Chapman 109: In Praise of the Lyric Muse ("Chapman", Scotland's Quality Literary Magazine) - Softcover

Stewart Conn has been prominent since his wild days in the 60s and 70s. His talent and energy still burn brightly. This is a tribute to him in which we offer new poetry and his commentary on the poetry of Muriel Spark. Colin Nicholson admires Conn's "realm of possibility" while Kevin McEneaney boogies in "the fun-house" of Conn's cortex. Musician John Sampson describes their collaboration over his poem-sequence 'Roull of Corstorphine'. Meg Bateman's achievements as a Gaelic poet and academic are very special. She muses on the differences between languages, the process of translation and the slow death of Gaelic. We also feature new poetry from Tessa Ransford, Richard Price, Norman Kreitman and others; fiction from Frances Campbell, Elizabeth Reeder, Brian Lamont and others, plus reviews. Colin Dunbar designed our cover while Glasgow artist Anda Paterson visits the down-and-outs in Scotland and Portugal, finding beauty and nobility rising above the grime.