From a press release by Jean Atkin of Word Sparks:
“Hundreds of poems will be on display in venues across Dumfries from this week as part of the Burns Windows Project. Inspired by Robert Burns’ occasional predilection for writing verses on window panes with a diamond ring or stylus, local artist Hugh Bryden and David Borthwick, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow in Dumfries, have come up with the idea of inviting contemporary poets to submit their own work for display as window poems. Poets were sent a sheet of clear plastic and a pen and asked to write a poem that spoke of their own time ‘in a transparent way.’”
“But David and Hugh had no idea how the project would take off, with The Burns Windows Project attracting almost 200 poems submitted from as far afield as the USA, Belgium, and Switzerland, as well as submissions from some of Britain’s top poets, including Jen Hadfield, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, Jean Sprackland, Andrew Greig, and many others.”
“Hugh and David are members of The Stove, a collective of artists and creative individuals involved in regenerating the former Happit store on High Street as an arts venue. The poems are part of The Stove’s inaugural events weekend on the 27–28 January, which is part of the Big Burns Supper. Thirty of the best poems will be projected from the building during the Burns Supper extravaganza, with almost a hundred others on display in the windows.”