People in Scotland are being asked to choose which three quotes, from some of the nation’s most well-known poets, should feature on the Scottish Parliament’s Canongate Wall, to commemorate the building’s 20th year.
Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay and Kathleen Jamie, who have all held the role of Scots Makar or National Poet of Scotland, have two quotes from their work for people to choose between. Each Makar’s quote which receives the most public votes will then be featured on a new letter-cut stone on the Wall.
Designed by artist Soraya Smithson with architects EMBT, the Canongate Wall, which is on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, was partly conceived of as a tribute to the design ideas of Enric Miralles. Soraya’s designs also incorporated the idea to feature quotations from Scottish writers and thinkers as well as popular proverbs and poems, letter-cut into stones sourced from across Scotland. These new additions will take the total number of quotations from 26 to 29 and there is currently only one woman writer represented – Mary Brooksbank.
Presiding Officer Rt Hon Alison Johnstone MSP said: “The Canongate Wall is a piece of living public sculpture which celebrates different parts of Scotland – our people, our land and our rich cultural heritage.
“It is both a celebration and reminder of the powerful words of some of Scotland’s most talented writers, thinkers and poets.
“It’s an honour to have the words of these three incredible women writers carved onto our building as a permanent reminder of their contribution to public life in Scotland.
“As always, when it comes to the Scottish Parliament, I strongly encourage people to vote!”
People can make their selection on our website and via our social media channels using www.parliament.scot/canongate.
The winning options will then be sent to Perthshire-based stone carver Gillian Forbes, who will carry out the letter-cutting process assisted by Cameron Wallace. The new quotations will be unveiled later in the year.
Liz Lochhead, Makar from 2011 to 2016, said: “I can’t believe it, my words are going to be, not graffiti on a wall, but in stone on the wall of the Parliament.
“It is something that has meant a great deal to me in my lifetime, that we have a Parliament in Scotland.
“Speaking poetry out loud is very important to me and if someone stands outside the wall of the Parliament and mouths these words out loud to themselves, that’s a great thing to feel that I’ve been the innocent originator of these things.”
Jackie Kay, Makar from 2016 to 2021, said: “It’s a huge honour and so extraordinary to be carved into stone.
“It’s so strange to think of your words surviving you – but in a sense, that’s every writer’s dream.”
Kathleen Jamie, Makar from 2021 to 2024, said: “The fact that words of mine will be joining those that are already there and adding to this wreathing of poetry around the Parliament building, that wall of truth, that wall of integrity that surrounds us here.
“That words of mine, whichever are chosen, will be inscribed there also. That’s okay, I can go out with that!”
The quotations that will form part of the public vote are as follows:
Liz Lochhead
Option 1
this
our one small country…
our one, wondrous, spinning, dear green place.
What shall we build of it, together
in this our one small time and space?
– from Grace, A Handsel, New & Collected Poems, 2012
Option 2
Love surprises us. It’s like when sunlight flings
A sudden shaft that lights up glamourous the rain
Across a Glasgow street
– from Epithalamium, A Handsel, New & Collected Poems
Jackie Kay
Option 1
The dead don’t go till you do, loved ones.
The dead are still here, holding our hands.
– from Darling, the title poem in Darling: New & Selected Poems, 2007
Option 2
Where do you come from?
‘Here,’ I said, ‘Here. These parts.’
– from In my country, Darling: New & Selected Poems, 2007
Kathleen Jamie
Option 1
Be brave:
by the weird-song in the dark you’ll find your way.
– from The Storm, The Bonniest Companie, 2015
Option 2
And the wild ways we think we walk
Just bring us here again.
– from The Tradition, The Bonniest Companie, 2015
A brief history of the Canongate Wall
The Canongate Wall was designed by artist Soraya Smithson, working with architects EMBT. The wall contains a range of Scottish stones, letter-cut by Gillian Forbes and Martin Reilly, with a variety of quotations. The design pays tribute to the creative ideas and imagination of the Scottish Parliament’s lead architect, Enric Miralles.
At the lower end of the wall is a townscape based around sketches by Miralles of Edinburgh’s Old Town, as viewed from the Balmoral Hotel.
The 26 quotations, of relevance to Scotland and the Parliament, range from well-loved pieces of poetry to proverbs and psalms. There are quotations in English, Gaelic and Scots and many of Scotland’s leading writers are represented.
The original 24 quotations were chosen from a selection of material made available to an Art Steering Group, including previous MSPs – Jamie Stone, Kenneth Macintosh and Michael Russell. The material considered included submissions from members of the public.
To mark the tenth anniversary of the Scottish Parliament and ten years of devolution, the SPCB agreed that two new quotations should be added to the Canongate Wall.
Public suggestions were invited via the Parliament website and via postcards distributed to book festivals and libraries across Scotland, and almost 300 suggestions were received.
A panel of MSPs and external experts met to consider these suggestions.
The panel selected two new quotations, one by Mary Brooksbank, the first woman to be represented on the Wall, and Norman MacCaig, bringing the total number of quotations to 26.
See the full list of quotations and images
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