Two of the world’s leading poets will soon step into the landscape that inspired Robert Burns for a landmark literary collaboration. Lorna Goodison, former Poet Laureate of Jamaica, and Peter Mackay, Scotland’s Makar, will arrive at Ellisland Farm next month for a unique joint residency.
This will be the first ever literary residency at Ellisland, the home Burns built in 1788 for his family. Living and working by the banks of the River Nith, Goodison and Mackay will explore how landscape, language and song continue to shape poetry across cultures, from Burns’s Scots to Goodison’s fusion of English and Jamaican Creole to Mackay’s Gaelic.
The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust and The Scottish Poetry Library are jointly supporting the residency and will partner with The Stove Network in Dumfries to present a one-off public performance called Amang the Friends of Early Days on 9 September. The event will feature Lorna Goodison’s only Scottish reading, including extracts from her much-anticipated new book The Inferno (Carcanet, 2025). Tickets can be purchased here
A quarter of a century in the making, The Inferno reimagines Dante’s journey through the underworld, guided not by Virgil but by Jamaica’s beloved poet Louise Bennett, “Miss Lou.” Goodison blends the full continuum of Jamaican speech with Dante’s architecture, creating a dazzling world that draws in Caribbean poets, reggae innovators, politicians and cultural icons. Her Dumfries reading offers audiences a rare chance to hear this transformative work performed live.
This is the first time Ellisland has hosted a literary residency. Lorna Goodison will stay in Auld Acquaintance Cottage, residential accommodation at the heart of the farm Burns built in 1788, which is considered the best place to see nature through the poet’s eyes. Peter will stay a short distance away at Friars Carse, the neighbouring estate once owned by Burns’s friend and collaborator, Robert Riddell.
The pilot residency is part of the Saving the Home of Auld Lang Syne project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, South of Scotland Enterprise, Museums Galleries Scotland, and The Holywood Trust. The project aims to restore Ellisland and make it a vibrant cultural destination that will offer residencies and creative retreats to visitors from across the world.
This residency and reading mark the final leg of Lorna Goodison’s UK and Ireland Reading Tour, which includes appearances in London on 2 September, Cork on 4 September, and Manchester on 6 September.
A report from DGWGO. Two of the world’s leading poets will soon step into the landscape that inspired Robert Burns for a landmark literary collaboration. Lorna Goodison, former Poet Laureate of Jamaica, and Peter Mackay, Scotland’s Makar, will arrive at Ellisland Farm next month for a unique joint residency. This will be the first ever
