14 August 2008
Poetry in motion on the Subway
John Rice has been appointed to work as Glasgow Subway poet-in-residence over the next nine months.
The project - the first of its kind for a public transport organisation in Scotland - is aimed at enhancing the travelling experience and encouraging enjoyment of poetry among all ages.
John, who has a substantial publication record, will work with SPT to develop poems for display on the Subway concourse and establish a series of reading and writing workshops in primary schools and libraries.
SPT Chief Executive Ron Culley expressed his delight at the appointment.
He said: "I’m sure John’s work will prove inspirational and thought provoking to our customers.
"This is a great way to engage with the travelling public and make their journey more interesting.
"I’m looking forward to seeing this scheme help educate school children about poetry and about the Subway."
John was born in Possilpark, Glasgow, and spent the first few years of his life in Blackhill Camp, a temporary settlement in north Glasgow that housed families just after the devastation of the Second World War.
At the age of five, his family moved to Saltcoats, in Ayrshire, where he attended school and then college in Irvine.
In 1966, he left Scotland to join the Army’s Intelligence Corps where he studied Arabic and became a translator in the Middle East.
After his military service he settled in Kent where he and his wife Clare brought up three children.
From 1970 onwards, John had a number of posts in the arts.
He worked as a manager with the Arts Council, as director of an arts centre and for 17 years as senior arts manager with Kent County Council.
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John is interviewed for BBC Radio Scotland |
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His secondary career throughout was as a poet and storyteller and following early retirement in early 2008 he decided to become a full time writer.
John said: "The appointment as poet-in-residence with SPT is a wonderful opportunity for me to return to Glasgow as a fully fledged poet."
"I am hugely enthusiastic about working with schools, museums, libraries, writers’ groups and other partners that will be involved in this project.
"I’m very keen to encourage anyone to take an interest in poetry and writing."
The residency has been funded and devised in partnership with the Scottish Arts Council and builds on the success of the UK’s first Subway Festival earlier this year.
Emma Turnbull, Literature Officer at the Scottish Arts Council, said the Subway was an ideal place to experience poetry.
She said: "The Subway journey is sometimes seen as 'empty time', time simply used to get us from A to B.
"We hope the poet-in-residence will help fill that time, giving Glasgow’s Subway passengers the opportunity to not only take a journey across the city, but take a poetic journey with their minds."
The residency will be 40 hours per week until the end of March 2009, with a stipend of £13,500.
Half the contracted time will be spent on John’s own writing and half the time, 20 hours per week, on project work.
The exact programme of work will be agreed between SPT, local schools and John in the coming weeks.