Football and poetry will come together at this year’s Paisley Book Festival as the Hampden Collection Makars take to the stage in Paisley.
The event comes during a big year for football in the town, following St Mirren’s Premier Sports Cup win and with Scotland preparing for the 2026 World Cup.
Poets Julie McNeill, Donna Matthew and Hugh McMillan will appear at Paisley Town Hall on Friday 15th May for a special event celebrating football culture, community stories and Scottish heritage.
The trio, known as the Hampden Collection Makars, aim to make poetry more accessible by connecting it with football and everyday life.
Julie McNeill, who is poet-in-residence at St Mirren F.C., said preserving local stories was important.
She said: “If we don’t keep telling these stories, they’re lost forever. Without storytelling, physical spaces and shared memories risk disappearing.”
The Hampden Collection started as a volunteer-led project documenting the social and cultural history of Scottish football. It has since grown into a wider archive of stories from grassroots clubs through to the national game.
Hugh McMillan said football and poetry naturally belong together.
He said: “They’re both ways of communicating our lives, our communities and our histories.
“The connection between football and poetry to me seemed a completely sort of natural one, not just writing about football, but the fact that it’s a people’s game or a people’s sort of art form.”
Donna Matthew said hearing poetry performed live can change how people experience it.
She said: “I think there’s something really magical about hearing people read their work out loud.”
She also compared poetry’s accessibility to football.
Donna added: “As long as you’ve got a ball, you can play football wherever, whenever really, can’t you?
“So it’s accessible really for anyone. The same can be said of poetry.”
Paisley Book Festival runs from 15th to 17th May and is organised by OneRen with support from Creative Scotland.
The Beautiful Game with the Hampden Collection Makars takes place from 1.15pm until 2.15pm on Friday 15th May at Paisley Town Hall.
To book, visit: www.paisleybookfestival.com.
Photo: Donna Matthew
Photo: Hugh McMillan