Reading: Liz Lochhead & Michael Pedersen

5.30pm – 6.30pm | YouTube | £5.00*

We’re delighted to welcome the second Makar, Liz Lochhead, and University of Edinburgh Writer in Residence Michael Pedersen. Lochhead’s centrality to any discussion of Scottish poetry is hard to overstate. Through a storied and trailblazing career, Lochhead worked among a generation of writers who have transformed Scottish literature since the 1970s, through her celebrated theatrical work and now-canonical poetry. In 2022, Lochhead published a fiftieth anniversary edition of her debut, Memo for Spring, and in 2023, A Handsel: New and Collected Poems (both Birlinn). Michael Pedersen’s work in live literature, with the iconic series Neu Reekie, and as a poet and performer in his own right, has electrified Scotland’s live literature scene, and exported it around the world. Pedersen will be reading from his third poetry collection, The Cat Prince & Other Poems (Corsair) and a selection from his other acclaimed works.

Liz Lochhead is a poet, playwright and the second Scottish Makar. Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author, and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh.

*All digital events are £5.00 and you can buy a Digital Festival Pass for just £30.00, which gives you access to the full digital programme. Anyone with a valid Young Scot card can buy a Young Scot Digital Festival Pass for £15.00, which gives you access to the full digital programme. Please just apply the Young Scot promo code at checkout to access this.