Valerie Gillies

speaker

342 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jan 2026 last heard 22 Jan

Valerie Gillies’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jan 2026 with 1.

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Scottish Poetry Library Podcast · In Conversation With Valerie Gillies · 22 Jan 2026 podcast

Yeah, somebody going to explode with anger.

Although that's just the kind of workshops I do.

And that can be, you know, anger can definitely be a response.

I would certainly have to some people's poems.

But not with ones that I'm choosing, usually.

They have, I hope, a more calming effect.

Well...

I would hold that moment in silence.

I would be there with the person, forget about the rest of the group for a minute, and just identify with what they're feeling and hold it so that it can flame away on its own.

and if somebody walks out in the middle of session like you did with your early experience it depends if they're going out into a dangerous place with traffic or people that might accost them in which case I would certainly seek them out bring them back with or without a collie but yes I wouldn't let them

just disappear.

I think

In being aware that it is beforehand, people must know that it's coming to a conclusion.

And to make that as gentle a landing as possible, you don't want to be bumping or caught by a side wind on the runway.

You just, yes, you hope that it's a touchdown that's easy landing.

I suppose looking around and making clear that this is a time you can come up and ask me or wander around the group and ask one another.

And I always want to hear.

I always want to stay behind.

And sometimes people will come up on their own afterwards where they wouldn't have asked you in front of the rest of the group.

So I'm never in a hurry to go away.

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