William Letford: enLIGHTen and the Written World

William Letford

'Ambitious' is a word that’s been used to describe two projects I’ve been involved in recently. But I’m not sure ambition is the force that’s driven the projects from inception to completion.

Photo by Chris Scott

enLIGHTen ran March 1-18, and for that period, altered the centre of Edinburgh. Quotes from famous figures of the Scottish enlightenment were projected onto monuments and buildings. The projections were animated, designed to arrest the attention of the public, to stop them mid-step and draw them in. For example, the Royal Society Building on George Street was mapped with light to allow the wisdom of Adam Smith to be emblazoned onto it; there was a globe, or ‘puffersphere’ glowing in Charlotte Square, and the Melville monument in St Andrews Square was brought to life by the words of Adam Smith.

Bevel, Letford's first 
collection, will be published 
in September.

As well these visual representations there was content available for download. Writers were asked to respond to a specific quote and the monument or building the quote would inhabit. This piece of writing would be available on site for anyone with a smartphone or laptop, and would link the words to the physical space.  There was publicity for the project, of course, and a launch, but I wonder about the people who missed this publicity. The people walking home from work or leaving their close to find the street they know so well, changed. To have something that’s not an advert, break their routine and set their mind thinking. That is a worthwhile endeavour, surely. Anything except the usual will do for me.

The Written World is a project run by the Scottish Poetry Library and the BBC. The Scottish Poetry Library is one of the largest lending poetry libraries in the world, and the BBC, in conjunction with the poetry library, have undertaken the mammoth and extremely intricate task of selecting a poem to represent each of the 205 competing nations in this year’s Olympic and Paralympic games. These poems are being broadcast, at a rate of one per day, over the BBC’s radio channels from 12 March to the closing of the Paralympic ceremony on 9 September. The aim of the project is to present a picture of the way the nations of the world are represented through poetry. Each poem will be read by a member of the public from, or with family ties to, that particular nation. As the athletes prepare and compete, poetry and voices from all over the world will be tumbling into the cars, homes, and workplaces of Britain. Is it ambition that drives these projects, or are there people out there who see the written word as a gift they can give to the aware and unaware alike?  

William Letford lives in Stirling, Scotland, and works as a roofer. He has received a New Writer’s Award from Scottish Book Trust, was the recipient of an Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary from the Arts Trust of Scotland, and has an Mlitt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from Glasgow University. His poetry featured in the bestselling anthology New Poetries V (Carcanet, 2011) and his first collection, Bevel, will be published by Carcanet in September 2012.