Intriguing futures: AGM and Open Mic report from 12 February 2026

HighlandLIT held its AGM and an Open Mic on Thursday, 12^th February at our new venue, Roots Café. 

AGM

Both Paul Shanks, our Chair and David Goldie our Treasurer were stepping down, leaving only one Committee member and two volunteers. There were therefore concerns before the meeting that if we were unable to attract new Committee members, HighlandLIT would have to fold, or be put ‘on ice’ in three month’s time. 

In the event, we were delighted that new Committee members have stepped forward.  Paul is continuing as Chair for three months to allow discussions to take place about the future shape of HighlandLIT and possible collaborations with other local groups. Lilian Ross was also re-elected to the Committee. Karina Davidson, Marina Gertsen, Euan Sinclair, and Tim Williams (Timski) agreed to join the Committee, and Cathy Carr one of the volunteers supporting the Committee agreed to become a Committee member.   John Dempster continues as a volunteer looking after publicity, website and newsletter.

David kindly volunteered to introduce Karina to the HighlandLIT finances with a view to her considering becoming Treasurer. The other new Committee members will reflect over the next few months on which of the other Committee positions they might be willing to fill.

It will be intriguing to see what emerges over the next few months.

Open Mic

It was very clear as we moved on to the Open Mic how much writers appreciate getting together for mutual encouragement and support and for sharing their work.

Five people read.  Paul Shanks  read a brief, haunting poem entitled Holocene.  Euan Sinclair followed this with two striking poems. One, A bleak modern autopsy captured something of the hell of modern life, while The monk  was a perceptive reflection through the eyes of a younger monk on the disappearance of an older colleague while taking his regular walk. This poem was inspired by the disappearance in similar circumstances of a 93-year-old monk from Pluscarden Abbey in 2005.

It was prose next from Iris Perrin who read from her newly-published novella Just Back, which tells the story of an English travel-writer visiting a remote Scottish location. The book has an epigraph from Anatole France: ‘If the path be beautiful, ask not where it leads’. We loved the atmospheric descriptions of a winding road leading to a cottage near the beach, the house itself, and the woman within.

Timski was up to the mark as usual, reading two thought-provoking poems. One I created a god described the poem’s personal viewing ordinary things in such a way as to build ‘a pantheon of personal divinity.’ The second, Retrospection had, as a refrain, the intriguing phrase ‘looking forward to the past.’

Finally, joining us on Zoom, Caroline Robinson read My main job in which the persona feels that ‘my life is a sham’,  that they are acting a life rather than truly living. The piece had some striking phrases, including a description of a man whose lips curved in a smile which, however, ‘didn’t reach his eyes’. The speaker’s main job, they tell us, is ‘listening’. Wonderful stuff!

It was a lovely evening!  Thanks to everyone who attended and to those who read.  Thanks to David for setting up the new venue, to Cathy who monitored gmail in advance of the meeting and managed the Zoom link; to Paul for his tireless work as Chair in an extremely busy life, and not least to the staff at Roots Café who made us very welcome and served teas and coffees.

Watch this space for details of the March 2026 event which takes place at Roots on 12^th March at 7pm.