Jackie Kay - Queen of the May

It’s the annual WoWFest (Writing on the Wall) in Liverpool, and this year’s festival coincides with the 50th birthday of Liverpool’s radical independent bookshop, News From Nowhere, which opened on May Day 1974.

WoWFest’s 50th birthday present to News From Nowhere was ‘An Evening With Jackie Kay’ - and who could ask for a better gift?

Jackie - poet, novelist, writer of short stories, professor, and Scotland’s former Makar (or national poet) - is always a joy to be in the presence of. And on a rainy Friday night she can be guaranteed to warm the heart, make you laugh, delight you and bring a tear to your eye with her poems, her anecdotes and her good humour.

She read from her new collection ‘May Day’ - which she writes about both in the context of the International Workers’ Day and the international distress signal.

Here she is reading the title poem https://youtu.be/OIGYp42hORk?si=psptWC4iOYFjEX2v (and also the poem ‘Mull’).

And, for today’s musical accompaniment here are Lady Maisery singing ‘The Factory Girl’ from their 2013 album ‘Mayday’ https://youtu.be/HdkX821jYQs?si=q2yDzTaR0sk8DhtA