Welcome to the

What is Geopoetics?

Geopoetics is a movement and a practice — a way of thinking, creating and living in direct relation with the Earth. Rooted in the work of poet and philosopher Kenneth White, it invites us to cross borders of art, science and culture to recover a more vivid, grounded sense of being in the world. To engage in geopoetics is to walk, to listen, to create — through word, image, sound, movement or form — in conversation with wind, stone and wave. It is a path of attention and imagination, cultivating what White called an Open World: a spacious awareness where creativity and knowledge, intellect and landscape, return once again to a radical field.

The Scottish Centre

The Scottish Centre for Geopoetics was established in Edinburgh on Burns Night in 1995 by Tony McManus and others and is affiliated to the International Institute of Geopoetics founded by Kenneth White in 1989. It is a network of individuals who share a common interest in developing an understanding of geopoetics as the creative expression of the Earth and applying it in their lives. We have members in England, Wales, Ireland, USA, France, Germany, Poland, Sweden, Canada and Australia as well as throughout Scotland. 

 

On the Ground

We organise talks, discussions, day and weekend events, conferences and courses, including field work in interesting places

Virtual Conversations

We host frequent Zoom-based online presentations and discussions, we have Facebook discussion groups, a YouTube channel and a regular email newsletter.

Publications

The Centre produces an online journal Stravaig, has its own publishing imprint, Alba Editions, and recently produced a film on Geopoetics and Kenneth White

Join our growing community

Join our community of thinkers, poets, writers and artists, deepen your understanding of Geopoetics and find opportunity to share your creative work and engage with the work of others. Click the button to visit our membership page.

Latest news

  • Expressing the Earth: a geopoetics gathering in Hawick

    The inaugural Expressing the Earth Gathering is happening Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October. It will be a three-day event, running across sites in and near Hawick in the Scottish Borders. It will offer experiences that connect us with the land and the earth around us, deepening our love for it and our poetic response to it. At a time when we are becoming ever more urban as a human population, how do we engage our hearts and minds to connect with the more than human world?

    The weekend will open on the Friday evening with a screening of the acclaimed film Expressing the Earth. Afterwards there will be a chance to put questions to those who were involved in it’s creation: Glenda Rome, director, Claire Pençak, the dance artist featured in it, and Norman Bissell, its producer. Beforehand, there is a buffet supper at a local restaurant.

    Saturday will be given over to practice:. There are workshops in haiku and creative writing, in sensuous attunement to the land, and in slow photography, with art exhibitions running alongside and more to be announced soon. In the evening there is another buffet dinner then the room will turn over to an open mic event of poetry and music. On Sunday we will walk beside by a tributary of the Tweed. There is a labyrinth installation waiting there to be walked through and reflected on at the lunch stop.

    The gathering is open to everyone, members and non-members alike, those long steeped in geopoetics and those meeting the word for the first time. You will be welcome to come for the whole weekend or for a single session.

    Click on the button to read the full details,

     

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Upcoming events

From the shop

A small selection from our online shop. Visit the full shop to browse all our publications and materials.

Get in touch

Questions, ideas, proposals or invitations? We’d be glad to hear from you. You can email us directly at info@geopoetics.org.uk or use the form to send a message to the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics.