a dozen languages. In 2015 his work was selected to appear on the Poetry Archive website. His memoir Double Exposure was published by Saraband in 2017. A founder and former Director of StAnza: Scotland’s International Poetry Festival, he was a literary events organiser for over 20 years, co-founding Edinburgh’s Shore Poets and curating Cave Readings for the Pittenweem Arts Festival in the 1990s. www.brianjohnstonepoet.co.uk