Happy 115th Birthday Kathleen Raine at the Scottish Poetry Library

'Traced on the wild that legendary land

More ancient than song or story or carved stone

My mother and her mother's mother knew: the green ways,

Clear wells, stones of power, presences

In hoodie's shape, high distant summits, hosts in the wind.

...

As I came over the hill to an unvisited shore

I seemed, though old, at the untold beginning of a familiar tale.'

Kathleen Raine, "On an Ancient Isle" from The Lost Country (1971)

Commemorating what would have been her 115th birthday, please join me and an expert panel to discuss the poet and scholar Dr Kathleen Raine, with particular focus on her deep-rooted connection to Scotland.

As many of my blog readers already know, my forthcoming novel The Rowan Tree is inspired by Kathleen Raine and my belief that Scotland must radically re-appreciate her life and legacy. Wherever you are in the world, please don’t miss this online opportunity to celebrate one of the greatest (and underrated) poets of the twentieth century!

The talented panellists joining me are:

• Professor Grevel Lindop, poet, biographer, essayist and Chair of The Temenos Academy, the educational charity founded by Kathleen Raine in 1991 and evolving from her journal Temenos

• Dr Jenny Messenger, journalist and author of Kathleen Raine: Classics and Consciousness (forthcoming with Bloomsbury's Classical Receptions in Twentieth-Century Writing series)

• Rebecca Rowe, a composer whose new work 'Within The Living Eye' with Glasgow School of Art Choir as part of the ground-breaking Composeher project sets six Kathleen Raine poems to music

• Dr Caroline Watson, a scholar whose PhD focused on Kathleen Raine and who presented her research at the 2022 International Conference: A Homage to Kathleen Raine at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris.

With careers and contributions encompassing poetry, prose, music, academia and more, we all agree that Kathleen Raine must be considered one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century. Join us to learn why!

Wednesday 14th June, 7-8pm: free, online and open to all. Please register here.

'For what are the bens and the glens but manifold qualities,

Immeasurable complexities of soul?'

Kathleen Raine, "Eileann Chanaidh [Isle of Canna], 1 - The Ancient Speech" from The Lost Country (1971)

Ps. The video below introducing Kathleen Raine's eleven poetry collections will also be published on YouTube on 14th June, but my blog readers can enjoy a sneak peek now...