Poet Jackie Kay: ‘I could have been brought up by Tories!’
The writer on being adopted as a baby by Scottish communists, facing racism in suburban Glasgow, and why her late parents are at the heart of her new collection
August 2021
Scotland’s new makar Kathleen Jamie: ‘Poetry is at the heart of our culture’
The writer, ‘not naturally a public eye person’, reveals her ambitions as national poet with convulsive changes to the country and climate looming
April 2021
EU should ‘hang out welcome sign’ for an independent Scotland
Letter signed by 170 cultural figures seeks a ‘unilateral and open offer’ to rejoin EU ahead of Holyrood elections
February 2021
Book of the day
Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay review – a potent blues brew
This welcome reissue of the poet’s 1997 book about the ‘empress of the blues’ combines fact, personal memory and poetry to create an eloquent ‘herstory’
January 2021
The Guardian view on: poetry in a pandemic
Editorial: To express the grief and dislocation of our times, only poems will do
December 2020
Edinburgh’s New Year celebrations to go online with a virtual Hogmanay
Real talk: a conversation special
Jackie Kay meets Brit Bennett: ‘I can't write about the pandemic. No part of me wants to revisit this year’
May 2020
Scottish national poet Jackie Kay talks about racism she endured as a child
Scotland’s makar recalls being taunted and beaten up by older boys as an eight-year-old and reflects on a much-changed country
August 2019
Jackie Kay on putting her adoption on stage – and getting a pay rise for her successor
When Scotland’s national poet travelled to Nigeria to ask her birth father if he ever thought of her, he said no. Does it hurt to put this on stage? And should the next ‘makar’ be on £30,000?
June 2019
Jackie Kay and Tracy K Smith: what did one poet laureate say to the other?
When US poet laureate Tracy K Smith and Jackie Kay, Scotland’s equivalent, met for the first time, they had almost too much to talk about
November 2018
Jackie Kay on Arthur Roberts: the black Scottish first world war soldier who felt forgotten
In 2004, Roberts’s wartime diaries were discovered in a Glasgow attic. A century after he went to war, Scotland’s makar remembers his contribution
January 2018
Books blog
Robert Burns: was the beloved poet a 'Weinsteinian sex pest'?
Ahead of this year’s Burns Night, the 18th-century bard has come under harsh scrutiny from Liz Lochhead over his treatment of women
December 2017
My unforgettable winter
Jackie Kay: ‘The longest winters are the ones when you are away from home’
The Scottish makar remembers a heavy late-1960s Glasgow winter, and a race against time to be out of hospital in time for Christmas
January 2017
Burns night: the battle over Scottish identity continues
Scots is now recognised as an official language, but its use remains a contested issue. Poet Hugh MacDiarmid, an early champion of reviving Scots vernacular, lit this fuse for the battle over language and identity
October 2016
Jackie Kay announces makar's tour of all the Scottish islands
The poet has revealed plans for ‘an odyssey’ that will take in overlooked parts of Scotland and form the basis of a long poem about the country
March 2016
The Observer profile
Jackie Kay: Scotland’s poet of the people
Last week, the Glaswegian was named as her country’s new poet laureate. Fans point to her rare combination of literary merit with great accessibility, making her a popular choice to reframe Scottishness
Nicola Sturgeon introduces the new Scottish makar, Jackie Kay
‘Gaun yersel!’ writes the new makar in previously unpublished poem In the Long Run
Jackie Kay named as new Scottish makar
National poet says she hopes to open up ‘the blethers, the arguments and celebrations that Scotland has with itself’
January 2016
A life in ...
Liz Lochhead: ‘You’re stuck writing something until you go, “To hell with it, I’ll tell the truth”’
The books interview: the new Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry winner on learning how to be a Scottish writer and why becoming the national poet saved her life
March 2014
The female poets who have earned their laurels
A celebration of the UK and Ireland's female poets laureatesas part of International Women's Day
