Celebrating the 2024 Highland Book Prize Longlist

Join us for an evening celebrating two exceptional collections from the Highland Book Prize, featuring three celebrated poets.

*This event is part of a series celebrating the 2024 Highland Book Prize Longlist, supported by the William Grant Foundation*

Beyond by Aonghas Macneacail, edited by Colin Bramwell and Gerda Stevenson, was intended to be Macneacail's powerful return to the literary world following a long convalescence. Sadly, he passed away before the book could be published. Known for his mastery of Gaelic poetry, this stunning English-language collection was published posthumously. Colin and Gerda will read from the collection, share behind-the-scenes stories of its creation, and reflect on the life and legacy of one of Scotland’s great bards.

Niall Campbell, a poet from South Uist and the editor of Poetry London, presents his poignant third collection,The Island in the Sound. In it, he creates an archipelago of memory, lyrical observation, and folktales, connecting the small island of his birth with moments in literature and history.

Join all three poets for readings and conversation. Presented in partnership with The Highland Book Prize & StAnza: Scotland's International Poetry Festival.

Gerda Stevenson is an award-winning writer/actor/director/singer-songwriter. Her writing iswidely published, staged and broadcasted. She was nominated as MG ALBA Scots Singer of the Year for her album, NIGHT TOUCHES DAY. Her poetry includes: IF THIS WERE REAL (Smokestack Books), and QUINES: Poems in Tribute to Women of Scotland (Luath Press) and TOMORROWS’S FEAST. She also has a collection of short stories, LETTING GO.

Niall Campbell is a poet from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. His first poetry collection, Moontide, was published by Bloodaxe Books and won the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Noctuary, his second collection, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. His new collection, The Island in the Sound, was published in September 2024. He is editor of Poetry London, and lives in Fife.

Colin Bramwell is from the Black Isle, and currently lives in Edinburgh. He studied creative writing at St Andrews, and writes in English and Scots. His co-translations of the Taiwanese poet Ko-hua Chen won the 2024 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize; he was runner up for the 2020 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Colin's work has appeared in Poetry Review, PN Review, The London Magazine, Magma, New Writing Scotland, The Rialto, Poetry Scotland and elsewhere, and is forthcoming in Poetry London and Irish Pages. His latest collection, Fower Pessoas, was published by Carcanet in February 2025.