Tag Archives: Moniack Mhor

Good news from the front line

(Also available as a podcast here) Front lines are on all our minds right now. I think of poetry as language’s front line, the place where things can at once be at their most considered and their most intense, raw … Continue reading

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Seeing what I say

Next week I’m going to Moniack Mhor, the Scottish writing centre in Inverness-shire. It will be the twelfth time I’ve been since 2005 when we ran what was the second-ever Dark Angels course there, and the first one I took … Continue reading

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Ends of the earth

In summer 2003 I was invited to chair an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The book in question was by a writer I knew and admired but had never met. The event was sponsored by a small Edinburgh … Continue reading

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Five lessons

We never stop learning. A cliché, but only because it’s true, or at least should be. So I thought it might be instructive to reflect on a few personal highlights of the past year by asking myself what I have … Continue reading

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Company of angels

I love Moniack Mhor, the Scottish writers’ centre near Inverness. I’ve often written about it here. Some of our most memorable Dark Angels experiences have taken place there, though none quite so memorable as last weekend. To start at the … Continue reading

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Magic in the air

Sometimes there’s just a little bit of magic in the air. So it has seemed these last 10 days. I can’t really explain it, but it feels as if maybe the planets have been particularly well aligned – or something … Continue reading

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Love-hate (part 1)

There has been much talk of independence on the Dark Angels course this week. Location has a lot to do with it. Our venue, Moniack Mhor, the Arvon Foundation writers’ centre, is perched on a hilltop just above Loch Ness with … Continue reading

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A small rebellion

The ripples from our last Dark Angels course continue to spread. Two weeks after leaving Inverness-shire, the glue that binds the group together seems to be setting firmer rather than weakening, as is more often the case. Our inboxes bulge … Continue reading

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What’s the point?

On Tuesday night we took the students on our Dark Angels course to the theatre. We left our lofty perch and plummeted down the hill to Loch Ness, then drove five miles along the lochside to the Victorian community hall … Continue reading

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Getting traction

On Monday I’m driving up to the writers’ centre at Moniack Mhor, in Inverness-shire, to run a Dark Angels course. There are several reasons why I’m particularly looking forward to it. Firstly, I missed not being involved in the Advanced … Continue reading

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