BBC Scotland appoints Rachel McCrum as first poet in residence

BBC Scotland has appointed a writer from Northern Ireland as its first ever poet in residence.

Rachel McCrum has been appointed BBC Scotland's first ever poet in residence

Edinburgh-based Rachel McCrum was chosen from more than 70 applicants for the post.

She will be making regular appearances on a host of BBC Scotland programmes, including regular slots on Janice Forsyth’s flagship culture show, as well as delivering workshops in schools.

McCrum, whose position was created under a partnership between BBC Scotland and the Scottish Poetry Library, is due to make her debut on the airwaves on Thursday.

A graduate of Oxford University, McCrum lived in New Zealand and Manchester before moving to Edinburgh five years ago and has since become one of the most well-known figure on the Scottish poetry scene.

McCrum, from Donaghadee, in County Down, is one of two poets behind the hit cabaret night Rally and Broad which she launched three years ago in Edinburgh with Jenny Lindsay.

Liz Lochhead, Don Paterson, Luke Wright, Hannah Silva, Ross Sutherland, Alan Bissett and Harry Giles are among those to have made appearances since then.

McCrum, whose residency is due to run for three months, said: “I love language and I’m really excited to be taking this passion to another level and to be sharing it with people across the country.

“Scotland has a great oral tradition of storytelling and I think poetry provides a way for people – and by that I mean all sorts of people - to reflect their own experiences in their own communities in our modern world.”

Janice Forsyth said: “Rachel is an exciting, emerging voice in poetry and has been steadily building her career as a poet in Scotland and abroad.”

Robyn Marsack, director of the Scottish Poetry Library, said: ”We’re delighted that BBC Scotland is recognising the lively and thought-provoking contribution poetry makes to the cultural life of Scotland by appointing a poet in residence.

“Rachel McCrum is a generous poetry presenter as well as a distinctive lyrical voice in her own right, and I am sure that she will make poems and friends for poetry wherever she goes in the next three months.”