About
Founders Kevin Williamson (Left) & Michael Pedersen (Right)
It all started when…
Poets Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson founded Neu! Reekie! in December 2010 as a literary, music and animation collective with an Edinburgh focused output.
It’s 2019 and Neu! Reekie! is now a prize-winning literary collective and arts production house that have been curating and producing cross-culture shows for over nine years. These occur in and around Scotland and internationally (Japan, New Zealand, Spain, North America, France, Indonesia, New Zealand). We've taken over National Galleries and National Museums with features slots on BBC Scotland, whilst programming events for the likes of Edinburgh International Festival, Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 and Hull City of Culture 2017. We were recipients of Creative Edinburgh's City Award (for outstanding cultural contributions) and have been supported by Creative Scotland, British Council and UNESCO Cities of Literature. We have a DIY record label and publishing house as part of the organisation and specialise in creating one-off happenings with gusto, gumption and a pulsing social conscience.
Past guest have included: Irvine Welsh, Jackie Kay, Charlotte Church, Young Fathers, Hollie McNish, Scott Hutchison, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Primal Scream, King Creosote, Liz Lochhead, Akala, Bill Drummond, The Pastels, David Shrigley, Lydia Lunch, Daljit Nagra, Momus, Stanley Odd, Ciaran Carson, Patience Agbabi, Alasdair Gray, Aidan Moffat, Malcolm Middleton, Sabrina Mahfouz, Withered Hand, Iain Gardner, Rachel Maclean, Kathleen Jamie, FiniTribe, Salena Godden, John Giorno, Douglas Dunn, Ewen Bremner, Honeyblood, Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson, Tom Leonard, Rachel Sermanni, Andrew Weatherall, Sarah Howe, James Robertson, Arthur Baker, The Fire Engines, Bejan Matur, Norman Blake, Jenni Fagan, Jean Binta Breeze, Margaret Atwood and many more.
The team includes: Kat Gollock & Davie Miller.
Neu! Reekie! is supported by Creative Scotland and Dreamtower Production.
The Team
Michael Pedersen
Michael Pedersen is a: Robert Louis Stevenson Award winner, a John Mathers Trust Rising Star of Literature, a Canongate Future 40, a Callum McDonald Memorial Award finalist and a Herald Culture Awards Writer of the Year finalist. He has two chapbooks under his belt and two collections, published by Polygon books — his most recent illustrated by Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit. With fans ranging from Irvine Welsh and Liz Lochhead to Stephen Fry and Charlotte Church, Michael has also written pop songs and short plays for National Theatre of Scotland (Five Minute Theatre) and Edinburgh Art Festival (co-written with Alan Bissett). In 2010, Michael co-founded literary collective Neu! Reekie!, which, has produced many shows (in Scotland and internationally) and birthed a burgeoning publishing house and micro record label. Michael has read in a range of places including: Sidewalk Cafe (New York), Meiji Gakuin University (Tokyo), Ubud Writers & Readers Festival (Bali), Lake of Stars (Malawi), Kosmopolis Festival (Barcelona), Nirxo Words (Johannesburg), Latitude Festival (UK), Verb Wellington (New Zealand), Edinburgh International Book Festival, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio 6, BBC Arts Night & realms beyond.
Kat Gollock
Edinburgh-based photographer Kat Gollock specialises in performance, portraiture and events, and has been shooting gigs for The Skinny for several years. She's also taken two cover images – Law Holt and Birdhead – and worked as in-house photographer for our sister publication Fest. A graduate of both Stevenson College and Edinburgh Napier University, she's been working within the photography industry since 2007. As well as freelance work, she teaches photography and has been involved in several art based youth engagement and community outreach projects. Her more permanant roles include picture editor for Edinburgh International Film Festival and project assistant for Neu! Reekie!
Kevin Williamson
Writer, publisher, poet and performer of Burns, Kevin Williamson, has an impressive track record of building a community around his activities. As half of Neu! Reekie!, in the past five years he has run almost 100 cultural events combining writing and music, and recently completed a 17-date tour of Scotland with partner Michael Pedersen. Williamson is also co-founder of the political and cultural publication, Bella Caledonia, and throughout the nineties ran the underground literary powerhouse, Rebel Inc, which published early work by authors including Alan Warner and Irvine Welsh.
Davie Miller
Davie Miller is a projects and production officer with Neu! Reekie!. He is a notorious maker of electronic music and DJ, most notably with FiniTribe and FiniFlex. Davie also manages musicals artists with ‘Fantastic Racket’ and has a penchant for hats and small dugs.