Praising the Guga

St Ronan ink , originally uploaded by newdeadlanguage.

New Dead Language have recently completed a series of illustrations for Donald S. Murray's poetry collection Praising the Guga. This is to be published by North Idea and will be launched in Stornoway in late October to coincide with the release of Donald's book The Guga Hunters published by Birlinn.
NDL artist Andrew Morrison has produced seven illustrations for Praising the Guga five of which relate directly to individual poems (seen here is the art for 'St. Ronan Works on a Manuscript'). The poetry pamphlet also features cover art by Douglas Robertson.

Beaten Gold – the launch

Beaten Gold was launched on Saturday 6th September as part of an event celebrating the poetry of Jim Moncrieff (which in turn was part of the Shetland 2008 Wordplay festival). Unfortunately Jim was unable to be there himself as he was stuck in Aberdeen but the work was read by a number of local peers and the book was warmly received. Many thanks to all those who came along and to James Sinclair and Alex Cluness for their help in making the book happen. Thanks also to Dolphin Press who made a cracking job of the printing.
The book is now available from the Shetland Times bookshop for £4 or alternatively get in touch with us at the email address above.

Beaten Gold

Beaten gold cover - saxifrage, originally uploaded by newdeadlanguage.

We've just been putting the finishing touches to the latest publication from New Dead Language. Beaten Gold is a collection of 17 poems by Jim Moncrieff. This, his second collection (after Seasonsong published in 1998 by The Shetland Times), will be launched on Saturday 6th September 2008 at the Wordplay book festival in Shetland. The poems are complemented by a series of eight illustrations from artist Andrew Morrison.

Update... plus Gretchen & Red Fever

Finally looks like things may be coming together for a couple of as yet untitled "books". For now though here are a couple of samples of non-New Dead Language work. Illustrations for short stories written by Peter Morrison. http://mythaxis.co.uk/2issue2.htm

Storytelling

This is a series of five drawings New Dead Language is currently workshopping with local Writers' Groups.