Project Events: Past, Present & Future

During the course of the project we have organized and run the following events involving many members of the local and academic community: readers, performers and scholars. Some of these activities and events are now completed:

Present & Future Events

A Bloodaxe Anthology of Poetry by writers in Scotland, Northern England and the Midlands
publishing ‘regional’ diasporic poetry from Scotland, the North of England, and the Midlands. We'd love to hear your suggestions for possible contributors.

A database of diasporic literary and cultural production in Scotland, 1980-present
cataloguing the presence of African, Caribbean and South Asian cultures in Scotland, showcasing the work of writers in Scotland. You can search the database here and you can send your suggestions for entiries to the project team via the 'contact' page.

Past Events

» Whose Scotland? A Poetry Competition for Scottish schools

In 2009 we asked Scotland’s young writers (aged between 12 and 17) to think about Scotland and the different people and cultures who have made their home here. Contestants were invited to write a poem about any aspect of being part of multicultural Scotland with the title ‘In my country’?

The winner was 13-year-old Anju Gopalan of Edinburgh who won a £100 book token, and also £100 for her school. Her effort and all the winning poems are published on the ‘Whose Scotland?’ website. Anju and runner-up winner Amy Lumsden were presented with their prizes on Friday 6 November by Scottish author Alan Bissett, at St George’s School, Edinburgh, who also presented a talk to around 80 pupils. Alan also visited Craigholme School in Glasgow where he met competition runners-up Chloe McGregor and Manal Malik
from a class of S1 pupils.

» The Reading Group Network
During 2007 and 2008 we recorded reading groups in a number of locations: Scotland, England, Canada, India, the Caribbean and Africa. All readers were provided with free copies of one or more of the four novels listed on our homepage, and a sound recording was made of the event.

» A theatrical adaptation of Jackie Kay's The Adoption Papers
presenting the macrobert Youth Dance Company’s adaptation of The Adoption Papers

» Workshops
informing and stimulating ongoing research on the ‘Devolving Diasporas’ project

» A major international Conference – ‘Reading After Empire’ which took place at the University of Stirling September 3-5 2008.