Sunday 13 November 2016

Title: Cleikum. Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen.Cost: £3.00.Copyright: S. Blackhall November 2016.All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall.The Scottish Border poems were written on a five day visit to the region in October 2016. Other poems were written to perform at an event organised by Scottish Pen on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer to support Writers and Publishers imprisoned in Turkey,in the Gallowgate, Aberdeen. ‘Facing the World’ tanka poems were inspired by a visit to an exhibition in Edinburgh’s Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

Friday 7 October 2016

The Doric Gruffalo's Bairn

The Doric Gruffalo's Bairn: The Gruffalo's Child In Doric Scots from the book by Julia Donaldson, translated by Sheena Blackhall. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler £6.99. Published by Itchy Coo : 11th October 2016 ISBN: 9781785300691 Sheena Blackhall’s Doric version of The Gruffalo is now followed by The Doric Gruffalo’s Bairn. A cautionary tale about what happens when a small Gruffalo leaves the comfort of its cave and sets off into the dark wood on a wintry night, this is sure to be another big hit in the North-East and with Doric speakers wherever they bide.

Tuesday 4 October 2016

The Poems : The Seely Howe

Title: The Seely Howe.Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Tomnaverie, taken from Tarland- a great place to walk. Cost: £3.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall October 2016: Acknowledgements: Tomnaverie stone circle dates from around 2000 BC. During the writing of this pamphlet, my son Morven’s ashes were buried in the family lair at Coull, in the Howe of Cromar, overlooked by Lochnagar and the Druid circle of Tomnaverie. To hear my poem of that name, and view the area, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT3sBynUyBw. The Middleton family have been buried at Coull since 1622. Coull Castle lies one field away from the graveyard. The title of this pamphlet ‘The Seely Howe’ is taken from an ancient North East rhyme: Dool, Dool tae Blelack, An Dool tae Blelack’s Heir, For sendin us fae the Seely Howe, Tae the Cauld Hill o Fare. (When the last Gordon laird of Blelack near Tarland employed a local wizard to expel the fairy folk from a sheltered glen on his estate to the Hill o Fare by Echt, they cursed him in revenge. The word seely means happy/blessed).Some of these poems and the playlet were written for a writing project entitled ‘Granite’. Other poems are to be published by Forward Poetry in three anthologies, entitled ‘Inspirational Idols’, ‘Limerick Legends’, and ‘Perfect Pets’. Thanks are also due to the ongoing support and encouragement of Les Wheeler, in agreeing to publish this collection.

Friday 12 August 2016

The Poems: Crossing the Bridge

Title: Crossing the Bridge.Poems & Tales in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Detail from the sculpture Along the River During the Qingming Festival, by Zheng Chunhui.Cost: £3.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall August 2016.Chinese artist Zheng Chunhui recently unveiled a large wooden sculpture that measures 40 feet (12.286) meters long. Four years in the making, the tree carving is based on a famous painting called “Along the River During the Qingming Festival,” a historical holiday reserved to celebrate past ancestors that falls on the 104th day after the winter solstice. The piece is displayed in Fujon Province. Walking the Mat and The Merket Cross were written in a follow-up writing project to the recent city production, Granite. The pamphlet also contains details from The Triumph of Death by Pieter Brueghel the Elder.Most of these poems were written in the Summer of 2016, others were written under commission by the Forestry Commission of Scotland, for a project on Bennachie. Some tales have been accepted for publication by Lallans. The Scots Owersett of 'Drakestail,' a classic French faily tale published by Charles Marelle in 1888 under the title 'Bout-d'-Canard" in Affenschwanz et Cetera was published in New Writing Scotland 34, entitled Talking about Lobsters.

Wednesday 6 July 2016

The Poems: Death of a Tadpole

Title: Death of a Tadpole. Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. The cover image comes from an animation called 小蝌蚪找 , "Little Tadpole Looking for Mom". It is a Chinese animation for children created from Chinese paintings. The inspiration came from the work of the artist Qi Baishi.Cost: £3.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall July 2016.Dedication: This book is dedicated to Jessica & Winnie Le Blackhall Acknowledgements: The Dhanakosa Sequence of poems was written on a Buddhist Creative Writing Retreat at Balquhidder, 4th June- 10th June 2016. The Casterton Sequence was written at a residential writing weekend at Casterton, Kirkby Lonsdale, organised by the poet in residence, Sally Evans, held over Beltane, the time of the ancient Celtic festival. Jane Eyre & Mr Rochester is to be published in ‘Love is in the Air’, Where were you when Kennedy died? has been accepted for publication in ‘The Life and Times’, and There was a Young Lady from Troon will appear in ‘Poetic Forms, all anthologies of Forward Poetry due out in the summer of 2016 For more information on publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the Nat. Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. An interview in podcast form with the poet appears on: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/podcast/sheena-blackhall Thanks are also due to the ongoing support and encouragement of Les Wheeler, in agreeing to publish this collection.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

The Poems: Around the World in Terza Rima

Acknowledgements Title: Around the World in Terza Rima Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: A copy of the hand coloured etching of Edmund Kean (1787-1833) as The Theatrical Atlas, by George CruikshankCost: £3.00 Copyright S. Blackhall, 2016 Most of this poetry pamphlet was written during a research trip to County Mayo in Ireland. Some of these poems have been published in the following magazines/ online sites: Best Scottish Poems online 2015 Poem of the moment on SPL homepage, 15-4-16 , and in Lallans. ‘Granite’ was one of four of Blackhall’s poems performed in the spectacular Granite, a sweeping, epic outdoor theatrical event, telling the story of Aberdeen, from 1863 to 2016. The production took place in the quadrangle of Marischal College, Aberdeen. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. An interview in podcast form with the poet appears on: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/podcast/sheena-blackhall.Thanks are also due to the ongoing support and encouragement of Les Wheeler, in agreeing to publish this collection.

Monday 21 March 2016

The Poems: The Witnessing Pamphlet 116

Title: The Witnessing Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall. Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire. Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: Odilon Redon’s lithograph loosely based on the life of St Anthony of Antioch.Cost: £3.00 Copyright S. Blackhall March 2016. Some of these poems have been published in the following magazines/ online sites: Owersetts of Vietnamese Poems- Southlight 19, April 2016. The article The Gorgonzola Cheese/ The Caledonian Antisyzygy, and the poem Bella Caledonia, 50 miles up were published online in http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/ The Lion Rampant was published online by www.scotiaextremis.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/week-eight/ Diving for Poems,Dhanakosa, Balquihidder was published online at http://keeppoemsalive.com/2016/03/10/keep-poems-alive-international-21/ For more information on publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the Nat. Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. An interview in podcast form with the poet appears on: http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/connect/podcast/sheena-blackhall

Thursday 7 January 2016

The Poems: Pamphlet no 115

Title: Flat Out poems, tales and Owersetts in Scots & English Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: The Flammarion engraving This is a wood engraving by an unknown artist, so named because its first documented appearance is in Camille Flammarion's 1888 book L'atmosphère: météorologie populaire ("The Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology"). The engraving has often, but erroneously, been referred to as a woodcut. It has been used to represent a supposedly medieval cosmology, including a flat earth bounded by a solid and opaque sky, or firmament, and also as a metaphor (from Wikipedia) Cost: £3.00 Copyright S. Blackhall January 2016. Some of these poems have been published on Causeway / Cabhsair: A Magazine of Irish and Scottish Writing. For more information on publications by Sheena Blackhall, visit http://sheenablackhall.blogspot.com or the on-line catalogue of the Nat. Library of Scotland w.ww.nls.uk/catalogues/online/index/html. All of Blackhall’s poems in Scots and English, are now uploaded on www.poemhunter.com. Her website can be found on http://smiddleton4.wix.com/sheena-blackhall. Thanks are also due to the ongoing support and encouragement of Les Wheeler, in agreeing to publish this collection. Dedicated to Philip and Vicki Watt, Fadlydyke Farm New Deer

The Stories: (15th Collection) Cheerybye Eden

Title: Cheerybye Eden. Tales an Owersetts in Scots & English. Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. Cover: The Dance of Death, by Hans Holbein. Adam & Eve, preceded by Death, playing on a beggar’s lyre or hurdy-gurdy, are driven by the angel from Eden cost:£3.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall January 2016