The Shortest Day

Swans are flying and catch the sungreat white wings noisy with love

Gaelic is singing and catches the heartan eala banas if a voice for the silent swanbearing music, through generationsof isolation and exile and war,ceilidhs, communities, new and old

What am I but another bearera swan, a voice with Macalister chordsborn in the Asian dustan ambassador hidden in Scotlandfrom here, from nowhere to wherever the world –words, works, bonded and winged?

from A Good Cause (Luath, 2015)

‘No one has done more for the cause of poetry in Scotland than Tessa Ransford’ asserted Dorothy McMillan in the Scottish Review of Books in 2008, and indeed it is hard to imagine what contemporary poetry in Scotland would be like without the Scottish Poetry Library, the School of Poets, the Callum Macdonald Poetry Pamphlet Memorial Award and a host of other projects, all initiated and nurtured by her. Christine De Luca, an old friend and Edinburgh’s Makar, writes:

Tessa’s commitment to making poetry (as she would describe the process) was steadfast. Her first collection, Poetry of Persons, was published in 1976 and there were twenty subsequent collections including A Good Cause, published shortly before her death.

Her themes emerged out of her abiding interests and loves: her family; mankind’s relationship to our planet; social justice, a one-world perspective and support for cultural minorities; and writing itself. Her poems were almost always a blend of thought and emotion, of intellect and heart; creating a ‘poetry that matters’ as Catherine Lockerbie described Tessa’s work in a review. Tessa was an avid reader of poetry and aware of our heritage, of how we stand on the shoulders of earlier writers. She felt an intimate engagement between her life and her poetry; a complementarity, a wholeness.

In the early 1980s I well remember discovering not just the Poetry Library but the School of Poets – a monthly workshop which Tessa ran in the library, after the doors were closed. She always brought along a draft poem of her own and subjected herself to the same criticism as all the rest of us, despite the fact that she had had several collections published by this stage and was the editor of Lines Review, a prestigious poetry journal. I learned a lot from these sessions and was grateful for them. It is a tribute to Tessa and the SPL that the School of Poets is still going strong.

Tessa truly lived her life – as she consciously intended – in the service of poetry.

Tessa Ransford, born in Bombay 1938, died in Edinburgh 2015; founding Director of the Scottish Poetry Library 1984-1999.

SCOTTISH POETRY LIBRARY ANNUAL REVIEW 2014-2015

One day in the futurea child may come across a bookand say: ‘Imagine being able to holdin your hand what you read,to carry it with you and wear it outwith your life; to pass it onbearing your marks, your name,written in ink, your signature:your wave-length in letters.’

Tessa Ransfordfrom When It Works It Feels Like Play (The Ramsay Head Press, 1998)

The Book Rediscovered in the Future

The future of the book, and of libraries, remains a topic of impassioned debate. At a time of huge changes in reading habits – of concern that many people do not have the ‘habit’ – where does a poetry lending library stand? Can it be sustained? My predecessor, Tessa Ransford, believed that it had a future, just as the book did. This report formally covers the period to the end of March 2015, but naturally we did not wish to wait until next year to pay tribute to Tessa, who died on 2 September 2015. Without her work and vision there would not be a Scottish Poetry Library, and her inspiring presence will be widely missed in the Scottish poetry community and beyond.

Last year’s review of activities predicted that 2014-15 would be dominated by the capital project, and at some levels it was, but as the anticipated building work did not begin until April 2015, the activities of the SPL were unimpeded and multifarious. In a context where libraries are seeing their funding cut and their role in the community often undervalued by decision-makers, we are pleased and proud to report that the SPL goes from strength to strength.

Our contribution to the cultural programme for Glasgow 2014 (XX Commonwealth Games) continued under the banner of Commonwealth Poets United, and added a couple of publications along the way. We were delighted to welcome Toni Stuart

From the Director(South Africa), Louise B. Halfe (Canada), Rajathi Salma (India), Tolu Ogunlesi (Nigeria) and Glenn Colquhoun (New Zealand), and to be able to send out as their respective partners Rachel McCrum, Ian Stephen, William Letford and Tom Pow; Jen Hadfield had been to New Zealand earlier in the year, and Rab Wilson met up with Tanya Shirley (with us in March 2014) in her hometown in Jamaica. The visiting poets were able to explore parts of Scotland, hosted by their poet-partners, and to give readings from Dumfries to Shetland, take part in festivals – in Aberdeen, St Andrews and Glasgow – and to develop some sense of the poetry and cultural life of Scotland, while sharing their work and culture with us. In turn, the Scottish poets had brief but total immersion in post-colonial cultures, gained a sense of landscapes, lives – animal and human – and poetries that were entirely new to them, and also shared their work with audiences ranging from 20 to 2000. These exchanges may still be accessed at the Commonwealth Poets United wordpress site. Eight short films featuring four of the poets were made by Roxana Vilk, and may be seen via the website. Our visitors were also featured on the BBC Scotland series of ‘Poetry Postcards’, and we were very pleased to be building on the success of our London 2012 partnership with the BBC.

We were able to host on our site 17 downloadable posters of poems

written by Glasgow poets about each of the Commonwealth sports. And opportunistically, with expert help, we produced a bilingual pamphlet, The Games, with excerpts from Gavin Douglas’s Aeneados accompanied by the late David West’s lively English translations and notes, just in time for the opening of the games in Glasgow. The Director presented a copy to the First Minister.

The summer also saw the publication of Tools of the Trade – poems for new doctors. This anthology is aimed at providing new doctors with some insights into and articulation of the varied difficult experiences they might encounter, to be a ‘friend in their pocket’. It was provided free to all graduating medics in Scotland, and will be again in 2015, thanks to online fundraising and wide enthusiasm within and outwith Scotland. Our partnership with the Royal College of General Practitioners has been very productive, and will continue to be so.

This anthology is part of the general strengthening of SPL’s activities in the area of health and well-being. Clearly the continuation of our partnership with the Scottish Storytelling Centre in the Living Voices project is the flagship of our work in this area. The very successful pilot programme came to an end in the spring of 2014, but we developed a second stage application, and received continuation

funding from both Creative Scotland and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which has been so supportive of this work. We are continuing to work with care homes and care staff in three regions – Perth and Kinross, Aberdeen and South Ayrshire – and have made connections in other local authorities.

Poetry is at the heart of this work, of course, and ‘heart’ has been the keyword in the development of another pilot, Poetry By Heart Scotland. This initiative builds on Scotland’s long tradition of learning and reciting poetry, focusing on students in their final years at school and encouraging them to learn poetry outside the curriculum. The benefits are the restoration of pleasure in a wide range of poetry, increased self-confidence in presentation, and acquiring something of personal value that can last a lifetime. We are grateful to Dr David Summers Charitable Trust for its support of this project, and for continuing support as a Patron. Heats in three regions produced finalists in March who performed in the theatre at the National Gallery of Scotland, in front of an audience including the National Poet for Scotland, who has given the project her enthusiastic backing.

This project is part of the SPL’s move in learning towards more nationally accessible programmes, with provision of resources that are available throughout the country via the SPL website. In 2014-15 we also >>

Finalists of Poetry By Heart with Liz Lochhead Dundee graduates with Tools of the Trade Claire Hewitt at a Living Voices event Journals from our collection

>> maintained a programme of schools workshops, and found that as well as our very popular ‘Ghosts of War’ sessions at the Castle, sessions focusing on Carol Ann Duffy and on Edwin Morgan were much in demand. The discussion around Scotland and identity was fuelled by the approach to and aftermath of the Referendum, and Morgan’s poetry provided a good starting point.

On our website we logged over 1,000 visits in the autumn to one recording: Christine De Luca reading her ‘Morning After’ poem, with its thoughtful reflections on the tumultuous Referendum voting year. It has been a bumper year for website visits in general, with our best-ever January figure of nearly 123,000. Our Soundcloud pages are popular, with the gradual addition of poets’ recordings, and the podcast figures indicate that we have a robust, returning audience.

Of course National Poetry Day, too, continues to highlight our national remit, and this year’s theme of ‘Remember’ fitted both the first centenary year of the Great War and our Poetry By Heart initiative, as well as our work in care homes. More cards than ever were distributed throughout Scotland, to care homes via the Care Inspectorate, to schools and libraries and arts centres, to some prisons and hospitals.

The theme of accessibility continues to resonate within the Promoting Equalities

From the DirectorProgramme. As well as the work that resulted in the SPL brochure adapted for last year’s Review, which showed how wide the scope of SPL’s activities is, we worked with film-maker Roxana Vilk on developing our own capacities to use film, and commissioned a film from her on the poet Ghazi Hussein and his experiences of war and displacement. Our work with Kyra Pollitt, too, eventuated in a fascinating short film; this showcased a British Sign Language poem by Gary Quinn and a translation by Christine De Luca and was shown at an event celebrating the Library’s 30 years at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Kyra’s residency has encouraged us to connect with the deaf community and increase our awareness of hearing impairment, and we were delighted when she agreed to stand for election to our Board in November.

The anniversary event at the EIBF was closed with great panache by Liz Lochhead, one of our Honorary Presidents, whose work as Scots Makar/National Poet we support. We were very glad that she could join us, as we know first-hand how crowded her diary is, and what a huge variety of events and commissions her role encompasses.

The international scope of our work extended beyond the Commonwealth in a new venture which we hope to make a biennial occasion. As well as organising two

successful seasons of events, our Programme Manager Jennifer Williams set herself the challenge of initiating ‘SymPoetry’, a weekend symposium with the theme of ‘Who’s speaking? Who’s listening?’ This had the classic symposium ingredients of discussion, music and dining; poetry and conviviality in a happy conjunction. We were able to feature our first poet in residence, Maciej Woźniak (with the support of the Polish Institute and the Polish Consulate), alongside distinguished poets Fiona Sampson, Don Paterson and Thomas Lux (from the USA). Translator and poet Sasha Dugdale with academic Dorothy Macmillan joined us for a lively discussion of the female voice in contemporary poetry. And among other events, Tim Dee’s captivated the audience with his reflections on poetry on radio and its audiences.

Also international in its reach was the co-publication with Carcanet Press of a selection of Mikhail Lermontov’s poems, celebrating his bicentenary and his Scottish connections. It is part of the SPL’s remit to provide opportunities for Scottish poets, and the range of translators here showed how poets working in English and in Scots could rise to the challenge of translating one of Russia’s great classics. We had support from the Institute of Translation in Moscow for this edition, to which (long-time SPL supporter) Peter France’s linguistic and editorial expertise was essential. After Lermontov

was launched at the Princess Dashkova Centre at the University of Edinburgh, and discussed in a lively event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The wide and productive range of the SPL’s partnerships is clear from this report. One such established recently, that seems set to be long-lasting, is that with the Edwin Morgan Trust. The SPL administered the first Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets aged 30 and under, won by Niall Campbell for his collection Moontide, and are very grateful to the Trust for its support of our building project, as well as its role as one of the Library’s Patrons.

Fundraising for the extension and refurbishment of the SPL, its ‘Space for Sound’ campaign, continued throughout the year. We were very pleased to receive awards from trusts and foundations new to us, as well as old friends, and to be so well supported by individual friends. This enabled us to move ahead with confidence, and to vacate the building preparatory to the work’s beginning in April 2015. The Library could not be sustained without the belief, devoted work, encouragement and support of all connected with it, and I trust that they in turn will feel rewarded for their faith by this account of the past year’s achievements.

Robyn Marsack

Income and expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2015 2014-2015 2013-2014 Donations 658 1,564Interest receivable 2,463 2,999Membership subs & gift aid 18,369 15,731Programme income 31,241 37,621Self-generated income 52,731 57,915 Creative Scotland revenue 269,230 269,230Creative Scotland other grants 71,500 119,538Local authorities 16,457 4,632Trust, foundation & public body grants 76,720 73,570 Capital project 99,839 59,746 533,746 526,716

Total incoming resources 586,477 584,631 Staff costs 250,251 265,942Marketing costs 8,155 7,122Governance costs 4,355 2,759Programme costs 152,250 181,542Adminstration costs 54,008 55,619

Total expenditure 469,019 512,984

Net incoming resources 117,458 71,647

Balance sheet as at 31 March 2015 2014-2015 2013-2014

Fixed assets (tangible) 1,091,878 1,043,698Current assets (stock, debtors, cash) 363,094 288,594Creditors falling due within one year (31,086) (25,864)Net current assets 332,008 262,730Total assets less current liabilities 1,423,886 1,306,428

Financed by: capital and reserves General Fund 79,820 68,714Designated Funds (includes fixed assets) 1,117,240 1,077,833Restricted Funds 226,826 159,881 1,423,886 1,306,428

Summary accounts & financial statements

Financial narrative 2014-2015

IncomeAs usual, grants income reflects the ebb and flow of projects. Living Voices received the remainder of funding for the pilot phase as well as the continuation funding mentioned above; Commonwealth Poets United was strongly supported by funders including the British Council and Creative New Zealand; we received a large grant from the Baring Foundation to commission new work in its ‘Late Style’ programme, which will be expended in 2015-16. The Space for Sound campaign attracted both trust funding and generous individual giving. As other projects had concluded, grants from Creative Scotland amounted to less than last year’s total. The substantial increase in income from the CEC is accounted for by a one-off grant to enable the SPL to install a robust publicly accessible wi-fi system under its Connected Capital programme. Events programme income increased, mainly as a result of ‘Sympoetry’, while ancillary income and venue hire decreased because of the building being closed for the period of the stocktake. Obviously

the capital project income was built up against projected expenditure on the building works in 2015-16, starting later than originally scheduled.

ExpenditureAgain this reflects the ebb and flow of projects, e.g. Living Voices and Commonwealth Poets United. Other projects include the work with artists in residence on the Promoting Equalities Programme, and in publications the increased expenditure relates to the first edition of Tools of the Trade. Education activity increased, after the previous transitional year, and the number and scope of events also increased costs. Operational costs have held very steady from year to year, and staff costs have decreased reflecting the change in balance from full-time to part-time working as staff moved on. The additions to fixed assets show the expenditure on the building project and associated costs.

Board StatementThese summarised financial statements have been extracted from the Scottish Poetry Library’s Annual Report and Accounts, which were approved by the Board on 25 August 2015. Copies of the full accounts will be filed with Companies House. These summarised financial statements may not contain sufficient information to allow a full understanding of the results and affairs of the company. For further information, the full accounts, the Auditor’s Report on these accounts and the Report of the Board should be consulted. Copies of these are available from the Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT.

Ann MathesonSecretary to the Boardon 10 September 2015

Auditor’s Statement to the Board of the Scottish Poetry LibraryWe have examined the summarised financial statements set out on these pages.

Respective Responsibilities of the Board and AuditorsThe company’s Board members are responsible for the preparation of the summarised financial statements. We have agreed to report to you our opinion on the summarised financial statements’ consistency with the full financial statements on which we reported to you.

Basis of OpinionWe have carried out the procedures we consider necessary to ascertain whether the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full financial statements from which they have been prepared.

OpinionIn our opinion the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015.

Alexander SloanStatutory Auditor10 September 2015

Director Robyn Marsack

Librarian Julie Johnstone

Assistant Librarian Lizzie MacGregor

Senior Library Assistant Mary Wight (from January 2015)

Library Administrator Jessica Gaitan Johannesson

Communications Manager Colin Waters

Learning Manager Georgi Gill

Programme Manager Jennifer Williams

Projects Manager Lilias Fraser (until February 2015) Amy McDonald (maternity cover)

Project Managers Emma Faragher, Living Voices Frances Hendron, Commonwealth Poets United

Friends Administrator Leila Frank

Finance Brenda Fox Eric Wishart (Hon. Treasurer)

Honorary Presidents Douglas Dunn Liz Lochhead Aonghas MacNeacail Tessa Ransford

Board Members Chair: Ian Wall David Lanc Ann Matheson (Secretary) Kei Miller (until November 2014) Gordon Moir Helena Nelson Kyra Pollitt (from November 2014) Nora Senior (until November 2014) Martyn Wade Hamish Whyte

Bankers Bank of Scotland 91 Holyrood Road Edinburgh EH8 8AW

Auditors Alexander Sloan, Chartered Accountants 1 Atholl Place Edinburgh EH3 8HP

Solicitors Gillespie Macandrew 5 Atholl Crescent Edinburgh EH3 8EJ

To library volunteers:Kathryn Ailes, Sarah Ames, Sheena Black, Alanna Broadley, Annamarie Causer, Dave Coates, Stephanie Green, James Hamilton, Aiko Harman, Ioannis Kalkounos, Rachel McCrum, Alexei McDonald, Amy McGoldrick, Dhara Patel, Roy Patience, Joanna Patterson, Patrick Phillips, Martha Pollard, Mairi Ritchie, Kate Sandilands, Mike Saunders

To Living Voices volunteers:Georgia Brooker, Alison Craig, Ursula Fleming, Dorothy Gallagher, Lindsey Gibb, Ceylan Hay, Michelle Laurie, Susan MacDonald, Kay Mills, Kay Minellas, Irene Newbigging, Martha Pollard, Heather Reid, Laura Reid, Jane Russell, Magdalene Sacranie, Grace Shaw-Howells, Sue Valentine, Gail Walker, Sharon Walker

To donors, funders and sponsors:• Creative Scotland and the National Lottery through Creative Scotland; the British Council• City of Edinburgh Council• For the capital project: The Binks Trust, Edwin Morgan Trust, The Foyle Foundation, Robert Gavron Charitable Trust, Trusthouse Charitable Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Wolfson Foundation, Zachs-Adams Family and several anonymous donors• The Baring Foundation, The Binks Trust, Dr David Summers Charitable Trust, Edwin Morgan Trust, The Gannochy Trust, Nancy Massie Trust, Paul Hamlyn Foundation• Comhairle nan Leabhraichean /Gaelic Books Council, Polish Cultural Institute• Sir Kenneth and Lady Keith for funding the ongoing NZ collectionand to our community of Patrons, Companions, Friends and donors.

To partner organisations:Aberdeen City Libraries, Aberdeen City Council Social Care and Wellbeing Directorate, Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations, Alzheimer Scotland, Art in Healthcare, Artlink, The Arvon Foundation at Moniack, BBC Radio Scotland, The Book Institute (Poland), Caesura, Canongate-Holyrood Initiative , The Ceilidh Place (Ullapool), ), City of Edinburgh Council, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh, Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association, Dumfries & Galloway Council, Dumfries & Galloway Libraries, East Dunbartonshire Libraries, Edinburgh City Libraries, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, Elgin Library, Falkirk Libraries, The Glasgow Distillery Company Ltd, Glasgow Libraries, Golden Hare Bookshop, Heriot Watt University, Highland Libraries, Interaktywny Salon Piszacych w Szkocji – Interactive Writing Salon in Scotland, Kraków Miasto Literatury UNESCO, Looking Glass Books, Luminate, Mental Health Arts & Film Festival, Moray Libraries, National Galleries of Scotland, National Library of Scotland, National Museum of Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Orkney Library and Archive, Perthshire Care Home Activity Co-ordinators Network, Perth and Kinross Libraries and Information Services, Picador, Poetry Association of Scotland, Poetry Translation Centre, The Poetry Trust, Polygon, Poppy Scotland, Rally & Broad, Renfrewshire Libraries, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Royal College of General Practitioners (Scotland), Refugee Survival Trust, Saltire Society, School of Poets, Scottish Book Trust, Scottish Borders Libraries, the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Review of Books, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Scottish Water, SCVO, Shetland Arts, Shetland Library, South Ayrshire Libraries Service, South Ayrshire Council and Voluntary Action South Ayrshire , StAnza, Ullapool Book Festival, University of Dundee, University of Edinburgh, University of the West of Scotland Ayr, Western Isles Libraries, Wigtown Book Festival, Wordsworth Trust

Grateful thanks

Company Number Scottish Charity Number 155684 SCO23311

Open Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday 10-5; Thursday 10-7; Saturday 10-4 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DT Tel 0131 557 2876 www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk

Rachel McCrum with Toni Stuart in Cape Town Tolu Ogunlesi with Tom Pow’s cat Preparing for SymPoetry Fiona Sampson, Dorothy Macmillan and Sasha Dugdale at SymPoetry