10th December 2025
Simon Lamb is a poet, Carnegie-nominated author and spork enthusiast based in Scotland, on a passionate mission to entertain, ignite and inspire audiences of all ages. Join Simon for an afternoon of warm and entertaining adventures in poetry. He will discuss and read from his debut collection A Passing On of Shells: 50 Fifty-Word Poems; and his newest release Mat o’ Shanter: A Cautionary Tale. Simon throws out the question, what is poetry? For him it is an ongoing adventure – and for one cold December afternoon, Simon Lamb will delight in being your guide.
Biography
Simon Lamb is a poet and Carnegie-nominated author based in Scotland. In August 2022, Simon took the role of Scriever (Writer-in-Residence) at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway. Simon is only the third person to hold the position of Scriever, after poets Tracy Harvey and Rab Wilson. In October 2022 Simon wrote Sonnet: Brig o’ Doon as his first poem as Scriever. It was the second in a series of sonnets; the first – On Poet’s Path – having been written at the invitation of the previous Scriever in 2020. In January/February 2024, for the third Burns season in a row, Simon toured schools across Scotland with his one-man show, The Lamb o’ Shanter Experience, bringing Burns (and so much more) to life in classrooms the country over.
Simon’s dazzling debut collection of poetry, A Passing On of Shells: 50 Fifty-Word Poems (2023) features fifty luminous poems, each written in exactly fifty words, fully-illustrated throughout by much-loved former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell. With subjects ranging from family, identity, and growing up, to the need for hope, the wonder of nature, and the very concept of poetry itself, Simon offers his poems as small nuggets of wisdom, warmth and wit to help readers of all ages navigate their lives.
Mat o’ Shanter: A Cautionary Tale (due to be published in September 2025) is inspired by the classic narrative poem by Robert Burns, reimagined for the ears and eyes and hearts of today, alongside selections from his time as Scriever.
