Gunn's new poetry collection to be launched at Lyth
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A NEW collection of poetry by Caithness writer, George Gunn, will be launched at an event in Lyth at the weekend.
Chronicles of the First Light, which is published by Drunk Muse Press, is what Gunn describes as "my latest observations on the reality of being alive in Caithness in the 21st century."
He said: "The poems are positive and optimistic and some are about Covid and lockdown but they are all topical and contemporary."
The event at 7.30pm on Saturday night will be "a celebration of Caithness culture, music and a bit of crack. It will give people an opportunity to come and enjoy themselves in what has been a difficult time.
"Poetry can be popular and not just for an elite few. Caithness is bardic culture so I hope people will come along and enjoy it for what it is," said Gunn who is from Dunnet but lives in Thurso with his wife Christine.
"It will actually be a launch of the second edition as the first one sold out when it was launched at the Wee Festival in Stonehaven. The night will feature, as well as myself reading form the book, the Caithness singer Nancy Nicolson, musicians Gordon Gunn and Andy Thorburn and local poets Gail Brown, Mandy Beattie and Donna Booth, so it will be quite a ceilidh. The event is free but because of Covid restrictions on numbers it is advised to book in advance."
Chronicles of the First Light is Gunn's fifth poetry collection but his first with Drunk Muse Press. Copies of the 74-page book will be available to buy at the event for £8 (£9.50 online at drunkmusepress.com)
The 65-year-old writer, who has worked as a deep-sea fisherman and as a driller in the North Sea, has more than fifty plays for stage and radio to his name and is currently writer in residence at Lyth Arts Centre.
He has described the poems in his latest collection as being "like distant stars in the past."
The title refers to the moment when the first light in the universe is thought to have appeared, between 240,000 and 300,000 years after the Big Bang, and the universe went from being opaque to transparent.
"The further you look out into the universe the further back in time you go. Many of the poems in this collection are autobiographical and are about growing up and are like distant stars in the past. It is like trying to place my life in the universe," he said.
But he stressed the work is rooted in Caithness and is about its people and places although the themes are universal.
It is also a reflective book, he says.
"I’m getting older, so I have more of life to look back on. There are a few rants but there’s also – people may be surprised to hear this from me – a lot of love poetry. The land, people, the politics of how power works (or doesn’t) – it’s all in Chronicles. And the book takes us right up to covid time – one of the poems is called Lockdown."
Gunn, a former artistic director of the Grey Coast Theatre Company, pointed out that the poems have been written over the last five years and "get rounded up like coos in a park."
He is currently working on a project with Lyth Arts Centre called Words on the Wind which explores what it means to live in Caithness today.
The result will be a 30-minute film due to be launched at Lyth next spring. A novel by Gunn called Vinegar Wind is also due to be published around that time.
