Back in Glasgow after four months away from all screens, all phones, all newspapers . . . now just beginning to assimilate my time in the Spanish mountains. Thank you to everyone who have ordered books while I was away. Robin, PSP admin assitant, checked the PlaySpace emails every two weeks, invoicing and posting books and pamphlets. Please let me know if you ordered a publication and it hasn’t been delivered
Half Price Sale: 15 December 2021 to 15th January 2022
All PlaySpace Publication books will be available at reduced prices from one third off to half price. This includes postage within the UK. Titles include: Living Our Dying (£10 or 2 for £15), Bundles of Bog Cotton, Autumn Leaves, Brushes With War, Bundles of Bog Cotton, Lost Words, Today Today Today, Unfinished Hut, Tributes to Tom Leonard , Heartwork (reduced from £6.50 to £4.00), Covid Comfort, How Ripples Happen . . . unless indicated all titles are half-price until 15th January. For each title there is a page on PSP website – click on hyperlinks; and you can find the complete list of PSP publications here. Autumn Voices is also on sale – click on link.
dates for your diary: Mirrorball 16th December 2021 from 7pm
Larry Butler and Sheila Templeton introduce 4 poets who have work in the recent anthology: Living Our Dying
Living Our Dying is inspired by the work of the late David Donnison. It’s an anthology of writing, blending prose and poetry, which looks at death and the process of dying. In the west especially, we can find it hard to look death in the eye. It’s often a taboo subject. In Living Our Dying, we learn how to talk more honestly about our fears, our pain, our wishes – around death. And what emerges is a richer engagement with life.
I love this beautiful book. It will not only help you to die a good death, it will strengthen you to live a good life. Richard Holloway.
Many of the contributors to the book are Mirrorball members, including the much missed Billy Bonar. We’ll read one of Billy’s poems as a tribute. The four poets who are reading on the 16th are:
Linda France. An award winning poet with a particular interest in plants and ecology, Linda is currently Climate Writer in Residence for Newcastle University and New Writing North. Her eight collections include Reading the Flowers ( Arc 2016). She has worked as a breavement counsellor for CRUISE and facilitated at Death Cafes in Newcastle for some years.
Valerie Gillies. A former Edinburgh Makar, a Royal Literary Fellow and an associate of Harvard University. She facilitates Creative Writing and Journalling groups at Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Edinburgh and is a trainer for Lapidus. Her recent book The Cream of the Well was shortlisted for a Saltire Award.
Alec Finlay. A poet and artist whose work crosses over a range of media and forms. Much of his work reflects on our interaction with nature and considers how we, as a culture, or cultures, relate to landscape. Recent projects include Memorial for Organ, Tissue Donors, today today today – reflections on illness and healing and he coordinates Day of Access, a powerful campaign which encourages estates to open their land to allow access for people affected by disability.
Gerrie Fellows. New Zealand born, but rooted in Scotland for thirty years, her most recent collection, The Body in Space, brings together her far flung family and network of places in a series of varied and compelling poems. Window for a Small Blue Child, a sequence about fertility treatment shortlisted for the Scottish Poetry Book of the Year, was described as ‘an important book that extends the territory of poetry.’ (Stride)
You can order copies of Living Our Dying directly from Rymour Books: https://www.rymour.co.uk/dying.html; or from PlaySpace Publications: https://playspacepublications.com/order-form/
Join the readings on Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87223791778?pwd=d1M3MVE2MFFWSnVnYlg4ZEdHYXNpZz09
Meeting ID: 872 2379 1778
Passcode: 142914
Lorna Goodison will be reading in the second half. Lorna is a major figure in world literature, she was the Poet Laureate of Jamaica (2017-2020), and she was awarded the 2019 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Goodison has won many other awards for her work
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The Poet’s Way
INVITATION TO The Poet’s Way December Full Moon Extra 19th December 5:30pm
This gathering will be a celebration of ten years of the Poet’s Way and will include music and drumming for a mini vision quest for the next year and next 10 years.
You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
Poet’s Way Full Moon Celebration 10 years sharing poetry and planning 2022
When: Dec 19, 2021 05:30 PM London Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpd-GsrDgqHtHqpn3U8QLqlvg7PDAoFaFJ
****************************************************************************************The first PSP publication for 2022 will be:
Bringing Mindfulness to Life by Ratnadevi Holtbernd Phd
22nd January 5pm book launch on zoom . . . Engaging stories, showing how to live with ease and compassion in these complex times. “In a wonderfully warm and inviting voice, Ratnadevi brings mindfulness down to earth and into the heart. A gifted writer, she turns abstract ideas into living words that draw the reader onward and inward. This is a wonderful complement to classics such as Radical Acceptance, and full of value for our too-hectic world. Rick Hanson, PhD, author of ‘Hardwiring Happiness’ and many other best-selling books
Register in advance for this meeting: BRINGING MINDFULNESS TO LIFE
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIodeCqqT0iHtwVaxoOx5IfOKV7I9Ks2X0d
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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I remember
You are invited to contribute to Scotland Covid Memorial by writing an “I remember. . .” The campaign for a national Covid memorial was initiated by The Glasgow Herald with their partners at greenspace Scotland managing and overseeing the artistic commission.
Alec Finlay is collaborating with Lucy Richards on the design of the memorial. You can email your contributions to Alec Finlay the lead artist on the Memorial project at iremember2021@yahoo.com
More information about I remember: http://www.i-remember.uk/p/information.html
***************************************************************************************Sabbe Satta Sukhi Hontu
PlaySpace Publications 