Cairinis mobile library and Taigh Chearsabhagh have bagged two spots on Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage’s annual week-long tour of UK libraries.

There are only nine dates, and the Uists join Clydebank and Cambridge University on the Poet Laureate’s eclectic tour.

The Poet Laureate will be giving readings in the mobile library and Taigh Chearsabhagh on April 1. He is to be joined on the closing Uist leg of the tour by guest reader Kevin MacNeil. 

As spaces are limited, you can watch the Taigh Chearsabhagh event live online from 7.30 pm by registering for free on crowdcast.io/e/carinish/register.

Armitage will read his poetry written in English, while Hebridean writer MacNeil will be reciting some of his Gaelic works. MacNeil is a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Stirling.

In the morning, the Poet Laureate will be spending time onboard the Cairinis mobile library as it makes its rounds on North Uist.

The Library Tour is now an annual spring event where the Poet Laureate visits libraries across the UK for one week each spring.

During the past decade, the tour has taken in both flagship libraries in big cities and remote communities that rely on mobile library services.