That’s right. After this marathon event, we’re going to all rest up and think about new ways to do what we love– mixing poetry, stories, cartoons, music, drunkeness and dancing. In the meantime — you’ll have this massive event to remember us by.

Featuring (make yourself comfortable): Tom Pow, Jonny Berliner, William Letford, Emily Ballou, Robin Grey, Anna Crowe, Ericka Duffy, Kirstin Innes, John Glenday, The Little Big Band, Alan Bissett, The Ghost of Joseph Seal, Wax, Paper Cinema, Jason Morton and Dolphin Boy + much more including films byRoxana Pope and some special Reel Festivals gubbins.

You will want to buy a hamburger.

The Golden Hour is many things. Part reading, part gig, part party, part disaster.

This free monthly event originating from Edinburgh’s Forest Café, has travelled the Highlands, England and Europe playing to sold out crowds in sweaty venues from Berlin to Applecross.

And now this literary cavalcade return to Unbound’s infamous Spiegeltent with a killer line-up of rakish words and eclectic music all in a beautiful space.

Featuring Joe Dunthorne, Kelly Link and William Letford, there’s music from the acoustic punk Billy Liar, hip-hop from Mikel Krumins (former front-man of the legendary Abdominal Showmen) plus the show-stopping, barn-burning Earl Grey and the Loose Leaves.

Rest up with an open mind at The Golden Hour.

Live and Kicking in the Spiegeltent!

Degna Stone – The new Newcastle poet rocks up and rocks on!

Amy Burns – A little American Class.

Luke Williams – original, inconceivable, brilliant says Ali Smith.

Portnawak & The Woo – gypsy folk hop, psychedelic tribal dance music and organic punk…with the added element of Woo!

BenOfficial – electro art performance for which you are all woefully unprepared!

BYOB! enjoy! x

– Cassandra Passarelli’s story The Black Christ of Esquipulas is now online with the quarterly literary magazine Adirondack Review – an older story of Cassandra’s told in three voices – ‘very chipin‘.

–Our Broken Voice is a new Subtlemob event for Edinburgh Film Festival by artist Duncan Speakman – It’s like walking through a film/Experienced on headphones/Played out by you. Intrigued? Click da link to find out how it works.

Kirsten Irving‘s pamphlet What To Do is out from the Happenstance Press: full of characters in trouble and refusing resolution, this is ‘something else’. Partake in a sample poem here.

Events

– Thursday 16 June – 6pm – Waterstones, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

Valve is a fresh, edgy and vivid new literary journal compiled by Strathclyde University’s Creative Writing students, anticipated by acclaimed Scottish novelists such as Alan Bissett and Louise Welsh, who will be speaking at its launch along with a selection of extracts from its contributors. Get along to celebrate some of Scotland’s bright new literary talent.

–Thursday 16 June – 6-8pm – Word of Mouth Cafe, Albert Street

Zorras: A poetry-music-video-weirdness fusion. With megaphones, breakdancing youth and an arts discussion. Free!

– Saturday 18 June – 7-10pm – Canongate Kirkyard

Inky Fingers presents A Midsummer Night’s Scream – a night of words to make you howl in terror and pleasure! Bring wine, and your favourite ghost story, and wear black.

– Wednesday 22 June – 8pm – The Forest (free, free, byobee)

The Golden Hour cometh once more. Performing this month:

Tracey Emerson – the short-story doctor is in!

Richie McCaffrey – young poems with a familial lustre.

Gavin Bowd – widely published founder of the StAnza poetry fest.

BenOfficial – electro art performance for which you are woefully unprepared.

Doug Johnstone – acoustic and solo and acoustic and alone.

Jade and the Jacks – pure and relentless funky fun. You will hot up.

– Tuesday 28th June – 8-11pm – The Forest

Inky Fingers welcomes Jane McKie, Alan Bissett and you for its big monthly, free, anything-goes open mic night. Email  inkyfingersedinburgh@gmail.com to sign up for a spot.

– Thursday 18th August – 9pm – Free

The Golden Hour returns to Unbound’s infamous  Spiegltent with a killer line-up of rakish words and eclectic music all in a beautiful space. This year’s epic features Joe Dunthorne, Kelly Link and William Letford and music from Billy Liar, Mikel Krumins amd Earl Grey and the Loose Leaves. Rest up. More to come.

Opportunities

– In August, Inky Fingers will be running a week-long spoken-word minifest at the Forest. Writers, performers, poets, storytellers, spoken word artistes, linguistic experimenters and everyone who cares about putting words in a beautiful order – programming spaces are still available. Full details of how to apply here.

– Also in August, the City of Literature Trust is looking for new and emerging local writers to read their work as part of Story Shop at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. For more information and application stuff, look here – the deadline is June 27th.

Knockengorroch, Carsphairn, Castle Douglas, DG7 3TJ

The Golden Hour rolls into the legendary Knock Longhouse, bringing you spoken words and acoustic music in a cozy, woody and warm space.

Featuring:

Emily Ballou — Prize-winning poet and ace in the hole.

Ewan Morrison — lets his malls out.

Ryan Van Winkle — Long stories, short poems.

Jason Morton — here comes the ‘Michigan High Five’

Ericka Duffy –  check the nose on this hot new prose.

Hailey Beavis – angel-voiced mama getting devilish on 6 strings.

Sophie Cooke — the novelist and poet brings the bright light!

+ special guests from the muddy madness.

See you in the fields!!!!

Wednesday 18 May
8pm @ the Forest, 3 Bristo Place
Free! BYOB!

Celebrate Reel Festivals at The Golden Hour – Edinburgh’s premiere
literary cabaret featuring poetry from Syria, Lebanon and Scotland.

Participating Poets:

Golan Haji is a Syrian poet and winner of the ‘Al-Maghut’ prize in poetry for Called in Darkness (2004). He has also translated various works into Arabic including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Rasha Omran is a Syrian poet and director of the annual Al-Sindiyana festival of culture in Syria. She has published four collections of poetry as well as compiling an anthology of Syrian Poetry.

Mazen Maarouf is a Palestinian poet and journalist, living as a refugee in Beirut.  He has published a number of books, and is currently translating the poems of William Blake into Arabic.

Yehia Jaber is a Lebanese poet, playwright, communist, journalist and
actor. Amongst other literary and political works, he has published six collections of poetry.

Emily Ballou – Glasgow-based Australian-American poet, screenwriter and novelist. She is the author of the novels Father Lands and Aphelion, and the recent verse-portrait of Charles Darwin The Darwin Poems.

William Letford lives in Stirling, Scotland and works as a roofer. In 2008 he received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust, and an SQA Star Award. He has been published in various magazines and anthologies including Poetry Scotland and New Writing Scotland.

Tom Pow was the first Writer in Residence at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He was StAnza’s Poet in Residence in 2005, and won the poetry category in the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards in 2009 for Dear Alice – Narratives of Madness.

Ryan Van Winkle is ‘Reader in Residence’ at the Scottish Poetry Library. His work has appeared in various volumes, and his first collection, ‘Tomorrow, We Will Live Here’, was published at the end of last year.

All this plus short films and an eclectic range of music from Scotland and the the Levant including OkyDoky, Belvedere Mountain Express and Hiva Oa.

The Golden Hour will not disappoint!

Sophie Cooke has just published her short story After the Reunion on Kindle. If you’re in the mood for linden trees, love and lost youth you can download the whole story onto pretty much any device for 70p. Sophie is currently finishing work on her third novel The Three Lives of Dragana Savic, and in other news, will be reading her poetry at Knockengorroch on 26-29 May.

Events:

Inky Fingers have a two workshops coming up this month:
Saturday 7th May, 2-5pm @ the Forest
‘Anxiety and the Writer’ – part of a new series of special FREE workshops, this month’s wordlab with Eliza Langland will be exploring how and why people write, and how anxiety can both fuel and impede the writing process.
Thursday 12th May, 6-9pm @ the Forest
The ever popular READeasy Writers’ Group is open to writers of any style, experience, identity or genre, as a safe and encouraging space to meet up, hear your words read and get contructive critical feedback. Spaces go fast so email inkyfingersedinburgh@gmail.com to secure one.

Sunday 8th May, 7.45-9.45pm @ The Store, Guthrie Street
‘Poetry at the…’ This month’s lineup includes our friend Claire Askew, alongside Gerry Loose and Tony Williams. Entry £4, concessions £3.

A big congrats to Robert Alan Jamieson,whose book Da Happie Laand (an excerpt of which was included in the Golden Hour Book II) is longlisted for the Book Awards! Da Happie Laand is an experimental and ambitious novel, imaginatively extending the idea of Scottish empire and diaspora, and addressing notions of being and belonging in 21st century Scotland.

Do you love Hailey Beavis? We do. Join her for her weekly Thursday session now and forever at Nobles.

Events:

— Friday 29 April, 7-10pm @ Scottish Books Trust
After three suitably seismic shows, Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson bring you the fourth part in the Neu! Reekie! movement: a night of avant-garde poetry, music and film fusions. The night promises to shock and stun, playing host to the abstract and abstruse, the sinister and sanguine.
Line-up includes (with more to be added): Jock Scot, Roy Moller, Emelle, Avant-garde Animations, Raffle of the Absurd.
Please note this date falls upon the Royal Wedding – Neu! Reekie! Inc will be expressing its views through the mediums of film and spoken word.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176517502399377

— Sunday 1 May, 8-10.30pm @ Cabaret Voltaire
Illicit Ink: The Faerie Court
The freaks who brought you Love Sick are back to present another evening of funky prose. This time the theme is faeries, fairytales and other mythological stuff, and is encouraging the dark, the different and the slightly weird. Basically, if you’re the kind of person who’d pick the wings off faeries (with or without eating them) this is the event for you. The line-up will be posted soon.
Entry is a £4 charity donation, which will go toward the relief effort in Japan. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200914439939236

— Wednesday 18 May
12.30 — A Poetry Salon with Local Writers @ the Scottish Poetry Library
Join us for this rare opportunity to meet and engage with our guest poets  from Syria and Lebanon. We’ll be taking a short tour of the Scottish Poetry Library followed by an informal salon. We’ll discuss poetry in translation, borders, sip some tea and share work and stories. Open to all interested writers, arts practitioners, and members of the public.

8pm —  The Golden Hour, The Forest, FREE (obvs.), BYOB
Celebrate Reel Festivals at The Golden Hour — Edinburgh’s premiere literary cabaret featuring new Arabic and English translations from these thrilling local and international writers: William Letford, Emily Ballou, Tom Pow, Rasha Omran, Golan Haji, Mazen Maarouf, Yehia Jaber. All this plus short films and an eclectic range of music from Scotland and the the Levant including OkyDoky, Belvedere Mountain Express and Hiva Oa. The Golden Hour will not disappoint!

— Friday 20 May, 6.30pm @ the Scottish Poetry Library
Reel Festivals presents an evening of contemporary English and Arabic poetry featuring new translations from these thrilling local and international writers: William Letford, Emily Ballou, Tom Pow, Rasha Omran, Golan Haji, Mazen Maarouf, Yehia Jaber. Featuring short films and music from Reel Festivals. **If you can’t make this, maybe you can make it to the Scottish Writers Centre in the Clubroom at the CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow on the 19th at 7pm.

Opportunities:

- Call for submissions: City of Edinburgh Library

- PBH’S Free Fringe -  Call for spoken word/poetry acts
Following on from the phenomenal success of last year’s dedicated Spoken Word line-up (the first for the Fringe!), PBH have been putting together this year’s line-up. There is already a stellar bill, but there are still some Spoken Word slots available at the Banshee Labyrinth and the Royal Oak that need filled. If you have a show that you think would fit in, suitable for the venue, be an excellent addition and every member of your show explicitly agrees to the PBH Free Fringe ethos (http://freefringe.org.uk/performers), get in touch with parsonharlequin@gmail.com

- Invitation for Submissions: Beyond the Horizon: Short stories of discovery
Bamboccioni Books is looking for submissions for their first publication, half of the proceeds of which will be going to charity. This will be a collection of short stories, as such, submissions must be previously unpublished (whether in print or online), of between 1000-4000 words, and be on the theme of “discovery”. Submissions should be sent to claire@bamboccionibooks.com before the end of April.

- Check out Robert Sarazin Blake of past Golden Hour fame – he’s released his new album ‘A Long Series of Memorable  Nights Forgotten: The Belfast Sessions’ in March and will soon be releasing ‘Put it all down in a Letter’ this month. The former is a collaboration with Irish piper John McSherry. The latter was recorded in one all-night session in Philadelpia. Both albums are available for listening, downloading, and mail-order at: http://www.robertsarazinblake.bandcamp.com . But better yet, why not follow him on tour in Ireland this month? Check website for details: http://www.sarazinblake.com/calendar.php

Events:

- Thursday 7th April, 6 – 9pm. FREE. Forest Front Room, Bristo Place. READEASY.  We’ve set up the  READeasy Writers’ Group to be a safe and encouraging space for writers to meet up, hear their words read, and get constructive critical feedback. It’s open to writers of any style, experience, identity and genre — but places each month are limited. To secure a slot, e-mail inkyfingersedinburgh AT gmail DOT com in advance with your name and a piece of your writing attached — and then just come along on the night with cake and a ready mind. See the Writers’ Group page for full instructions (including length limits): https://inkyfingersedinburgh.wordpress.com/writers-group/

- Monday, 11 April, 7:30-11pm. The Blind Poet, 32 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. BLIND POETICS w. Harlequinade, Gavin Inglis & Stephen Barnaby. A new night of spoken word at Edinburgh’s famous bar, The Blind Poet. Hope you’ll join us on 11th April, where we’ll have special guests Harlequinade, Gavin Inglis and Stephen Barnaby! Host: Texture. Open mic slots available – email blindpoetics@gmail.com.
Follow the event at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140342616035717

- Sunday, April 17, 7.45-9.45pm. £4/3. At the Store (formerly GRV), 35 Guthrie St, Edinbugh. Poetry at the… The pen-penultimate Poetry at the… will host our very own Ryan Van Winkle, as well as Steven Waling and Matthew Stewart this month. This monthly event has gone off for the last 4 years, featuring some of the UK’s top poets alongside new and emerging writers. There are also 3 minute slots if you fancy reading – just contact the host, Rob A Mackenzie.

- Tuesday 26 April, 8-11pm. Forest Cafe. Inky Fingers OPEN MIC. We’ve teamed up with Rupert Thomson this month for our Open Mic: we’re running it as “To the altar! To the block!” in dubious honour of certain events that week. As well as our usual feature performances and open stage, we’re asking writers we know if they’d like to contribute their words on the dread wedding. If you’d like to pen a poem or a story or something else on the subject, we’d love to have you. But of course our stage is always open, so we’re happy for people to sign up and make their statement on the subject by ignoring the theme entirely.

- Sunday 15 May. 7-10pm. AXO Gallery. Inky Fingers is collaborating with the AXO gallery on a unique event: a Words Auction, raising funds for Inky Fingers and Forest. Forest will be running a high profile visual arts auction in the space on the 13th and 14th, followed by the Words Auction on the 15th. A Words Auction is half feature performers and half open mic; we’re asking writers to donate their writing services to the Fundraiser. The feature performers will each get 10-15 minutes to show the audience their craft, and we will then auction off a specially commissioned piece of writing (a poem, a short story, a flash fiction, or something else?) from each writer to the highest bidder. The idea is that the audience will be bidding for the right to “commission” the piece and have it be written “for them”. It could be tremendously fun – an interesting new way to get people to engage with writing and performance. Inspired by the Poetry Brothel. More info here: http://inkyfingersedinburgh.wordpress.com/

Opportunities:

- Scottish Writers For Japan anthology: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.
Moved by the recent Japanese disaster, the editors came up with the idea of publishing an anthology with all profits being donated to a local Japanese charity directly involved in supporting the people affected.  The anthology has now reaches beyond Glasgow and will hopefully encompass all of Scotland.  Submissions should be on a Japanese theme but beyond that anything goes: Fiction, poetry, autobiographical snippets, haikus – whatever inspires anyone to write when they think of Japan. Prose  pieces should be no more than 3000 words. Please submit in a Word document in .doc or .rtf format to writersglasgowjapan@yahoo.co.uk. Submission closing date of 17th April. For further details, contact the editors at writersglasgowjapan@yahoo.co.uk or visit their website: http://glasgowwritersjapan.wordpress.com/

-Aesthetica Creative Works Competition: CALL FOR ENTRIES
The 2011 Aesthetica Creative Works Competition is now open for entries! Aesthetica Magazine is inviting all artists, photographers, writers and poets to submit their work into the Creative Works Competition, Now in its fourth year, the competition is dedicated to celebrating and championing creative talent across the disciplines and welcomes entries from poets and writers as well as artists working in any medium, including sculpture, textiles, photography, ceramics, paint, digital art and more!

• The Competition has three categories, Artwork & Photography, Poetry and Fiction.
• Winners and finalists are published in the Aesthetica Creative Works Annual.
• Winners of each category receive £500 prize money plus other prizes.
• Entry to the Creative Works Competition is £10.
• The entry fee allows the submission of 2 images, 2 poems or 2 short stories.
• The deadline for submissions is the 31^st August 2011.
• More guidelines on how to submit can be found online at http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/submission_guide.htm

ROLL ON, APRIL!

THE GOLDEN HOUR: Northwords Now launch!

April 20th, 2011
8pm
Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Pl
Free! Free! Free! (byob)

Join us for the Launch of Northwords Now!

Readings by:

Tracey S Rosenberg – poems which fight dirty.

Ian Stephen – After 15 years in the coastguard, Ian Stephen became a full-time writer of poetry, prose and drama in 1995. The sea continues to feature in his work.

Hugh McMillan – works as a history teacher in Dumfries and lives in Penpont. His next full collection of poems The Lost Garden (Roncadora Press) is due in 2010 as is a Selected Poems from Shoestring Press.

Music By:

Wild Myrtles – a vocal harvest of traditional music

The irresistible urges – original songs and voodoo rhythms.

Eye of the Duck – post-psychedelia atmos-core surf metal.

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