Our November events at a glance

Join us at The Linen Hall this month for a series of events focusing on conflicts through history as well as a couple of bonus talks and panel discussions.
Extraordinary Times: The innovative new novel by Rosemary Jenkinson

Extraordinary Times is a cutting-edge, literary thriller set in an imagined future in Belfast on the eve of a referendum on Irish unity. Download the first chapter exclusively from The Linen Hall.
The Linen Hall: Belfast’s Home of Poetry

The Linen Hall Library has been always known as the home of poetry in Belfast, holding some of the most significant works of local poetry, from the historic works of Robert Burns to Belfast poets Louis MacNeice and John Hewitt.
The Ulster-Scots Writing Competition 2022

Everybody kens a wee bit o’ Ulster-Scots and this is your chance to get creative with it. We are pleased to inform you that with the support of the Ulster-Scots
The Gibson Collection: James Orr – The Bard of Ballycarry by Mark Thompson

Mark Thompson, Ulster Scotsman, presenter and Scots Language enthusiast picked out an early edition of James Orr’s poetry from the Gibson Collection. He told Alistair Heather about the man and the work.
The Gibson Collection: Inside and outside the Skull of Rabbie Burns by Alistair Heather

There are many fascinating and surprising artefacts in the vast trove of the Gibson Collection. I came across one particular piece during a recent rummage that I’d like to bring to your attention.
The Gibson Collection: The fertile Ulster Scots plains where Rabbie Burns flourished by Samantha McCombe

The Linen Hall Library has a depth of material that sheds light on the local love of Burns and helps explain in part why the Gibson Collection came to be deposited in the city.
The Gibson Collection: The many tongues of Rabbie Burns by Len Pennie

Len Pennie, Scots poet and activist (@missPunnyPennie on Twitter) writes about her relationship with Burns, and picks out the foreign language Burns editions from the Gibson collection.
The Gibson Collection: Burns’ The Scots Musical Museum by Iona Fyfe

I’m Iona, a Scots Sangster fae Huntly in Aiberdeenshire. I muived tae Glesca in 2015 an stairted studying Scots Sang unner the tutorship o Rod Paterson, ane o Scotland’s maist celebrated sangsters an exponents o Burns sangs.
The Gibson Collection: Scoto-Irish links an the Politics o Ulster by Paul Malgrati

The Gibson Collection, wi its squatter o Burns quairs, Burnsiana, an Burns material, is a testament tae the routh o historical links atween Ulster an Scotland. It minds us that