In Oor Ain Language – Dr Jim Ferguson

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of Edinburgh poet Robert Fergusson, the Mitchell Library in collaboration with the University of Glasgow, will host a free exhibition (9th Sep - 30th Oct 2024) and events programme this autumn which celebrates the significant textual, medical, linguistic and cultural legacies left by Robert Fergusson.

As part of our free events programme, we are delighted to welcome poet, novelist and essayist Dr Jim Ferguson to the Mitchell Library. Dr Ferguson will deliver an interactive creative writing workshop which will look at the interplay between Scots and English, how we think about language, and how we can take pleasure in expressing ourselves freely using the language we grow up with. Oor ain language.

It is two hundred and fifty years since the death of Robert Fergusson, in Edinburgh, and the birth of Robert Tannahill in Paisley in 1774. These dual anniversaries offer a moment to consider our history and place as a literary nation. Fergusson and Tannahill wrote in Scots and in English. They saw no dilemma or contradiction in doing so. Scots words and language offer us an expanded vocabulary and poetic vision. When Scots language is combined with Scottish verse forms such as the Habby, it produces a distinctively Scottish literary form that could come from no other place: this is Scottish literature. Our languages are a deeply important aspect of what it means to be Scottish.

In this workshop you will have the opportunity to explore the exhibition and use the traditional poetry of Robert Fergusson as a source of inspiration to create your own contemporary work in Scots.

Open to all- no previous creative writing experience necessary.