SHETLAND Arts looks forward to an unforgettable evening of poetry and storytelling from award-winning poets, Hollie McNish, Michael Pedersen and Roseanne Watt on Thursday 17 July (7:30pm) in Mareel.
Hollie McNish is a poet whose live shows are not to be missed. After a run of sold-out gigs up and down the UK, she is back with the paperback tour of the Sunday Times bestselling and Books are My Bag poetry book of the year, Lobster and Other Things I'm Learning to Love. At Mareel, she will be joined by Scotland's favourite Michael Pedersen, launching his magical debut novel Muckle Flugga and local writer Roseanne Watt.
About Hollie
Hollie McNish is an award-winning poet, writer and performer based between Glasgow and Cambridge. She was the first poet to record at Abbey Road Studios, London and won the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry for her poetic parenting memoir 'Nobody Told Me', of which The Scotsman stated "The World Needs this Book". She has published numerous further collections of poetry - Papers, Cherry Pie, Plum and most recently Slug and Lobster, both of which were Sunday Times bestsellers.
"Funny, so smart and refreshingly honest" Sarah Millican
"Her writing is sublime" Ellie Taylor
"Makes me cry and howl with laughter" Paapa Essiedu
"Like Pam Ayres on acid" Lemn Sissay
About Michael
Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author. He is the Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh and the new Edinburgh's Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published to rave reviews and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice. He's unfurled three collections of poetry, the most recent being The Cat Prince & Other Poems - which won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and The Scottish National Book Awards, and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Muckle Flugga, his Shetland-set, debut novel was published by Faber in May 2025.
"Uncommonly romantic, irreverent and, at times, laugh out loud funny" Shirley Manson
"Enchanting... astonishingly compelling... sparklingly written... rare and to be treasured" Stephen Fry
"A master of words. He plays them like music" Kae Tempest
"Lucid, lyrical, loaded, BOY FRIENDS is a love letter to friendship" Jackie Kay
About Roseanne
Roseanne Watt is a writer, filmmaker and musician from Shetland. Her dual-language debut collection, Moder Dy, received the prestigious Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets under 30. Moder Dy subsequently received both an Eric Gregory and Somerset Maugham Award in 2020, and was named joint-winner of the Highland Book Prize 2019. Roseanne is currently poetry editor for the online literary journal The Island Review. She also performs in the bands Lukkie Minnie and Wulver, where she plays fiddle, vocals and (occasionally) guitar.
"Moder Dy is an extraordinarily intricate and multi-layered exercise in literary triangulation... Poetry books are rarely described as unputdownable. This one is." The Scotsman
"Watt's poems are entirely and unadornedly human. They also explore life beyond the human, moving meaningfully and flexibly between the two rooms of Shaetlan and English" Ian Brown, The Bottle Imp
Tickets for Hollie McNish, Michael Pedersen and Roseanne Watt cost £16.50 (including 10% booking fee) and are available to purchase online from tickets.shetlandarts.org, in-person at the Box Office in Mareel, or by calling on 01595 745 500 during opening hours of 10am-9pm, Tuesday - Sunday.
