Scotland: Poetry Event to Stop Violence Against Women

Amnesty International staged a poetry event featuring four highly acclaimed Scottish women poets in Edinburgh on 24th November. The event was part of Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women campaign, and featured Janet Paisley, Magi Gibson, Elspeth Murray and Bashabi Fraser. The event launched a booklet of postcards, produced by Amnesty in conjunction with The Big Issue Scotland. The booklet features images and poems all on the theme of 'Imagine a World Without Violence Against Women'. The images come from The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow's Rule of Thumb programme, and feature artwork by women survivors of men's violence made in collaboration with artist Jaki troLove and Glasgow Women's Library. In addition, there are four postcards featuring specially commissioned poems by our guest poets.

Aims of the Campaign

• To raise awareness among mainstream Scottish society of the pervasiveness and seriousness of violence against women as a human rights issue
• To reach members of the public who currently think that violence against women has nothing to do with them
• To encourage reflection on the issue, and to challenge attitudes
• To promote discussion, give opportunities for people to engage with the issue and take action.

The Poets

Janet Paisley is one of Scotland's most versatile writers. One of her play scripts, Refuge, won the prestigious Peggy Ramsay Award in 1996. In 2000 she won a Creative Scotland Award to write Not For Glory, a book that became one of the ten Scottish finalists voted for by the public in the 2003 World Book "We are What We Read" poll.

Magi Gibson is an award-winning poet whose work has been widely published in anthologies and literary magazines in the UK, Ireland, USA and Canada. Between 2001 and 2003 she was a Royal Literary Fellow at Paisley University. Magi's first book was nominated for the Saltire Prize and she also won the Women 2000 Poetry Prize.

Elspeth Murray is a well-known poet, currently living in Edinburgh. The documentary film 'Flip-Flotsam', inspired by one of her poems, has received several awards. In 2003 she worked as poet in residence for Great Circle Communications, a firm that received the Arts & Business Award in 2004.

Bashabi Fraser was born in West Bengal. She won the Commonwealth Scholar Prize for combining the grace of the east with the pragmatism of the west. She is currently an Associate Lecturer at the Open University in Scotland.

The event is free and all are welcome. Come along to hear some great poetry and support the campaign.

More about our campaign to Stop Violence Against Women