Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Scottish poet, playwright and former national poet, known for her vernacular verse and works spanning poetry, plays and prose.
On the island
Eight records
Green Grow the Rashes, OFavourite
This is probably one of Burns's most beautiful songs ever.
It reminds me, in a way, of being sung to by my dad.
How could I not put Mother Glasgow in? Because Glasgow's my home.
Some Days There Just Ain't No Fish
It just sums up something very important to realize about life.
Ferruccio Furlanetto and Joan Rodgers
Beautiful love song sung by the most faithless rogue ever born.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:28What did winning the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry mean to you?
An enormous surprise and a slightly surreal feeling as if that's not the kind of thing that happens to me. The Queen was really wonderful, she was very funny. She told me about meeting Edith Sitwell when she was really young... She said, Margaret and I were quite naughty. We got the giggles.
Presenter asks
4:56What do you make of the preoccupation with decoding poetry in schools?
Rubbish. And of course they're talking about other things as well, but if the story and the surface doesn't make sense... Metaphors have got to work as a plain story first.
Presenter asks
11:54Did your parents' post-war optimism extend to what they wanted for their daughters? Were they aspirational?
Incredibly aspirational. But not in a pushy way... I remember my mum saying to me... if you want to go into university, we'll make every sacrifice. ... I'm one of that lucky generation who was actually paid a grant to go to further education.
The keepsakes
The book
Alice Munro
She was the first person that I could read again in the depths of grief.
The luxury
It's a big kiddies' art kit, full of cheap felt-tip pens, and also these wonderful big fat pencils ... Lots and lots of paper, and also glitter and gloy.
Presenter asks
18:43Where did your confidence to write in the vernacular come from?
Feels confident. I just wanted to do it, you know, and I'm still not confident. I was interested in the vernacular of the posh male English and dead as well. ... I didn't do that thing that they said that you should do, which is write what you know.
Presenter asks
23:26Why did you decide to become Makar so soon after your husband's death?
Yes, it was just six months after Tom died. I thought, Oh, God... my sister said, What would Tom say? ... I never ever wanted to write about grief, but as part of the makardom... I just wrote about what we would be doing and at the end what we were what was not happening. I'm glad I wrote it, but it's probably all I want to write about grief.
Presenter asks
25:22What shape did grief have in your life at the end of your five years as Makar?
It can still floor me. Drawing was the first thing that came back. ... I couldn't write for ages. ... I do love performing and I do love being outgoing, but I also need a lot of time to myself.
“Metaphors have got to work as a plain story first.”
“She thought it was the poison of the West of Scotland.”
“It can still floor me.”
“Thank you for your company.”