Poetry at the McLellan Festival

One of the prime aims of the festival that celebrates the name of Arran’s Robert McLellan is to nurture new talent in the arts and nowhere is this more evident than in the annual poetry competition that is now in its tenth year. During the last few years the competition has established itself as one of the major literary prizes in Scotland and the 2016 competition is now in full swing.

One of the notable features of the competition is that the prize giving, usually the first main event of the festival, features a reading by the judge and is attended by most of the prizewinners. Many of the entries are international and this has meant that in recent years the poets that have come to Arran to receive their prizes have been from the Irish Republic, Italy and the USA as well as from all over Britain.

The judges are always top line poets. Both Simon Armitage and Scotland’s new Makar Jackie Kay have filled the post recently. This year judge, the poet, translator and short story writer David Constantine, follows this trend. He is a very fine poet – his latest collection Elder received rave reviews. He also sprang to prominence recently as the author of the short story that provided the basis for the acclaimed film 45 Years which attracted an Oscar nomination for one of its stars, Charlotte Rampling.

David will be presenting the awards at a special McLellan Festival event on the Isle of Arran on 26 August. As in past years, in addition to a first prize of £1000 there will be smaller prizes for two runners up and six commended poems. If you haven’t entered already you have until 19 June to do so. Full details including a downloadable entry form are available here.

Alternatively you can just contact one of the organisers, Cicely Gill and David Underdown.