Norman Bissell is the Director of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics which was founded in 1995 by Tony McManus and others. It is a network of individuals who share a common interest in developing an understanding of geopoetics and applying it creatively in their lives. It organises talks, discussions, day and weekend events, conferences and courses, including field work in interesting places, which are designed to extend our knowledge and experience of geopoetics.

It has members in England, Wales, Ireland, USA, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Australia and Canada as well as throughout Scotland and welcomes new members from all over the world. It is affiliated to the International Institute of Geopoetics and publishes an annual online journal Stravaig almost all of whose 14 issues to date are available to read here.

Exclusive extract from new Kenneth White book and discount offer!

Kenneth White and the Australian philosopher Jeff Malpas held a conversation about poetry and philosophy over four days in Brittany. Inspired by poets from John Donne to Hölderlin, and philosophers from Nietzsche to Heidegger, they discussed the world, place, narrative, language and politics. This book records that conversation.

Click on Resource Extract to read it.

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Our next event will be Geopoetics and Creativity between Prof Patrick Corbett and Dr Alyson Hallett on Wednesday 2 October 2024 at 17.00 BST 13.00 Eastern Standard Time 10.00 Pacific Standard Time.

Further information about the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics and its members is available here or by contacting Norman Bissell, Director, at normanbissell@btinternet.com.
You can become a member by completing the membership application form on its membership page and paying an annual subscription of £10 waged/£5 unwaged. You will receive a free copy of Grounding a World: Essays on the work of Kenneth White if you join or renew your membership.

It held a Geopoetics Day in November 2017 which included a canal walk, an evening informal ceilidh, the Centre's Annual General Meeting and the inaugural Tony McManus Geopoetics Lecture on Nan Shepherd by James McCarthy at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Full details here. The whole day was well attended, special highlights being the walk, the lecture and a wide-ranging discussion. The excellent lecture can be read here.

Stravaiging from Heriot-Watt University Campus November 2017

A very successful Highland Stravaig in May 2018 was organised by Assistant Director Mairi McFadyen along with the Moniack Mhor Writers Centre and the Abriachan Forest Trust. A guided walk round part of the Forest Trail celebrated its 20 years of community ownership and we learnt how the writers Jessie Kesson and Katharine Stewart were inspired by living in the Abriachan area.

A Geopoetics Conference Expressing the Earth in the Year of Indigenous Languages was held at Wiston Lodge near Biggar in June 2019. It featured an inspiring programme of outdoor and indoor workshops and talks, films, discussions and performances of poetry, prose and music. Free time was also provided to develop creative work emerging from the workshops and talks.

A Geopoetics Day was held at the New Lanark World Heritage Site in October 2019 which included a talk by Katherine Buchanan about her ancestor James Buchanan who initiated progressive education for infants at New Lanark, a walk along part of the River Clyde in full spate, our Annual General Meeting and the third Tony McManus Geopoetics Lecture by Norman Bissell on Tony McManus and Geopoetics in Scotland: past, present, future.