Scottish Poetry Library Podcast

We talk with San Francisco based writer Joseph Lease who reads and talks about a number of his poems. He chats to Ryan about elegy, his rediscovery of the Beat poets in his 30s, his interest in Renaissance poetry and how one of his poems was written with the aid of a tape recorder. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

In the second of our podcasts from poets who took part in the Creer translation workshop, we chat with Isle of Lewis born poet Ian Stephen about the sea, translation, narrative and the challenge of working in different mediums. We also get to hear a few of Ian's poems. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

Every year the SPL teams up with Literature Across Frontiers to bring poets from different countries together to participate in a week of translation workshops in Crear. We chat with one of the 2011 participants, Maltese poet Adrian Grima, who is co-ordinator of Mediterranean cultural organisation Inizjamed which he co-founded in 1998 and which organises the annual Malta Mediterranean Literature Festival. We get to hear him reading poems in Maltese with translations from Miriam Gamble (read by Ryan) and Ian Stephen and he discusses poetry, language and place. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

Young Dawkins, winner of the 2011 Scottish Slam Championship, chats with Ryan about the trajectory of his work, his views on the Beat poets, love, life and his approach to writing. We also get to hear a few of Young's poems. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

Collaborative projects involving poetry with other art forms provides the focus of this week's episode. We chat with filmmaker and artist Alastair Cook about his fascinating filmpoem project, which produces beautiful films that arise out of a unique meditation between film, poetry and music. Check out his http://www.filmpoem.com. We also chat with Ken Cockburn who discusses his artistic collaboration with Alec 'Eck' Finlay, The Road North, which exhibited at the library last year. For more information head to: http://www.theroadnorth.co.uk/ Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com

Poet, musician, editor and broadcaster Donny O'Rourke talks about Scottish poetry, Scottish identity and Scottish nationalism with Ryan Van Winkle. Editor of the prominent 1994 Scottish poetry anthology Dream State, Donny discusses it and his views on politics, poetry and how the 1970s referendum on devolution influenced his generation of poets and what he thinks of the contemporary poetry scene. Including poems and songs read and sung by Donny. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com

Ryan chats with the Poet Laureate of New Zealand, Ian Wedde. They discuss his book, Commonplace Odes, inspired by Horace and he reads a couple of poems from it as well as a few from other collections. He also talks about why he gave up writing for a prolonged period and his plan as Poet Laureate to offer a platform for writers to explore collective memory based on material in the National Library of New Zealand. Find out more on the Poet Laureate website, http://nzpoetlaureate.natlib.govt.nz/ We also include a new track from Small Feet Little Toes called 'I Like You'. Check out her Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/small-feet/ Presented by Ryan Van Winkle from the Poets House in New York City. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

In May this year the Scottish Poetry Library teamed up with Reel Festivals to produce a series of events centred around writers and artists from Lebanon, Syria and Scotland. This podcast features snippets in Arabic and English from readings, interviews and panels that took place in Edinburgh and Beirut during the festival. You'll hear Golan Haji and Rasha Omran from Syria, Yehya Jaber and Mazen Maarouf from Lebanon and Scottish writers Tom Pow, Emily Ballou, William (Billy) Letford and Ryan Van Winkle. A free eBook in English and Arabic is available of all the poems read on this podcast from http://www.reelfestivals.org Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com. SPL Twitter: @byleaveswelive

We chatted with the editor of Anything, Anymore, Anywhere and author of too ok, Colin Herd. He tells us what he looks for in submissions and how his own changing aesthetic preferences influence his choices and how the process of editing affects him as a writer. Colin also reads a number of his poems and tells us a little about his own poetry influences. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @byleaveswelive

The poet and translator Matthew Zapruder reads a few of his poems and discusses his views on poetry, including his own response to the Occupy Wall Street movement, 'Poem for Plutocrats'. Find the updated version here: http://occupywriters.com/works/by-matthew-zapruder They discuss Matthew's editorial work with Wave Books, including his anthology of political poetry and muse poets writing about being poets. We also get to find out the story behind his deceptively non-haiku poem, 'Haiku'. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk Twitter: @anonpoetry and @byleaveswelive. Music by Ewen Maclean.

Ryan caught up with New Zealand poet Sarah Broom in Auckland recently. She reads from and discusses her first collection, Tigers at Awhitu, including how it was put together and how her diagnosis with lung cancer affected the tone of the last part of the collection. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter @anonpoetry and @byleaveswelive.

We bring you three interviews on this bumper episode, recorded at the StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews in March 2011. We chat with Durs Grünbein, one of Don Paterson's favourite living poets, the Melbourne Mathematics professor, novelist and poet Tom Petsinis and sound poetry troupe Krikri from Belgium. Presented and produced by Colin Fraser with interviews by Ryan Van Winkle. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com. Twitter: @anonpoetry & @byleaveswelive. Photo by @jo_bell

Ryan chats to the author of All American Poem, Matthew Dickman, in a noisy cafe across the road from the New York Public Library. They discuss pop culture and poetry, love, favourite poets and Dickman's development as a writer, among other things. Ryan also gives a short preview of who to expect from on the podcast in the next few months. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle from Flagstaff, Arizona. Produced by Colin Fraser @anonpoetry. Music by Ewen Maclean.

Ryan Van Winkle chats with the author of Banana Me Beautiful, a 3 part collection by local Edinburgh writer Emily Dodd. They discuss the genesis of the project, its unique construction and we also get the chance to hear Emily reading from the book. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine. Twitter: @anonpoetry & @byleaveswelive. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com Music by Ewen Maclean. Photograph by Chris Scott @chrisdonia.

Ryan chats with Rachael Boast at the Edinburgh International Book Festival just before the two of them were due to read. Rachael talks through some of the ideas behind her Forward Best First Collection prize winning Sidereal, discusses her interest in time, why astrology shouldn't really be used to predict things and how writing poetry is like playing a piano with your eyes shut. Interview by Ryan Van Winkle. Presented and Produced by Colin Fraser. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @anonpoetry and @byleaveswelive

Ryan chats with the wonderful Degna Stone at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. They discuss feminism, rejecting poetry, rediscovering poetry, the relationship between a poet and her poetry, performance and developing as a writer. We also get the chance to hear a number of Degna's poems. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @anonpoetry

Ryan chats with translator and poet Anna Crowe about her award winning pamphlet 'Figure in Landscape'. Anna reads from the collection, discusses the need for distance in writing about place, the influence of art in poetry (especially Catalan artist Andreu Maimó) and the process of self-translation. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com Twitter: @anonpoetry

We feature two upcoming poets on this week's podcast. The first is Richie McCaffery, whose first pamphlet will be published by Happenstance Press next year. The second is Henk Rossouw, who featured on our Emily Dickinson podcast - this time we have the opportunity to listen to him read his own work. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk Music by Ewen Maclean. Twitter: @byleaveswelive & @anonpoetry. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com

Award winning poet and translator Marilyn Hacker talks to Ryan about her love of and fascination for formal verse and how it can often be a stimulus for creativity. She chats about Muriel Rukeyser, how poets change over the years and how she believes poetry is a dialogue between other readers and writers. We also get the chance to hear her reading a few of her poems. Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk and @anonpoetry. Email: splpodcast@gmail.com

We chat with the illuminating Brian Holton at the StAnza poetry festival in St Andrews. He gives us the chance to hear some of his superb translations into English and Scots of the Chinese poet Yang Lian and he discusses translation, ideas of exile and the evolution of modern Chinese poetry with Reader in Residence Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser of Anon Poetry Magazine http://www.anonpoetry.co.uk @anonpoetry Music by Ewen Maclean. Mail: splpodcast@gmail.com