Michael Pedersen and Hollie McNish share their poetry at Eden Court
Poet and writer Michael Pedersen sets the scene as he answers the phone to talk about his event next week at Eden Court, Take Two With Thrum.
It’s getting close to being the last time he will be able to answer the phone for a little while, he tells you from what he calls “a seedy little hotel in London” where he has been busy visiting his publishers to talk about the novel he is writing.
His next location probably means he will have to walk to the top of a hill in West Wales to use his phone.
“I’m about to go off on a residency at Charlotte Church’s The Dreaming retreat – there was a TV programme made about it,” Michael said.
“It’s up and running now and I will be one of their first residents – or the first,” he said.
“I’m there for a week and it is a technology-free zone. There’s no wi fi, very limited phone signal up at the top of a hill.
“So I’m having to clear the decks getting ready to go completely offline for a week which I’ve not done in years, really.”
It will be a challenge Michael says.
“When I’m writing there are references I want to look up, stories and etymologies of words, but I’ll just have to make a list of things I need to continue to research when I get back.
“It’s a busy time just now,” Michael said. “And knowing there are exciting things popping into my in-box, but to keep concentrating on the writing!”
Poet and writer Michael Pedersen is co-founder of Neu Reekie which has run events to showcase poetry, music, animation and film since 2010.
Michael is a regular visitor to the area, bringing Neu Reekie! Events and guests to the north, including Kathryn Joseph and the late Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit to Elgin. And he has been a poetry tutor at writers’ centre Moniack Mhor.
“My favourite place to perform in the Highlands is at the Ullapool Book Festival!” Michael said.
Michael will be returning to the last Ullapool Book Festival soon.
His latest book, Boy Friends, which was published last July, is a memoir of love, grief and male friendship which grew out of trying to document his friendship with the late Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit after his sudden death.
Michael said: “It was very quick and sudden the way we lost him and I worried that the shock and tremors of that would mean I would lose or misplace a lot of the details and a lot of the favourite moments. So I sat down to write this book almost for my own benefit, to archive this friendship that changed the course of my life and that will resonate inside me forever. And it became much bigger. So what started as a book about loss, very much became a love letter to friendships that was a book of celebration.”
Michael will come to Inverness on Thursday (March 16) where he is performing at Eden Court with his partner and fellow poet Hollie McNish in Take Two With Thrum with local poet Gill Shaw joining them.
“All the content as a writer is completely fresh. And it’s the same with Hollie, she has had her first Sunday Times bestseller and she is just knuckling down on the second draft of her new book which is the follow-up to Slug … which comes out next year.
“So there is a lot of new material there and both have us have developed as writers. So for the last year pretty much we have been on tour together. It is two poets reading together, but it is almost like a whole production, we introduce each other, reference each other’s shows. That’s why it feels so good to do them in theatres. We’re together non-professionally as well as professionally.”
Though Michael is well-known across the Highlands, Inverness not so much.
“I’ve done one or two shows before, one was through the university reading to students and the other one was in the smaller room at the Ironworks.
“But this is the first time we have actually brought a show there. You don’t often get a lot of spoken word at Eden Court Theatre and it is often much easier to do a second night at Edinburgh or Glasgow which sell out much more quickly, but it’s not as exciting!
“Though it’s exciting to sell out shows, it’s not as exciting as putting a new one on the map together. This is the first time we’ve put an Inverness date on the calendar. We love Eden Court as a theatre and we love that part of the world.”
Michael Pedersen and Hollie McNish at Eden Court with Take Two With Thrum poetry from both Michael and Hollie’s new collections. They will be joined by local poet Gill Shaw, who has been tutored by Michael and Hollie in the past. For 14 and overs. Starts at 7pm.
