Mixing The Colours: From The Eyes Of An Intern

In November of last year, I began an internship at Glasgow Women’s Library. As a postgraduate Publishing Studies student at the University of Stirling, my role is to provide publishing-related support for an upcoming book titled Mixing The Colours: Women Speaking About Sectarianism. Greeted with warm smiles and a hug on my first day at the Library, I immediately knew this wouldn’t be a typical tea-fetching and photocopying internship position. And as I began to learn more about the Mixing The Colours project and read the stories contained within the book, I quickly realised how special and important the project is.

The book, due to be launched in March 2015, is an anthology consisting of short stories and poems written by women. As modern-day sectarianism is often condensed into a problem of men and football, women’s voices on the issue have been historically overlooked.

“Women’s historical and contemporary experiences on the traditionally male-focused issue of sectarianism have until now been marginalised and excluded from the social history of Scotland. Frequently, women are seen in a stereotypical way as passive ‘victims’ of sectarianism, as the casualties of domestic abuse after football matches.”

– Rachel Thain-Gray, Mixing The Colours Project Developer and Editor

The Mixing The Colours publication aims to fill this gap in Scotland’s social history. Drawing on memories of sectarian experiences in their lives through discussions and creative writing workshops hosted by the library, the writers have created a moving narrative that is truly unique: Mixing The Colours: Women Speaking About Sectarianism will be the first ever published work written by and about women on the issue of sectarianism.

More than sixteen women have contributed writing for the book, including commissioned authors Magi Gibson, Eleanor Thom and Denise Mina. The stories and poems draw on a diverse range of experiences from both the Protestant and Catholic ‘sides’ of the issue. The participating writers were able to find empowerment, validity and catharsis through the creative writing process.

“Women said that collective contributions, using creative methods, gave them a safe and powerful voice . . . Working as a group they found power in numbers.”

– Rachel Thain-Gray, Mixing The Colours Project Developer and Editor

“Women came to the workshops from all walks of life. Some with degrees and doctorates, others who’d left school and gone straight int the workplace . . . I encouraged each woman – and the women encouraged each other – to have confidence in her own unique voice.”

– Magi Gibson, commissioned author and workshop leader for Mixing The Colours

Working as an intern on this project has been a truly rewarding experience and I cannot wait to see the stories and poems contained within the book in print. The publishing team at the Glasgow Women’s Library has been hard at work proofreading, copy-editing and organising to ensure everything is ready for the launch in March. We hope that the book will raise awareness about women’s experiences with sectarianism and act as a starting point for future discussion and action.

“My love knows no bounds
My heart knows no hate.
I do not accept a sectarian fate
for my Scotland.”

– excerpt from ‘No More Sectarian Scotland’ (by Nicola Burkhill), in Mixing The Colours: Women Speaking About Sectarianism

Mixing The Colours: Women Speaking About Sectarianism will be launched with a conference on 20 March 2015. The conference is “for those who have participated, partnered and funded the Mixing The Colours project” and will include readings and performances by some of the authors as well as a screening of the accompanying film of the same name.

Additionally, a Mixing The Colours event will be held at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow (63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB) on Friday, 6 March from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Come along to hear the authors read their short stories and poems for the public for the first time. Free tickets are available at www.tron.co.uk.

by Kena Longabaugh

Film Trailer – Mixing The Colours: women
speaking about sectarianism from Glasgow Women’s Library on Vimeo.