The public are being urged to choose between two quotes from three former makars – with the most popular to be carved into Holyrood’s Canongate Wall.
The Scottish Parliament isurging people to vote for three new quotes which will be carved into its Canongate Wall. (David Cheskin/PA)
Katrine Bussey8 minutes ago
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The Scottish Parliament is staging an election with a difference, as members of the public are being urged to vote for three new quotes which will be carved into a wall at Holyrood.
While there are currently 26 quotes engraved into Canongate Wall of the Scottish Parliament, only one is from a woman.
But now Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone is urging people to vote for their favourites from six quotes from three female poets – with quotes from former makars Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay and Kathleen Jamie all featuring.
Two quotes from each poet have been put forward, with the public now being urged to choose between these.
The most popular quote from each of the three former national poets will then be engraved into the wall by Perthshire-based stone carver Gillian Forbes.
The contest is part of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament building.
Ms Lochhead, who was makar between 2011 and 2016, said: “I can’t believe it, my words are going to be, not graffiti on a wall, but in stone on the wall of the Parliament.”
She added: “It is something that has meant a great deal to me in my lifetime, that we have a Parliament in Scotland.
“Speaking poetry out loud is very important to me and if someone stands outside the wall of the Parliament and mouths these words out loud to themselves, that’s a great thing to feel that I’ve been the innocent originator of these things.”
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Meanwhile, Ms Kay, who held the post between 2016 and 2021, said it was a “huge honour and so extraordinary” for her words to be carved into stone.
She said: “It’s so strange to think of your words surviving you – but in a sense, that’s every writer’s dream.”
And Ms Jamie, the makar from 2021 to 2024, said: “The fact that words of mine will be joining those that are already there and adding to this wreathing of poetry around the Parliament building, that wall of truth, that wall of integrity that surrounds us here. That words of mine, whichever are chosen, will be inscribed there also. That’s OK, I can go out with that!”
Ms Johnstone, meanwhile described the Parliament’s Canongate Wall, which is on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, as being a “piece of living public sculpture which celebrates different parts of Scotland – our people, our land and our rich cultural heritage”.
The Presiding Officer added: “It’s an honour to have the words of these three incredible women writers carved onto our building as a permanent reminder of their contribution to public life in Scotland.
“As always, when it comes to the Scottish Parliament, I strongly encourage people to vote!”
The quotations that will be put to the public vote are:
Liz Lochhead: “This, our one small country… our one, wondrous, spinning, dear green place.
“What shall we build of it, together in this, our one small time and space?”
Or Liz Lochhead: “Love surprises us. It’s like when sunlight flings.
“A sudden shaft that lights up glamourous the rain.
“Across a Glasgow street.”
Jackie Kay: “The dead don’t go till you do, loved ones.
“The dead are still here, holding our hands.”
Or Jackie Kay: “Where do you come from?
“‘Here,’ I said, ‘Here. These parts.’”
Kathleen Jamie: “Be brave:
“By the weird-song in the dark you’ll find your way.”
Or Kathleen Jamie: “And the wild ways we think we walk.
“Just bring us here again.”
People can make their selection on the Scottish Parliament website at www.parliament.scot/canongate
