While The Second Life Awards funding scheme aims to finance and assist projects that enrich Scottish cultural life and connect with Edwin Morgan’s life and work, the Edwin Morgan Trust acknowledges the need to support the development of ongoing programmes. In response, we are piloting a ‘Partnerships’ programme, which supports existing organisations to build their programmes in line with the Edwin Morgan Trust’s missions, aims and objectives.
Clydebuilt 16
St Mungo’s Mirrorball
Edwin Morgan Trust will continue to support the Clydebuilt mentorship programme. This programme speaks directly to Edwin Morgan’s legacy, providing mentoring and support for emerging poets of all ages. Applications are now open for Clydebuilt 16.
“The programme supports four emerging poets to work with a mentor for a twelve month period. The mentoring support will be in the form of five group sessions and two one to one sessions. Eddy himself was a late developer in terms of having a full collection published and this provides support in helping four poets achieve that dream.”
The Edwin Morgan Trust will work with St Mungo’s Mirrorball to provide opportunities for online forums, workshops, events, website and social media presence, as well as working to build on the pool of mentors and supporters of the programme.
Edwin Morgan Poets in Residence 2023
StAnza
The Edwin Morgan Trust will be working with StAnza to develop their poet-in-residence scheme for 2023. Two EM Poets in Residence will receive support to spend time considering notions of WILD (the StAnza 2023 theme) and how these themes intersect with their own practice. As part of this residency, poets will be invited to the Edwin Morgan Archives at the University of Glasgow and Scottish Poetry Library, with support from archivists, academics and EMT. This funded research time provides the opportunity for poets to have a facilitated research period, as well as an avenue for presentation and peer support through StAnza Festival programmes and events.
“The festival will encourage ‘wild’ (creative, out-of-the-box) thinking in relation to poetry, specifically focussing on its potential to extend our capacity for responding to environmental crisis. Edwin Morgan was known for his formal experimentation; during this year’s open-call we shall emphasise the importance of not only engaging with environmental themes in the content of the resultant work, but also engaging with considerations of ‘form’, with an emphasis upon inventiveness and playfulness.”
The Edwin Morgan Scholarships 2023
Scottish Universities’ International Summer School
In line with Edwin Morgan’s keen interest in Scotland, translation and travel, the EMT will be supporting the Edwin Morgan Saltire Scholarships, which cover course and accommodation fees for 2–3 students to attend the two-week Scottish Literature course at SUISS from 7–18 August 2023.
“The scholarships are awarded to early-career academics from the UK and abroad who do not have Scottish Literature courses at their home universities but who can demonstrate a committed interest in the subject. The Scholars will participate in a wide-ranging academic and cultural programme and have the chance to engage face-to-face with locally based writers, with previous programmes of authors including Harry Josephine Giles, Luke Sutherland, and Rachel Plummer.”
We will follow these students as they network with UK-based academics and students, immerse themselves in Scottish culture, and partake in a journey of knowledge exchange.
Truth Prevails: Poetry Across Frontiers
Push the Boat Out Festival
Named after Edwin Morgan’s poem ‘At Eighty’, Push the Boat Out festival pays homage to Morgan’s inestimable contribution to poetry and his restless pioneering spirit through its exciting, provocative and collaborative approach to programming. The Edwin Morgan Trust will work with PTBO to further align the festival with Morgan’s hopeful vision for Scottish poetry.
In line with Morgan’s own commitment to ‘translation in all senses’, this year the Edwin Morgan Trust will be supporting the PTBO event Truth Prevails: Poetry Across Frontiers, which builds on a series of virtual workshops – organised and facilitated by Literature Across Frontiers in partnership with EMT – that have taken place over the past year between a group of Czech and Scottish poets. The PTBO event will see the poets meeting face-to-face for the first time to explore whether the Czech motto ‘Truth Prevails’ still applies in a post-truth era.
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