Connections between Scotland and Jamaica will be celebrated in a new collaboration at the Scottish Poetry Library.
The library will present Level Vibes this January. The event will be an international poetry gathering celebrating the ways the two countries are linked.There will be “poetic voices and critical discourse” responding to the legacy of Robert Burns. The project has been curated in collaboration with Jamaican artist, Fabian Thomas.
Asif Khan, director of the Scottish Poetry Library, said: “The Jamaican poets provide a fresh perspective into how others see us – Scotland’s culture, its heritage and the movement of Scottish men and women during the period of empire and colonialism. Scotland has left its footprint on every corner of the globe and Robert Burns is well kent worldwide. However, had he gone to Jamaica, his story and literary legacy might have turned out dramatically different.”
Angus Robertson MSP, Scotland’s Culture Secretary said: “I’m very pleased to introduce the Scottish Poetry Library’s LEVEL VIBES collection which spotlights the deep and enduring ties between our two countries. Curated by Jamaican artist, Fabian Thomas, each poem offers a different perspective on our shared history and the creative spirit that unites us. Let’s raise a glass to Burns, to Scotland, and to Jamaica, and the values and connections that bring us together.”
The event will look at new ways of examining the historic relationship between the two countries, including plans which Robert Burns had of going there to work as a bookkeeper – plans which were never fulfilled. There will be an imagination of what might have happened if Burns had journeyed to the Caribbean. Twelve poems have been written by Jamaican poets and all are available to watch on YouTube.
There are also three original essays by Burns scholars, Dr Clark McGinn, Professor Gerard Carruthers and Dr Stephen Mullen. These examine difficult histories with intellectual rigour.
Level Vibes brings together a range of Jamaican poets and academic perspectives to encourage fresh ways of examining Scotland’s historic relationship to Jamaica and the era of chattel slavery and plantations, as well as re-examining Robert Burns’s plans to work there as a bookkeeper in 1786. Burns bought passage to Jamaica on three occasions but never sailed.
The event collates 12 works by Jamaican poets, including former Jamaican Laureate, Lorna Goodison, and Shara McCallum, whose collection ‘No Ruined Stone’ imagines what would have happened if Burns had taken the journey to Jamaica. Each of the poems is accompanied by a video of the poet reading their work; all are accessible online on the poetry library’s Youtube channel for international audiences.
To deepen the project’s historical and intercultural framework, the poetry library commissioned three original essays by internationally renowned Robert Burns scholars:
Dr Clark McGinn explores Burns’s poetic legacy within the context of Scotland’s Caribbean connections, examining how Burns has been read, interpreted, and contested in post-colonial settings.
“Robert Burns has never belonged solely to Scotland. His poetry has travelled through empire, migration, and education systems shaped by colonial power, making him a figure who must be read globally — and critically.”
Professor Gerard Carruthers, one of the world’s leading authorities on Burns, offers a critical analysis of Burns’s relationship to slavery, abolitionist discourse, and the moral complexities of his historical moment.
“Burns’s relationship to slavery cannot be reduced to simple judgment or celebration. It demands careful attention to contradiction, historical context, and the uncomfortable truths embedded in eighteenth-century Scotland.”
Dr Stephen Mullen, a specialist in Scotland’s role in Caribbean slavery, situates Burns within the broader economic and social networks linking eighteenth-century Scotland to Jamaica and the transatlantic slave system.
“Burns lived within a Scotland deeply connected to Caribbean slavery. Understanding that economic and social reality is essential if we are to understand the world in which his poetry was written.”
Commissioned exclusively for LEVEL VIBES, these essays provide vital historical insight and intellectual rigour, engaging with difficult histories while opening space for new creative responses.
Asif Khan, director of the Scottish Poetry Library, said: “The Jamaican poets provide a fresh perspective into how others see us – Scotland’s culture, its heritage and the movement of Scottish men and women during the period of empire and colonialism. Scotland has left its footprint on every corner of the globe and Robert Burns is well kent worldwide. However, had he gone to Jamaica, his story and literary legacy might have turned out dramatically different.”
Angus Robertson MSP, Scotland’s Culture Secretary said: “I’m very pleased to introduce the Scottish Poetry Library’s LEVEL VIBES collection which spotlights the deep and enduring ties between our two countries. Curated by Jamaican artist, Fabian Thomas, each poem offers a different perspective on our shared history and the creative spirit that unites us. Let’s raise a glass to Burns, to Scotland, and to Jamaica, and the values and connections that bring us together.”
