Last updated 11:36, Thursday, 05 June 2008

POETRY Doubles, one of the highlight of Dumfries and Galloway’s literary calendar, brings together local talent and world-renowned poets on the same bill.

This Monday Les Murray, a man the Guardian described as ‘slipping from ancient to up to date, from high style to low puns, from the quietly contemplative to bravura flights of fancy, from satiric squibs to emotionally charged anecdotes’, joins Dumfries poet Nicola Black at the Robert Burns Centre.

Les Murray is regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation and belongs to a class of writers that includes Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and Joseph Brodsky.

His linguistic dexterity and poetic skill has received international acclaim and the poet has amassed a host of prestigious accolades including the TS Eliot Award and in 1999 Ted Hughes recommended him for the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry.

Nicola Black has played with Quirkus, Damsel Jam and Ian Bruce, and graced some of Britain’s best music festivals, including Celtic Connections, WOMAD and The Wickerman. She will perform musical settings of Hugh MacDiarmid’s poetry, including The Rose of all the World.

Other highlights in the Poetry Doubles season are Iranian-born poet Mimi Khalvati reading alongside John Threlfall, and John Burns sharing centre stage with Robert Crawford.

Visit www.dgaa.net or call 01387 253383.