Hollie McNish & Michael Pedersen

Following a sold out appearance at Wrecking Ball Arts Centre in late 2021, poet Hollie McNish returns to the venue on July 13, this time joined by prize-winning poet, writer and Neu! Reekie! co-founder Michael Pedersen.

Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet, scribbler, stitcher. He’s produced two acclaimed collections of poetry (Polygon Books) with a poetic prose debut, Boy Friends, which will be published by Faber & Faber in July 2022. He won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, the John Mather’s Trust Rising Star of Literature Award, and was a finalist for the 2018 ‘Writer of the Year’ at The Herald Scottish Culture Awards. With work anthologised by the likes of Pan MacMillan and Canongate Books, his writing has attracted plaudits from voices as luscious as: Irvine Welsh, Jackie Kay, Stephen Fry & Charlotte Church. Pedersen also co-runs and co-founded the literary collective Neu! Reekie!, who’ve been launching poetic rockets for over ten years noo.

Boy Friends, published on July 7, 2022 is an intimate and original memoir of love, grief and male friendship.

‘Lucid, lyrical, loaded . . . A love letter to friendship.’ – Jackie Kay

‘Dazzling . . . uncommonly romantic, irreverent and at times laugh out loud funny. A delight.’ – Shirley Manson

‘Beautiful . . . send it to every friend you’ve ever loved.’ – Charlotte Church

Ted Hughes Award winner Hollie McNish is a poet whose live readings are not to be missed. Expect strong language and adult content ribbon wrapped in carefully and caringly sculpted poetry as Hollie reads from and chats about her new collection: Slug…and other things i’ve been told to hate. From Finnish mermaids and soppy otters to Kellogg’s anti-masturbation pants, Slug is a book that holds a mirror up to the world, past and present, through Hollie’s driving, funny and beautiful words. A blend of poetry, memoir and short story, Slug is an absolutely joyful read about the human condition: from birth to death and her attempt to manage the tangle in-between.

“One of the best poets we have”. – Matt Haig

“like Pam Ayres on acid” – Lemn Sissay

“Her writing is sublime” – Ellie Taylor

“Gorgeous Fingering Poems” – Bryony Gordon

“Stellar” – Vanessa Kisuule

“Mad craic” – Ray Lawlor, twitter

“Rubbish” – Ellie Wheeler, The Telegraph

“I like some poetry but not really yours” – Hollie’s daughter

Hollie McNish is a poet and author based between Glasgow and Cambridge. She won the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry for her poetic parenting memoir – Nobody Told Me – of which The Scotsman stated ‘The World Needs this Book’. She has published four further collections of poetry – Papers, Cherry Pie, Plum and her most recent poetic memoir Slug…and other things I’ve been told to hate, which is a Sunday Times Bestseller. With fellow poet Sabrina Mahfouz, she co-wrote Offside , a play relating the history of UK women’s football, and has just completed a re-imagining of Sophocles’ Greek Tragedy Antigone, published in October 2021 with Hachette. Her poetry has been translated into German, Spanish, Hungarian, Polish, Japanese and French. She is a patron of Baby Milk Action.