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Hello, and thank you for your interest in my website.  Please enjoy browsing through my writing and musical interests! 

Upcoming Events

Coming soon – Book Tour Programme


Past Events

https://ritabradd.com/past-events/


Shop

This is my Books page with links to order.


About me

I was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Dunbar on the east coast of Scotland.  My debut poetry booklet Salt & Soil (2017) https://ritabradd.com/poetry/ was inspired by the landscape of the Lammermuir Hills and the fascinating coastline around my home town. 

Many of my poems have appeared in a variety of publications.  I was greatly honoured my poem ‘The Herrin Trail’ (Salt & Soil) was made into a Filmpoem by Alastair Cook http://filmpoem.com/filmpoem-24-the-herring-trail/

In 1993 I discovered tall ships on the River Tyne at Newcastle.  I found this to be an annual event and became a ‘tall ships groupie’, determined to see the ships each year in various ports they visited around the world.  I began to write about my travels.  This was waylaid by events that happened to me at Greenock, Scotland in 1999.  Read about my life-changing experiences in my book https://ritabradd.com/clipper-ship-city-of-adelaide-beneath-the-southern-cross/

My series of plays inspired by the Scots ditty ‘Three Craws Sat Upon A Waa’ was born in December 2012.  The plays were performed on East Coast FM Radio https://eastcoastfm.co.uk/ from December 2012 to September 2013, and intermittently since then.  My troupe travelled with the Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry in September 2013 to Bayeux, France to promote its exhibition in the Museum with the world-famous Bayeux Tapestry.  https://www.battleofprestonpans1745.org/tapestry/

We performed each week in the wonderful outdoor space at Dunbar’s Victoria Harbour throughout the summer of 2019, alternating between two scripts  https://dunbarbattery.org.uk/2019/07/the-three-craws-an-the-mysterious-licht-at-sunny-dunbar/ and The Three Craws Meet John Muir at Sunny Dunbar https://ritabradd.com/the-three-craws/

I was thrilled by the performance of children at Cockenzie Primary School on East Coast FM radio https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/14153588.cockenzie-primary-school-pupils-take-to-the-airwaves-to-narrate-short-play/

Tyne & Esk Writers is the local writing group.  As a past member they very kindly invited me to read at a Festival event held in The Battery, late summer 2022.


CrawsNest Press

CrawsNest Press was inaugurated in August 2015 when I was commissioned to write a script for Cockenzie Primary School to commemorate the first anniversary of the landmark power station chimneys being demolished. The title is derived from my passion for tall ships – the lookout post on sailing ships is known as ‘the crow’s nest’ – and also from the Scots ditty ‘Three Craws Sat Upon A Waa’ that my plays, The Three Craws Series of Scripts is inspired by.

‘The Three Craws’ Series of Scripts

 

                                               

Poetry

In 2017 I launched my poetry booklet –

Salt & Soil
In good company on the bookshelves of Blackwell’s, Edinburgh

 

 

Why not visit my Poetry page?

 

 

                           

‘The Herrin Trail’ from the book appears on an interpretation board in Victoria Street, Dunbar on the approach to the harbours. It compliments the sculpture ‘The Creel Loaders’ by Gardner Molloy dedicated to the fisherwomen of Dunbar

Books
Clipper Ship City of Adelaide BENEATH THE SOUTHERN CROSS

In 1999 the book I was writing about my tall ships travels was abandoned when I discovered the plight of 1864 clipper ship City of Adelaide aka Carrick.  She became my obsession.  I had to know why she was threatened with demolition at the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine, in the country of Scotland.  My book Clipper Ship City of Adelaide BENEATH THE SOUTHERN CROSS is available A painting by G McMillan from 1991 forms the basis for the dust jacket of the book, supplied courtesy of The Scottish Maritime Museum.

 

                           Image of 1991 painting by G McMillan of ‘City of Adelaide’ aka ‘Carrick’ kindly supplied by The Scottish Maritime Museum

On MV 'Palanpur' Bridge with 'City of Adelaide' being 'skidded' onto the barge 'Bradley' 040214

This image was taken on board MV Palanpur, the heavy-lift vessel that carried City of Adelaide from Rotterdam to Port Adelaide, where she is now open to the public as a museum.

 

 

The image below was used by kind permission of the artist and the Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation for a promotional booklet I designed for use at the MyState Bank Australian Wooden Boat Festival, in Hobart, Tasmania where I was a guest presenter in February 2019.

Artist impression by John A Mendez, courtesy of Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Foundation

Visit: https://www.cityofadelaide.org.au/  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Adelaide_(1864)


Music

When I went to see Savourna Stevenson perform in Lennoxlove House, Haddington I was captivated. It was the first time I heard harp music played live. She inspired me to have a go. I’ve derived great pleasure from having the privilege of learning it, and have found surprises along the way. Read more about how I was given the gift of my first harp lesson, and never in a thousand years would I have believed I would one day build my own harp.


Collaborations

I have had the privilege of working with various artists through poetry, music and film.

With Rachel McCrum and Kirsty Law, Bleachingfield Centre, Dunbar – Book Week Scotland 2015

Archives

Clipper Ship City of Adelaide/Carrick 1864  https://ritabradd.com/clippershipcity-of-adelaide-carrick/

 

 

 

All images and text © Rita Bradd 2022
All rights reserved