How has Galloway come to be so important to your writing?
I’ve lived and written in D and G all my life. Its history and culture is part of me.
Do you have any favourite writers or poets?
My favourite Scottish poets were Norman MacCaig and Iain Crichton Smith. Living writers I like are Andrew Greig, David Malouf and Joy Harjo.
Is there any Galloway literature that you would recommend?
Willie Neill’s poetry, as well as undeservedly lesser-known folk like Michael Crump, Derek Ross, and Josie Neill.
How has the work of the other poets who will feature in the event – Willie Neill, Josephine Neill etc. – impacted upon your own writing?
Galloway has always been a difficult, marginalised place in which to write. Poets who have been through this process, who have interpreted the landscape before me, have had a motivating effect upon my writing.
Tell us more about the connection that you see between site-specific poetry and loss.
In an emptying landscape whose culture, language, and history is forgotten or misunderstood, any site-specific poetry will be about loss, in one way or another.
