We discuss the short story 'The Serpent' by Rafael Torrubia and two group poem by members of the Oasis Group at Maryhill Integration Network, 'What Every Woman Should Carry' and 'In The Wardrobe'.

November 2021: The Serpent

On this episode we read Heather Parry's short story ‘To Table’ and the poems ‘Who goes to dine must take his Feast’ by Emily Dickinson and ‘Revelry’ by Open Book Creative Writing Group.

December 2021: To Table

We welcome in the new year with the story 'Hazy Shade of Blue' by Lorraine Thomson and a poem by John Glenday, 'Bird Sighs for the Air'

January 2022: Hazy Shade of Blue

We discuss the story "Going somewhere? What happens when the story ends?" by Amy Moreno and the poem 'Bladerunner' by Rob A. Mackenzie.

May 2022: Going Somewhere

We discuss the short story 'Guerrilla Tactics' by Anne Hay and the poem 'The Only Black Girl' by Hannah Lowe.

Photo: Susan Torkington

July 2022: Guerrilla Tactics

We discuss the story 'New Beginnings' by Helen Lyttle and the poem 'Early Morning, West Hartlepool, 1963' by Eddie Gibbons.

Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France - L'ancienne usine de tapis Templeton (Glasgow), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24672128

August 2022: New Beginnings

We feature Victoria Kennefick's poem 'A Young Girl Discovers Her Reflection' and the short story 'Carnival Night' by Rebecca Savage.

October 2022: Carnival Night

We discuss the story 'Shipbuilding' by LG Thomson and the poem 'Not Unequal to Many' by Jay Gao.

January 2023: Shipbuilding

We discuss the story 'Dinnerplate Identities' by Britta Benson and the poem 'A Tray of Frozen Songbirds' by Pascale Petit.

February 2023: Dinnerplate Identities

This month, Claire and Marjorie examine the letters of Henrietta Liston, a British botanist, world traveller and wife of diplomat Robert Liston. Liston documented her travels with meticulous detail in her journals, letters and personal documents which form part of the Liston archive held at the National Library of Scotland (NLS).
 
Thanks to the NLS, Marjorie has spent time delving into the archive, including exploring her writing about her time in Turkey during the Ottoman Empire and in North America in its infancy as a country, all through the eyes of a wry, learned woman.

The Liston Papers are available to explore at the National Library of Scotland. Find out more: https://digital.nls.uk/travels-of-henrietta-liston/

Our thanks to National Library of Scotland exhibit curators, Dora Petherbridge and Patrick Hart for their generosity and assistance.

Claire and Marjorie also discuss Heather Yeung's poem, Fable, written in response to her examination of the Liston Archives. A teacher in the School of Humanities at the University of Dundee, Yeung's poetry often examines ecology and culture, making Liston, with her extensive travel and her love of botany, the perfect figure to draw inspiration. 

Join us as we read 'Plague, Princes and Political Embarras: a Constantinople Letter from Henrietta Liston' and 'Fable', a poem by Heather Yeung.

--
Open Book Unbound

Episode 55 – 3 July 2023

Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Cover Image: Henrietta Marchant Liston (1800), painted by Gilbert Stuart, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

July 2023: Plague, Princes and Political Embarras

Happy New Year from Open Book!

Celebrate the start of a new year with this special bonus episode as Claire and Marjorie discuss the peaceful and the powerful nature of the sea. Sit back and relax as we discuss LG Thomson's short story 'True Tales from the Sea by a Fisherman's Wife' and Niall Campbell's poem 'When the Whales Beached'.

--

Open Book Unbound

Episode 60 – Sea

Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Short Story: 'True Tales from the Sea by a Fisherman's Wife' by LG Thomson
Poem: 'When the Whales Beached' by Niall Campbell.

Find out more about Open Book: www.openbookreading.com
Follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram @openbookreading

New Year 2024: Sea

Welcome back to Open Book!

Claire and Marjorie kick off 2024's podcasts by exploring Open Book's latest theme, Machines. Reading Ruth Gilchrist's short story 'Engine Oil' and Walt Whitman's poem 'To a Locomotive in WInter', they discuss the importance of holding silence, career paths, and the mechanical orchestra of trains.

--

Open Book Unbound

Episode 61 – Machines

Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Short Story: 'Engine Oil' by Ruth Gilchrist
Poem: 'To a Locomotive in Winter' by Walt Whitman

Find out more about Open Book: www.openbookreading.com
Follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram @openbookreading

January 2024: Machines

This month, we're taking a moment to relax and explore the Night Sky. Reading 'Lying Down to Look Up' by Anna Levin and 'I saw no Way–The Heavens were stitched' by Emily Dickinson, Claire and Marjorie think about fond childhood memories of stargazing, the overwhelming vastness of space, and consider the world around us as an evolving mystery to be shared with family and friends.

--

Open Book Unbound

Episode 52 – Night Sky

Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Short Story: 'Lying Down to Look Up' by Anna Levin
Poem: 'I saw no Way–The Heavens were stitched' by Emily Dickinson

Find out more about Open Book: www.openbookreading.com
Follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram @openbookreading

February 2024: Night Sky

Spring has arrived, bringing chattering birds back to our gardens. Inspired by Scottish Book Trust's 2024 Book Week Scotland theme of 'Hope', Claire and Marjorie read Britta Benson's short story 'My first Emily' and Emily Dickinson's poem 'A bird came down the walk'.

-- 

Open Book Unbound

Episode 64 – Hope

Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Short Story: 'My first Emily' by Britta Benson
Poem: 'A bird came down the walk' by Emily Dickinson

Find out more about Open Book: www.openbookreading.com
Follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) and Instagram @openbookreading

April 2024: Hope

Join Claire and Marjorie as they welcome summer with a joyful celebration of George Mackay Brown's life and works. This month, they read Ros Taylor's 'My Uncle George', as well as 'Pilgrimage' by Lynn Valentine and 'Caithness' by John Glenday, originally published in 'Beyond the Swelkie': a collection of poetry and prose created to celebrate the centenary of George Mackay Brown.

--

Open Book Unbound

Episode 67 – George Mackay Brown
Hosts: Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi
Producer: Colin Fraser
Prose: 'My Uncle George' by Ros Taylor
Poetry: 'Pilgrimage' by Lynn Valentine; 'Caithness' by John Glenday.

The prose and poetry in this episode appear in 'Beyond the Swelkie', edited by Jim Mackintosh and Paul S Phillipou, published by Tippermuir Books. With thanks to the authors and Tippermuir Books for their permission to use these works.

July 2024: George Mackay Brown

This month, Claire and Marjorie discuss Open Book's latest theme, Our Earth. Reading Katharine Macfarlane's short piece 'Tethered to the Earth' and a poem by A J Stockwell, they explore resilience, learning to learn, generational change, understanding, and bravery as we picture the Earth's – and our – survival.

September 2024: Our Earth

We discuss the story 'Straight First Time: Sewing Lessons" by Jay Whittaker and the poem 'Instruction' by Hazel Hall.

Photo by pina messina on Unsplash

October 2024: Sewing

We read "Building Badger’s Cairn", a short story from Dorothy Lawrenson, and the poem "Wit is it" by Billy Letford.

Photo by Juhani Pelli from Unsplash

November 2024: Apprentice

We read the short story "Walking on Air" by Maureen Myant and a poem from Alice Tarbuck, "Impetrative and Oblative".

Photo by jasper benning on Unsplash

December 2024: Magic

We read 'A Life in 5 Biscuits', a story by LG Thomson, and 'the day i stopped nicking tea bags from hotels (or granny, forgive me)', a poem by Hollie McNish.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.

February 2025: Biscuits

We read 'Its bark', a non-fiction piece by Tessa McWatt, and 'Living Space / One Breath', a poem by Imtiaz Dharker.

Photo by Nate Bell on Unsplash
      

March 2025: Bark

We read 'Dressing my Daughter' by Juliet Wilson and 'Long Years apart—can make no' by Emily Dickinson.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash. This podcast was supported by Creative Scotland.

April 2025: Friendship

On this month's podcast we discuss ‘Bright Star’ by Tom Murray and ‘Return’ by Cáit O’Neill McCullagh.

Photo by Nicole Avagliano on Unsplash. This podcast was supported by Creative Scotland.
      

May 2025: Constellations

We read ‘There’s no after school club for the moons of Jupiter’ by Britta Benson and the poems ‘The Train’ and ‘Traivel’ by Colin Bramwell, from his collection 'Foeer Pessoa'.

Photo by Manny Moreno on Unsplash. This podcast was supported by Creative Scotland.

June 2025: The Road Less Travelled

We read ‘It’s a sin to tell a lie’ by Helen Bang and ‘The Charming Nancy’ by Miriam Gamble from ‘Squirrels are Dead’.

Photo by Jan Canty on Unsplash. This podcast was supported by Creative Scotland.

July 2025: White Lies

We read ‘Television’ by Lynn Gee and ‘Sue Speaks To Me In The Swan Room’ by Malika Booker.

Photo by Negar Nikkhah on Unsplash. This podcast was supported by Creative Scotland.

August 2025: Envy

We read ‘A Trip Doon the Memories’ by Roddie McKenzie and ‘Text Message’ by Anthony Anaxagorou

Photo by Yueshan Jiang on Unsplash. This podcast is supported by Creative Scotland.


September 2025: Obsolete

Our first episode features Marjorie Lotfi Gill and Claire Urquhart taking part in their very first Open Book discussion as a podcast. We discuss 'An Anti-Social Ride' by Lee Craigie, one of Edinburgh International Book Festival's Freedom Papers, and the poem 'Landscape with Flying Man' by John Glenday.

Please visit our website for more info: https://openbookreading.com/unbound/

Open Book Unbound Podcasts

Open Book Unbound Podcast: Episode 1

In this episode we explore poems and stories with a musical theme. Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi Gill read and discuss the poems 'Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House' by Billy Collins and 'Everyone Sang' by Siegfried Sassoon, and we read the short story 'Self Control' by James Robertson. We also discuss your feedback from our first episode and give an update on the latest news from our virtual groups. 

Please visit our website for more info: openbookreading.com/unbound/

Listen to 'Self Control' read by Tam Dean Burn, with music by Aidan O'Rourke and Kit Downes, on the 365 website: https://three-six-five.net/Stories-And-Music/March/17


Photo credit: Susan Torkington

Open Book Unbound Podcast: Episode 2

In celebration of Edwin Morgan 100 on Monday 27 April 2020 we bring you an episode filled to the brim with poetry. Marjorie Lotfi Gill and Claire Urquhart read the poems 'Strawberries', 'The Release' and 'At Eighty', as well as the introduction by Liz Lochhead to The Edwin Morgan Twenties: Scotland.

Find out more about Edwin Morgan 100 at https://edwinmorgantrust.com/edwin-morgan-centenary/

Send your comments and questions to info@openbookreading.com and visit out website: http://www.openbookreading.com/unbound

Unbound Episode 4: Edwin Morgan at 100

On this episode we feature our Unbound commissioned piece by Elspeth Wilson and two of the poems she chose to accompany it - 'Early April Heatwave' by April Thomas and 'Summit of Corrie Etchachan' by Nan Shepherd.

Unbound Episode 16: There is tomorrow

We share stories, poems and online resources to help keep us all reading, writing and connecting. As well as this podcast, we offer online Zoom meetings and a weekly newsletter. Find out more on our website http://www.openbookreading.com

Open Book Reading

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks