ROBERT Crawford was in Scotland's National Book Town last week to announce the winner of the Wigtown Poetry Prize, Britain's most expensive. But it was another distinguished Scottish poet, Alistair Reid, who got the laughs.
Wigtown Festival direct
or Michael McCreath played the straight man when he cheekily suggested in a speech that the town – with its myriad second-hand bookshops – was more used to volumes by deceased and superannuated poets than live, young ones. This prompted a series of comically aggrieved looks from Reid (81, Wigtownshire-born and still in fine fettle) who finally reduced the awards lunch to uproar as he feigned a heart attack.
Crawford, incidentally, gave an insight into the trials of a poetry judge, noting that the 500 entries he had read included "a curious number of poems about life in ancient China, several about the Reverend Walker on Duddingston Loch" and more than a few lines lifted from famous writers.
The winner, Salford-born Jane Weir (who got £2,500), second-place Siobhan Campbell from Dublin, and Gaelic prize-winner Maoilios Campbell have all been invited to this year's tenth Wigtown Festival (26 September-5 October), where the line-up will include Janice Galloway, Michael Morpurgo, Louis de Bernières, James Kelman and Kathleen Jamie.
SINGLE-MINDEDONE thing not (yet) on Wigtown's agenda is a singles' night. Swansea Library held one last night, with tasteful pink badges at reception for all those looking for love. So far, no book festival has picked up on the idea, but I fear that it's only a matter of time ...
PG TIPOF ALL my regrets as a parent, my failure to "sell" the novels of PG Wodehouse to my children is right up near the top. When I interviewed Jonathan Raban, the one thing I was most envious of wasn't his yacht or his exquisite prose style (handy as both would be) but the fact that his daughter loved nothing more than for him to read her a bedtime story by the greatest ever English comic writer.
Those with better luck with their brats than me might care to know that Arrow is organising a Wodehouse Summer Picnic for families this afternoon in London's Russell Square. It's to celebrate the launch of the first 18 of a new edition of Wodehouse titles, all now on sale at £7.99 each. DR
The full article contains 398 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
