Sheena Blackhall is a writer, illustrator, traditional ballad singer and storyteller in North East Scotland. From 1998-2003 she was Creative Writing Fellow in Scots at the Elphinstone Institute. She has published four Scots novellas, fifteen short story collections and over 200 poetry collections, which are listed here (most recent first). In 2009 she became Makar (poet laureate) for Aberdeen and the North East, and Makar for the Doric Board in 2019.
Thursday, 4 May 2017
The Poems: The Sanctuary Knocker
Title: The Sanctuary Knocker. Poems in Scots & English by Sheena Blackhall.Published by Lochlands, Maud, Aberdeenshire.Printed by Thistle Reprographics, 55 Holburn Street Aberdeen. The cover image is that of the great Sanctuary Knocker on the door of Durham Cathedral.Cost: £3.00. Copyright: S. Blackhall May2017. Many of these poems were written on a research trip to County Durham in April, and after a visit to the Beamish Museum , in 2017. Idioticals was published in Lallans Magazine. Military poems were inspired by a day spent at the Gordon Highlanders’ Museum (Blackhall’s son, half brother and cousins served with the regiment). Thanks are also due to the ongoing support and encouragement of Les Wheeler, in agreeing to publish this collection.