THE Morning Star held a launch event in Glasgow for its anthology of poems published in the paper.

The Who Are We launch, hosted with Inside voices — a group of Scottish musicians and poets, lead by Patrick MacCafferty and the group Anoraq — saw performances of work written to the current political climate.

Arts editor Angus Reid said: “Individually these poems hold their own on the page, but together they achieve the feeling of solidarity, of representing the single voice of the whole movement.”

The night kicked off with Paul Laughlin’s stunning poem Who We Are. Local poets reading from the book ranged from Ross Wilson, an NHS ICU auxiliary nurse, to Finola Scott, a retired teacher, and every contribution was accompanied by poems from Palestine and Gaza, also from the collection.

The anthology is published by the Morning Star and the readings were co-ordinated by the anthology’s editor Alistair Findlay.

Books for the event were purchased by the Scottish Morning Star Readers and Supporters Group, and the sales raised over £200.

Mr Reid added: “This is a template for further events across the country: all you need to do is book a venue, purchase books at discount through the supporters’ groups, and find which of the 61 poets it contains is nearby and willing to read, and pick out your favourites.”

If your RSG would like to put on an event promoting the poetry book to raise funds for the Morning Star, contact campaigns@peoples-press.com.