NEVER MISS AN ISSUE!

Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form

ABOUT THIS BOOK

PUBLISHER: Scotland Street Press

ISBN: 9781917881012

RRP: £9.99

PAGES: 144

PUBLICATION DATE:
October 9, 2025

BUY THIS BOOK

As an Amazon Associate and Bookshop.org affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Square Baw

By Hamish MacDonald

Square Baw is a collection of football poems that not only covers personal experience, but takes a deep dive into the history of the Scottish game itself, and thereby goes to the heart of Scottish masculinity. The poems are mainly told through the experiences of Mac- Donald’s grandfather William McKenzie Grant (b. 1887). Grant played at Junior and amatuer level, including with Queens Park in 1917-18, before playing at top level in Scottish football, with their home being the legendary Hampden Park. MacDonald’s interest in Scottish football was rekindled in his grandfather’s story after a post- card from a distant relation was discovered, which had been sent from the Western Front in May 1915 by his grandfather to his nephew in Glasgow. It prompted MacDonald to re-ex- amine his grandfather’s life, through his 95 year old mother’s memories, books, records and war diaries.

Share this

Hamish MacDonald

Hamish MacDonald is a writer and performer based in Scotland. He was Scottish Slam Poetry Champion in 2022 and came second at the Poesie de Coupe du Monde in Paris in the same year. Hamish also took part in the World Poetry Slam Organisation’s European finals in Rome in December 2022, qualifying for the World Poetry Slam finals in Rio de Janeiro in October 2023, reaching the semi-final stages and performing alongside some of the greats of world slam. Published in poetry and fiction and with a record of writing for radio broadcast, he was the first Robert Burns Writing Fellow for Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association (2003-2006) and the first Scots Scrieverat the National Library of Scotland (2015-17). In the early 2000’s Hamish was one of the founders of the international award-winning Dogstar Theatre Company, writing several plays for Dogstar including the hard-hitting factual drama Factor 9 about the contaminated blood products scandal which has affected tens of thousands of people worldwide. Factor 9 was co-produced with Profilteatern in Umea, Sweden and premiered as part of Umea’s European Capital of Culture programme in 2014. In 2020 Hamish became the Bankies Bard, the official poet for Clydebank Football Club.