Cáit O'Neill McCullagh
Writing poetry | Debut collection: 'The Bone Folder', Drunk Muse Press 2024 | Shortlisted for Saltire Awards & Bridport 2025 | Winner McLellan Prize 2025, Saboteur Award 2023 | Board Moniack Mhor | Poet in Residence UHI | linktr.ee/caitjomac
- 💚 #moniackmhoronline where I'll share about #mentoring & #writing #poetry alongside brilliant @johnglenday.bsky.social my mentor / companion in readying 'The Bone Folder' for publication. Join us online 23.01.26. Pay-as-you-are-able booking bit.ly/4p2kpE9 @asls.org.uk @byleaveswelive.bsky.social
- ❤ Saltire Book Awards Immense thanks to the judges for their generous readings of 'The Bone Folder', and to everyone who has been part of shaping the poems that fill it; all of you who have read and given time to those words.
- In the midst of all the other wondrous poetry news, I was so pleased to have been shortlisted in this year's #Bridport #Poetry Prize. There were some outstanding poets on the list & an astounding winner, placed and commended poets' list too. Immense congratulations to all!
- Gorgeous to see 'The Bone Folder' shortlisted in the 'The Saltires' #Book Awards. Thanks to my publishers Drunk Muse Press & to each of you for your encouragement. All #poems would be lonely without their readers 💚 Good luck to everyone shortlisted 🙌 @asls.org.uk @byleaveswelive.bsky.social
- Amazed & delighted to be on the longlist for *The Saltire Society’s National Book Awards* in the #Poetry category, debut section. Congratulations to all of the wonderous writers who have been listed & immense thanks to the whole more-than-a-village of folk who've helped raise these poems 💖
- North North folk & people travelling in #Sutherland & #Caithness & friends Join me & Nadine Malcom & Lee McNeish of *Common Ground* at Melness Hall, Saturday 20 September, 2pm. #Poetry #stories imagining more possible futures. Free. Hope & cake galore. See image for details 👇
- Kathleen Madigan's * #Poetry Now * podcast on #Highland Hospital Radio is a gem. Engaging; thoughtful, healing. Featured poets include @johnglenday.bsky.social Pàdraig MacAoidh / Peter Mackay, Lydia Harris, Leonie Charlton. I've managed to stow away in there too. hhr.scot/show/hhr-sho...
- What a treat to have won the McLellan #Poetry Prize. Thanks to judge Jim Carruth, Arran Theatre & Arts Trust & the whole ecology of poets - encouragers; editors; mentors, dearest peers. My grateful poem is here www.arrantheatreandarts.co.uk/_files/ugd/a... @asls.org.uk @byleaveswelive.bsky.social
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullagh“If we don’t explore the past, then how can we understand the journey that has brought us to where we are? This too – tracing the route – is a form of recovery.” ~ James Robertson (2025) irishpages.org/product/vol-... @asls.org.uk @iassl.bsky.social @scottishpen.bsky.social
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghA bird’s voice chinks and tinkles Alone in the gaunt reedbed – Tiny silversmith Working late in the evening… —Norman MacCaig, “July evening” published in THE POEMS OF NORMAN MacCAIG (Birlinn, 2009) #poetry #poem birlinn.co.uk/product/the-...
- It's an honour & a beautiful thing to have been invited to become *Poet in Residence* for the @insuhi.bsky.social this place of learning; research & its people, so dear to me & immensely formative in my writing of poetry in & of the Highlands & Islands www.uhi.ac.uk/en/research-...
- Join us, five Highlands & Islands originated/oriented poets for an evening of live #poetry readings & music at @atandmt.bsky.social #Tobermory #Mull Thursday 10 July, 7pm. We'd love to see you there. Click 👇 for details. @asls.org.uk www.antobarandmulltheatre.co.uk/whats-on/ec2...
- Oh this is so good, and so necessary 👇
- Join us, five poets setting ashore: Saturday 5 July, 7pm, in #Strontian for new #poems, conviviality, music, book signing & for free. Come North, come West, sail the Whale Road; we'd love to see you 💚 @byleaveswelive.bsky.social @asls.org.uk
- A gem from James Wright, uncovered by @johnglenday.bsky.social who always shares such wondrous poems - Blue Sky highlights!
- Thanks to dear poet @taylor-strickland.bsky.social for this deeply engaged & engaging 'Bottle Imp' review of my debut #poetry collection 'The Bone Folder'. It's a privilege to get a glimpse of how some of those set-adrift lines are landing. www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2025/06/the-... #newbooks #poems
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullagh🎤 NEW PODCAST! The latest Nothing But The Poem podcast is a Norman MacCaig special. @samueltongue.bsky.social takes a deep dive into two of the most famous poems by one of Scotland's most beloved poets to see what lay beneath the bonnet. www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/noth...
- Join me:Thursday 12 June, 2-3pm, for a free online Shared #Reading hour. We'll look at work by POC, LGBT+ writers & writers with disabilities, & work in translation, in this gentle, guided session. Click below to register. It will be lovely to see you there. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/off-the-be...
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghI didn’t expect to see my face and poem at the reception desk of Inverness Central Library this evening. A fine evening listening to poetry and song hosted by the ever joyous @kittyjomac.bsky.social
- Join me on 22 May, 2pm (BST) for an hour of Shared Reading, online. We'll be exploring work by POC, LGBT+ & disabled writers, as well as work in translation, in this gentle, guided session; part of the programme offered by @openbookreading.bsky.social 📖 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/off-the-be...
- This will be a luminous week ✨ with outstanding guides @marjorielotfi.bsky.social & @niallpoetry.bsky.social & all the goodness of Galloway leaning into us. For all who are in the practice of #writing, of #poems #Retreat, Galloway House, 14-19 September. Click below for more details & booking 👇
- We're thrilled that poet Niall Campbell is joining us at Galloway House Estate for our 14-19th September 2025 retreat. The retreat is fully-catered, with massage and yoga also available. More info: marjorielotfi.com/writing-retr...). DM or email via my website w/ questions or to reserve a place.
- It's an honour to have my wee poem 'Return' featured alongside the tender writing of Tom Murray in this month's Open Book Podcast, with the luminous @marjorielotfi.bsky.social & @claireurquhart.bsky.social ✨ soundcloud.com/openbookun..... The poem: openbookreading.com/wp-content/u...
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghAfter Whistler by Lisel Mueller. Perhaps based on Symphony in White No. 1?
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghHere's a look at the next #NorthSeaPoets webinars 🧑💻 Get all the details and book at northseapoets.com/events 🌊 #PoetryCommunity #PoetrySky
- That dear 'loveless moon' of Norman McCaig's, putting the heart over in me this #EarthDay
- It’s hard to think that the earth is one – This poor sad bearer of wars and disasters Rolls-Roycing round the sun with its load of gangsters, Attended only by the loveless moon. —Norman MacCaig, “Stars and Planets” #poem #EarthDay #EarthDay2025 birlinn.co.uk/product/the-...
- #Cromarty will fill with a wheen of writers & musicians 23-24 May, celebrating #HughMiller folklorist, geologist, paleantologist, essayist, sennachie; person of many pairts. I look forward to sharing my #poems there, along with @gillshawwrites.bsky.social @ammonitesandstars.bsky.social & many more 👇
- It would be a treat to see you at #Stirling Central Library, this Thursday 17 April, 5.30pm-6.45pm, where I'll be reading with the wonders: @charliegracie.bsky.social @moraganderson.bsky.social & Chris Powici of @paperboatswriters.bsky.social We will bring books to sign as well. Bring friends, do.
- My heart raised to the lift reading this Afterword by @kathleenjamie.bsky.social in 'The Keelie Hawk'. I cherish the peedie groatie buckies of #Scots when minding friends: their sheeksin, clypes & douce tones; in the names of places & all the life in them, welcome as the whaup that brings the voar.
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghWED 16 APRIL @SPL Donald S Murray presents "Tales of a Cosmic Crofter," his new collection inspired by Gaelic songs and his Lewis upbringing. Mark Vernon Thomas unveils "For All the Ghosts that Live in Me," his deeply personal exploration of inner landscapes. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seahorse-p...
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghNew post on #Substack 📰 'Out of the Marvellous' – Lesley Harrison on the last of the Celtic bards #NorthSeaPoets #PoetryCommunity #PoetrySky
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghPause, and read...
- Tonight, 8 April #Kincraig #Cairngorm #ScottishHighlands I'll share #poems & speak about the making of 'The Bone Folder' at the #Storylands Sessions Show. Begins 7pm. Booking essential 👇 #music #SpokenWord #tradition badenochstorylands.com/storylands-s... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/storylands...
- I'm bringing 'The Bone Folder' #poems to #Stirling Central Library, Thursday 17 April, 5.30pm. Join me & these luminous guest readers moraganderson.bsky.social charliegracie.bsky.social & Chris Powici of paperboatswriters.bsky.social FREE but do book as space is limited 👇 fb.me/e/7Oq06RNTR #poetry
- A gorgeous gift for Huntigowk or Cuckoo's Day, #AprilFools Will Pittam's #poem in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social 🪶
- 'Cow on Wolverhampton Lawn', a poem by Will Pittam, from our sold-out April / May 2024 issue. For more poems like this, pre-order our latest issue here: thelondonmagazine.org/product/sing...
- Lucent writing from #Angela_Cheveau & @clareshawpoet.bsky.social sharing on the experiences of mentoring & being mentored; the wondrous gift of companionship, guidance borne out of the generosity of one who has walked (written) a part of the way before 🙌 #poetry open.substack.com/pub/kimmoore...
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghThis beautiful poem by Katharine Towers in the latest @poetrylondon.bsky.social is just stunning.
- ' after the feeding was done and the gas glow extinguished, we would discover that second surprise of parenthood. Almost as strange to me as the heater was the sound of my own voice, singing ... I sang and – I feel now – I explained myself to my own child. Explained my love as much as my doubts.' 🙌
- If you are in #Glasgow on Saturday 29 March, come for #poems, for #peace: Quaker Meeting House, Glasgow, G2 4PS, 3-5pm 💚👇 www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/gla...
- #Kincraig Storylands Sessions are luminous ceilidhs of the moment & I'm delighted to be featured guest on Tuesday 8 April, 7-9.30pm. The theme is Gleusadh #Gàidhlig for mending & tuning. Bring a song; story; #poem your open hearts. Details & booking 👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/storylands....
- I'm bringing 'The Bone Folder' #poems to #Stirling 'gateway to the Highlands' 💚 Join me & these luminous guest readers @moraganderson.bsky.social @charliegracie.bsky.social & Chris Powici of @paperboatswriters.bsky.social at Central Library Thursday 17 April, 5.30pm. FREE but do book your seat 👇
- This poem by @taylor-strickland.bsky.social published in @rialtopoetry.bsky.social in which Dunkeld is both the particular at that specific moment, and the everywhere and in all times that we can feel places to be; welcoming us back from our uneasiness in this shoogled world to belong, again
- Leavin Meta slowly for the Sky, as we all will in time. Meanwhile, to prove it is me here’s a new poem I recently published in @rialtopoetry.bsky.social Dedicated to friend David Kinloch and to the toun of Dunkeld.
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghFiona Larkin is the winner of the National Poetry Competition 2024 for ‘Absence has a grammar’. Fiona Larkin’s debut collection, Rope of Sand, was published by Pindrop Press in 2023. The title poem was highly commended in the Forward Prizes. Her pamphlets are Vital Capacity (...)
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghTo celebrate #WorldPoetryDay here's Scotland's Makar, Peter Mackay, reading 'Apple' (English language version)
- If you are in or near #Edinburgh on Saturday 22 March, it would be lovely to welcome you to this evening of #poetry #music & #conversation. Starting 7pm, FREE, more information & link to booking below 👇 @byleaveswelive.bsky.social @johnglenday.bsky.social
- I'm on a break from the chemo- & radio-therapies that have been keeping me going during the last 3 years & feeling more myself, I've 💖ed bringing 'The Bone Folder', my wee #poetry book, to new ears. Here's a recording of the CVLP New Books Showcase, which was a delight ✨ youtu.be/AQELu4Vx81I?...
- #Edinburgh & Edinburgh-close folk, please do join us for an evening of #poetry #music & conversation: 22 March, 7pm - 9pm at The Fruitmarket Gallery. Free, but booking will ensure your seat ✨
- “We are each other’s song”: an evening of poetry, conversation & music 22 March, Edinburgh – free Poets @kittyjomac.bsky.social & @johnglenday.bsky.social will share readings of their poems within a dialogue reflecting the themes resonant throughout their works www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghwww.northseapoets.com/events/poetr... At North Sea Poets we offer one-off events but also a 7-week long course: Poetry Fundamentals. Taught by all 7 of us in turn. Places limited to 25.
- There is so much delight about this new venture already (only a day after launching); such a resource for all who are getting themselves involved in #poetry & so, also, for the world. Head over to @northseapoets.bsky.social northseapoets.com to find a whole nurture of resources 💚
- Deeply embedded in poetry lie honesty, respect, humility and concern for human and natural worlds. I'm delighted to be a part of #NorthSeaPoets, offering online masterclasses, workshops and webinars to poets and readers. #Poetry northseapoets.com 🌊 Follow @northseapoets.bsky.social to learn more
- 'A Dove Has Spread Her Wings And Asks for #Peace', Maria Prymachenko, 1982, #Ukrainian Artist (1909-1997)
- Reposted by Cáit O'Neill McCullaghDelightful to be interviewed about Fower Pessoas by the wonderful Madrid Review. The magazine is well worth your time - a high quality of work contained within.
- Today sees the publication of the wonderful 'Fower Pessoas' by @brambrella.bsky.social from @carcanet.bsky.social We spoke with Colin Bramwell - well worth a look #poetry #translation #scots #scotland #pessoa #fernandopessoa themadridreview.com/f/fower-pess...
- Join me 5 March, 10.30am-12.30pm for a sharing & writing workshop exploring Cainnt nan Eun: Leid o Birdies: Language of Birds; the companionship between boglands in the North Highlands & the birds that depend on them. Booking essential. Pay as you can options 👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/storytelli...
- I'm so fortunate & ridiculously thrilled to be reading with my very favourite poet, that wonderful human @johnglenday.bsky.social at The Fruitmarket Gallery #Edinburgh Saturday 22 March 7pm. #Poems #music conversation - it will be 💖 All FREE but do book tickets www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/we-are...
- How beautiful #London, to have @marjorielotfi.bsky.social light up your commute with her wondrous poetry 💖
- I found my #poetry feet among generous & encouraging companions at Lime Square Poets' weekly meets - a featured reader & warm, safe Open Mic - during lockdown online & on the line living. Delighted that they are still going strong. Excited to join on 20/3 👇 www.limesquarepoets.com/event-detail...
