Events in Focus: Voices from North East Scotland

Spotlighting North East Magazines

1st October | 12 noon | Sir Duncan Rice Library

Celebrating new writing with performers reading their work from two magazines from North East Scotland – Pushing Out the Boat and Causeway/Cabhsair.

Causeway/Cabhsair publishes new writing by Irish and Scottish writers in all the languages of both countries. The editors seek to publish both new and established writers. The editors are all PhD Students at The University of Aberdeen.

Pushing Out the Boat is a biennial Aberdeen-based magazine of new writing and visual arts founded in 2000 and with a strong commitment to publishing new writers and artists.

Lesley Benzie and Alessandra Thom: She’s Some Woman!

1st October | 1.30 | Sir Duncan Rice Library

At WayWORD, we support women’s rights… and women’s wrongs! Our first book event kicks off with two writers hailing from the North East who explore the lives of women in their work. Award-winning poet Lesley Benzie will read and discuss her contributions to She’s Some Woman: Testaments which celebrates leaders, mavericks, and trailblazers, while debut author Alessandra Thom’s novel, Summer Hours, explores the questionable choices of young queer women during one hot summer in Edinburgh. 

Curating Aberdeen(s) – Ica Headlam, Abeer Eldany & Charley Buchan

1st October | 3pm | Sir Duncan Rice Library

What makes a city’s past, and how do you represent it? How do you engage with a controversial heritage without rewriting history? And what is the place for museums going forward?

Join us for a panel discussion featuring ‘Creative Me’ podcast host and We Are Here Scotland founder Ica Headlam, Dr Abeer Eladany, Curatorial Assistant in The University of Aberdeen’s special collections, who was also part of the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums steering group, and Charley Buchan, Scots/ Doric Language Development Worker at the Elphinstone Institute and Director of FitLike Records.

Drawing on their experiences with the Aberdeen’s institutions and curatorial landscape, they will discuss by whom, why and how our cultural landscape is shaped — but also the challenges that rise from confronting how past and present interact, and the possibilities for the future.

North East Voices – Blue Lamp Showcase

1st October | 7pm | The Blue Lamp

North East Voices brings together a powerful mix of comedy, music and poetry in a one-night-only showcase celebrating the diversity and talent of the North East’s creative scene. Hosted at The Blue Lamp as part of WayWORD Festival, the evening features five distinctive voices pushing artistic boundaries in their own unique ways: Fiona Sae Paing, Aiden Cowie, Jamie McCormick, Daisy Mugadza and Sheena Blackhall. Expect laughter, lyrical beauty, haunting soundscapes and bold performance from this electric lineup of artists. Whether you come for the storytelling, the satire or the songs, this is a rare chance to experience some of the region’s most exciting performers live and loud, all under one roof.

Performing the Self: Aiden Cowie and Fiona Robertson

2nd October | 3.30 | Sir Duncan Rice Library

How do we bring our selves to the stage? Writing and performing identity, power and disability, Aiden Cowie and Fiona Robertson are two of Aberdeen’s most striking voices. Bringing forth their lived experience with passion, clarity, and good comedic timing, Aiden and Fiona share their love for performance.  

Jazz Poetry: Matthew Kilner, Jo Gilbert and Mae Diansangu

2nd October | 8pm | The Blue Lamp

We’re collaborating with Jazz at the Blue Lamp to bring you an exciting evening which fuses together spoken word and jazz improvisation. Celebrated Aberdeen poets Jo Gilbert (WTF is Normal Anyway?) and Mae Diansangu (Bloodsongs) will be accompanied by live music from award-winning saxophonist and event host Matthew Kilner, drummer Greg Irons and pianist Neil Birse in this festival first! 

Love in Lyrics – Fiona Soe Paing, Cameron Stewart Grant & Florence Jack

5th October | 11.30 | The Cowdray Hall

How does love sound? Is it loud or quiet? Sweet or painful? Smooth like silk or tangled like guitar strings? Love in Lyrics is an intimate, one-hour live chat with some of the most emotionally resonant emerging and established musicians in Scotland. In this heart-forward session, we dive deep into how love, its longing, heartbreak, joy, and contradictions, shapes the stories we sing. From shimmering indie-pop to reimagined folklore, this event explores how singer-songwriters thread love into their work: through lyric, melody, myth, and memory. 
  
Following a performance each from Fiona Soe Paing, Cameron Stewart Grant and Florence Jack, we’ll talk songwriting, storytelling, and the wild emotional territory where music meets the soul. How do they write about love without cliché? What makes a line linger in a listener’s heart? Do they write from personal experience, collective history, or somewhere in between?