Speakers
Paul Barnaby
Paul Barnaby is the Modern Literary Collections Curator at the University of Edinburgh and is responsible for looking after Roddy’s papers at the University Library.
He gave an informative overview of how the collection came to be, and showed slides of some of the key items, as well as talking about what the papers tell us about Roddy.
Roddy’s papers are available to view by anyone and this page gives an overview of them as well as details on how to view them.
Rodney Relax
Rodney Relax is a legend in the Edinburgh poetry scene and was instrumental in creating the spoken word and literary scene that inspired many big name Scottish writers of the last 40 years.
Born in St Andrews, as was Roddy, Rodney was inspired to start writing poetry by the poems of Spike Milligan, but used his own punk sensibilities to create a radical body of work.
He co-founded the Yellow Cafe, where Roddy made some of his first poetry readings and spoke of that time and read some of his own poems.
Jimmy Lumsden
Jimmy Lumsden is Roddy’s older brother and talked about a Roddy none of the other attendees had known - a little brother.
As well as revealing that Roddy was a poor Subbuteo player, among other memories, Jimmy read two poems of Roddy’s from ‘Roddy Lumsden Is Dead'.
He also paid tribute to the third Lumsden brother, Eric, who did so much for Roddy in his final years.
The Quiz
Questions were asked.
Answers were given.
Revelations were, er, revealed.
Mugs were awarded.
