Hello again!

It’s been a busy few months while I’ve been hard at work on my current university project: editing and publishing a book on behalf of my local writers’ group, Lockerbie Writers. It’s been a fascinating process and one which is almost at an end. If you’d like to find out more about the project or details on how to get your hands on the anthology, click here to visit the Lockerbie Writers’ blog.

In the meantime, I’ve kept up with my own writing, and a couple of weeks ago I was delighted to be shortlisted for the University of Glasgow’s Alastair Buchan Prize. Poems were invited on the theme of ‘Reality, Reality’. I submitted a poem which I wrote last autumn, Picking Raspberries. It was inspired by a morning spent in the garden with my toddler son, dwelling on the changing seasons and how much my little boy had changed in the few short months of summer.

On Tuesday, I visited the University of Glasgow for the prize-giving. Here I am just before the event, looking suitably nervous!

Outside Number 5 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, 29th March 2016

The nerves continued as the other shortlisted entrants gathered, both for the Alastair Buchan Prize and the McCash Prize for Poetry in Scots. Everyone was invited to read out their poem, and it was fantastic to hear the variety of styles and subjects being written about (even if, much to my shame, I didn’t understand all of the Scottish words being used!).

After the readings, I was delighted to be awarded with joint third place!

I was even more delighted having heard some of the other writing, because it made me feel proud to be classed in the same category as these other incredibly talented writers – and, as any writer will know, simply to be shortlisted for such a prestigious prize is a huge honour. Coming third is like the icing on the cake!

Afterwards, I was informed that the university is considering publishing these entries and previous ones in an anthology, but also that the university’s press office might publish something regarding it. If this is the case, you’ll find out when I do!

Save