Love Goes North

JULIE McNEILL, poet, author and workshop facilitator specializes in creative writing workshops and talks, focusing on mentalhealth and supporting individuals with additional needs. Author of Mission Dyslexia and two poetry collections, she’s the Poet in Residence for St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation and the Makar for The Scottish Women’s National Football Team Poets Society. Her performances include notable events like Wigtown Book Festival and StAnza International Poetry Festival.

Reading her poetry is like passing time between train journeys in a pub by the sea you vaguely remember, where an old friend is reminding you of the pain and sheer exultation of being alive, and you never want the afternoon to stop. HUGH MCMILLANAttentive and full of care, here is a poetry where it’s not the devil that’s in the detail but an unfolding of life’s minute meanings, its light, its shadow. Tender and lyrical, these are poems that are truth-telling, whether that truth be achingly hard-won, or worn lightly and with joy. SAMUEL TONGUEQuiet, clear and thoughtful: this is a poetry of perception and place. Julie McNeill's distinctive outlook opens new vistas on familiar spaces, from Scotland to the Mediterranean, and draws the reader in to spaces that are at once comforting, and disconcerting. This is intimate, and revealing, poetry -- to cherish and to provoke. DR VALENTINA BOLD