It has been amazing to be back in Scotland on the home straight of the Poetry London 100th issue tour, which had a lovely event in the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh after a sold out event at the National Poetry Library in London, and a visit to the new Manchester Poetry Library. I enjoyed reading my favourite poems from the issue, and even got to share a couple of my own – one about my mother which appears in PL100, and one about my father from my pamphlet, Honesty Mirror. Our editor André Naffis-Saheley interviewed former prizewinner and Hebredian poet Niall Campbell. My publisher from Red Squirrel Press, Sheila Wakefield, was in the audience, along with old friends and fellow Glasgow poets Jim Ferguson and Amy Rafferty. Many more friends told me they were watching the live stream online.

It was also wonderful to be back at Tell It Slant on Renfrew Street, the poetry bookshop Mat and I founded in 2013, with the current manager Shetland poet Christie Williamson, and events and digital manager Carla Woodburn, to discuss future plans for the bookshop. Exciting stuff ahead! Watch this space….