The Syllabary: FuP now online!

Just got an email from Peter McCarey with an update on his Syllabary project!:

Dear Aiko,

Six months later, the collaborative syllabary site is up - called Cleikit, it's at scran.ch or cleikit.com, with cleikit@scran.ch as the e-mail address for anyone interested in it.

Best,

Peter.

I gave that link a whirl and WOAH!  Great to see the project coming together!

I've explained the Syllabary a bit ago when I first found out about it: here.  So do go check back if you need a refresher.  There's also information on how YOU can get involved too!  Just email Peter at the address above (cleikit@scran.ch) and he will assign you a phoneme of your own for the collaborative Syllabary.  Ken Cockburn described the project in his post as, "An ongoing, accumulative sequence of short poems each based on a single phoneme (consonant+vowel+consonant)".

With this in mind, Peter assigned me the cell for 'FuP', which includes the words 'frump' and 'flump'.  You can hear me reading my poem 'June, July or August' by spinning the phoneme wheel to F - u - P.

You can also hear Ken Cockburn's poem 'Norm' at N-o-M, and my good friend Ryan Van Winkle's poem at F-i-P.  

Please do give it a spin and listen, and definitely email Peter to try writing a poem yourself!

Scottish Poetry Library Podcast! (and my next reading)

Hello!  Ages since I've been around.  I'm gearing up for my final scheduled reading for a while (they make me so nervous, I need the break), which will be this Sunday at 'Poetry at the... GRV'. 

I'm really excited about the event, especially because I'll be reading alongside Kona Macphee, who is launching her new collection, Perfect Blue, as well as Alan Riach, a great (and prolific!) writer I first met at The Syllabary event launch not long ago.

Event info:

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

at the GRV (37 Guthrie Street, Edinburgh - map it!)

7.45pm- 9.45pm

£4 / £3 concessions

It features some of the UK's top poets alongside new and emerging writers.

Plus, event coordinator Rob A Mackenzie has posted my poem 'At the Airshow' to his website as a teaser/taster before the event, so do go check it out if you have a chance!  (And, besides the three main 15-20 min slots there are also a couple 3 minute slots each month. So if you fancy reading something, just email Rob!)

BUT! Honestly, what I'd meant to talk about here is the amazing Scottish Poetry Library podcast. 

This week's podcast features yours truly, along with my colleague and friend, Dave Coates.  We talked with ever-clever Ryan Van Winkle about what it is like to be a young writer in Edinburgh, discussed the city's literary scene, and we read some poems (I read 'Mary Celeste', published in Anon). 

Listen to the podcast here: Reading Room... Poetry Podcasts

I'm horribly nervous throughout the thing, you'll see.  But I'm so appreciative to Ryan (and producer Colin Fraser) and the SPL for giving me a chance to share my experiences in their podcast. 

I suppose that (along with the nervousness!) is the connection to my upcoming reading.  I've been really lucky here in Edinburgh for lots of generous opportunities to share my writing with a really receptive audience. THANKS EVERYONE!  I hope to be able to pay it forward someday!

Do go subscribe to the SPL podcast series via iTunes so they can see just how much people love them!

Or subscribe without iTunes (RSS)

Ps. I highly recommend the interview with Stuart Kelly last week.  He's a brilliant speaker.  (I've got a lot to learn!)