Scottish Writers' Centre Red Squirrel Book Launches

Sheila Wakefield of leading independent poetry publisher Red Squirrel Press presents an evening of poetry readings to celebrate the release of new books from three Scottish poets: Colin Will, Nikkia Magennis and William Bonar.

Widely published Edinburgh-born poet with a scientific background Colin Will lives in Dunbar. He runs workshops and writers’ groups, chairs the Board of the StAnza Poetry Festival, and previously chaired the Board of the Scottish Poetry Library. He’s a former Makar to the Federation of Writers (Scotland), and Poet Partner to Moray.

Nikki Magennis is an artist and writer. She worked as an author for ten years, publishing two erotic novels and dozens of short stories. After having children, she started to write and submit more poetry. Jo Bell describes her poetry as bringing ‘a feminised history with dirt under its nails’, and she attempts to explore big themes via the smaller details of life stories. In 2013 her poetry won both the James Kirkup Competition and the William Soutar Prize.

William Bonar grew up in Port Glasgow and lived in Edinburgh for many years before settling in Glasgow in 1988. His pamphlet, Frostburn Steel, was published in 2004 by Dreadful Night Press and his poems have been published in a variety of newspapers, magazines and anthologies. He is the recipient of the James Kirkup Memorial Poetry Prize for 2014 and his winning manuscript will be published by Red Squirrel Press in Spring 2015.