BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Poetry archive to focus on Scots

Poetry archive to focus on Scots

Historic and contemporary recordings of Scottish poets reading their own work has been made available to the public through an online poetry initiative.

The Scottish section of the Poetry Archive website was launched in St Andrews on Sunday evening.

The UK archive was set up last year by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion to ensure the work and the voices of major poets were preserved for future generations.

The project will now concentrate on recording more Scottish poets.

Three poet laureates are to help launch the project - Andrew Motion, Edinburgh's Makar Valerie Gillies and via video link, Scots Poet Laureate Edwin Morgan.

Poets, from George MacKay Brown and Hugh MacDiarmid to living writers like Kathleen Jamie are already featured on the site.

Organisers of the website now hope to raise funds to add another 25 recordings of Scottish poetry - both contemporary and historic.