The Stirling Makar
Introduction from Laura Fyfe
I'm Laura Fyfe, Stirling Makar.
A Makar is the Scottish version of a Poet Laureate. What a Makar does is make things – poetry, specifically.
The reason we've asked you to take this survey is that I am coming towards the end of my period as Makar, and I’d love to hear from you about how you feel we (Libraries and myself) have done to engage people with poetry over the last three years.
We’d also like to hear what you’d like more (or less) of in the future.
All questions and suggested answers are just bouncing-off points. Feel free to let us know anything else in the comment boxes.
All feedback is welcome and may inform what the next Makar does for Stirling’s communities in the next few years.
The new Makar will be appointed in the autumn, and I'll be staying in place to work with them as a mentor until the end of the year.
Lapsed parachutist Laura Fyfe suffers from a chronic low boredom threshold. She teaches out of compulsion, writes stories for fun, novels for the challenge, and poems because she can’t not. She supports other writers by mentoring, editing and by facilitating writing workshops and communities across Scotland and online. Her work has been published in Butcher’s Dog, Postbox and Northwords Now and was shortlisted for the 2022 Bridport Prize. Her pamphlet The Truth Lies is available from Red Squirrel Press. Laura’s non-fiction books Wellspring and Magpie Mind help writers and artists defeat procrastination and live more creative lives. She lives in river deep, mountain high Stirlingshire, and is the Stirling Makar.
Credit: Claire Macfarlane, Zenspirations Photography
Phases
Stirling Makar Post Survey
I'm Laura Fyfe, Stirling Makar.
A Makar is the Scottish version of a poet laureate. What a Makar does is make things – poetry, specifically. I’d love to hear from you about how you feel we (Libraries and myself) have done to engage people with poetry over the last three years.
We’d also like to hear what you’d like more (or less) of in the future.
All questions and suggested answers are just bouncing-off points. Feel free to let us know anything else in the comment boxes. All feedback is welcome and may inform what the next Makar does for Stirling’s communities in the next few years.
Please note that all demographic questions on the second page of the survey are completely optional. We ask these questions to understand where we may need to do more to engage under-represented populations.