A few weeks ago I was watching a Scottish TV programme about books and it featured the west of Scotland poet Jackie Kay. She did a reading which is usually something that I’m not all that keen on, but I could listen to her voice for a long time. Anyway, despite not being a huge fan of most poetry I like a lot of Jackie Kay’s so I had a look to see what else was availably in Fife libraries and requested Red, Cherry Red which is illustrated in black and white by Rob Ryan. I must admit that it was the charming book cover which attracted me, the library description says that the book is for adolescents, but I think it’s good for all ages. Inevitably some of the poems appeal to me much more than others. I think I prefer the ones which happen to be written in Scots. From 2016 to 2021 Jackie Kay was the Makar of Scotland (poet laureate).
The only poem in this book which I’ve found online is: No 115 Dreams which you can hear the poet reading in this link.
And there are lots of You Tube videos here.
Thanks for this Katrina. I saw the programme too, if you mean the Beyond Burns one and was very impressed with it and with Jackie Kay herself. So I will check out the links!
kaggsysbookishramblings,
I saw the Beyond Burns programme too and enjoyed it, but a few weeks before that was televised she was on The Big Scottish Book Club which you might still be able to see. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0012cxy/the-big-scottish-book-club-series-3-episode-6
Thank you! đŸ˜€