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Assoc for Scottish Literature
@scotlit@mastodon.scot  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

BANNED BOOKS WEEK
5–11 October 2025

Tom Leonard’s 1984 poetry collection INTIMATE VOICES was banned in Scotland’s Central Region school libraries. The Education Committee said

“There are some harmful words in it … Sometimes the naked truth has to be clothed”

But Leonard had anticipated this sort of reaction…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

A pale green book cover. In the middle is a white rectangle. A large red stamp displays the book title: TOM LEONARD: INTIMATE VOICES: 1965–1983. Above the stamp is a poem, set as if typed on a typewriter:

in the beginning was the word 
in thi beginning was thi wurd 
in thi beginnin was thi wurd 
in thi biginnin was thi wurd 
n thi biginnin wuz thi wurd 
nthi biginnin wuz thi wurd 
nthi biginnin wuzthi wurd 
nthibiginnin wuzthiwurd
nthibiginninwuzthiwurd
in the beginning was the sound
A pale green book cover. In the middle is a white rectangle. A large red stamp displays the book title: TOM LEONARD: INTIMATE VOICES: 1965–1983. Above the stamp is a poem, set as if typed on a typewriter: in the beginning was the word in thi beginning was thi wurd in thi beginnin was thi wurd in thi biginnin was thi wurd n thi biginnin wuz thi wurd nthi biginnin wuz thi wurd nthi biginnin wuzthi wurd nthibiginnin wuzthiwurd nthibiginninwuzthiwurd in the beginning was the sound
A pale green book cover. In the middle is a white rectangle. A large red stamp displays the book title: TOM LEONARD: INTIMATE VOICES: 1965–1983. Above the stamp is a poem, set as if typed on a typewriter: in the beginning was the word in thi beginning was thi wurd in thi beginnin was thi wurd in thi biginnin was thi wurd n thi biginnin wuz thi wurd nthi biginnin wuz thi wurd nthi biginnin wuzthi wurd nthibiginnin wuzthiwurd nthibiginninwuzthiwurd in the beginning was the sound
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Assoc for Scottish Literature
@scotlit@mastodon.scot replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

would thi prisoner
in thi bar
please stand

fur thi aforesaid crime
uv writn anuthir poem
awarded the certificate of safety
by thi scottish education department …

—Tom Leonard, published in GHOSTIE MEN (Galloping Dog Press, 1980)

2/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

Tom Leonard
From GHOSTIE MEN

(7)

would thi prisoner
in thi bar
please stand

fur thi aforesaid crime
uv writn anuthir poem
awarded the certificate of safety
by thi scottish education department
fit tay be used in schools
huvn no bad language
sex subversion or antireligion
I hereby sentence you
tay six munths hard labour
doon thi poetry section
uv yir local library
coontn thi fuckin metaphors
Tom Leonard From GHOSTIE MEN (7) would thi prisoner in thi bar please stand fur thi aforesaid crime uv writn anuthir poem awarded the certificate of safety by thi scottish education department fit tay be used in schools huvn no bad language sex subversion or antireligion I hereby sentence you tay six munths hard labour doon thi poetry section uv yir local library coontn thi fuckin metaphors
Tom Leonard From GHOSTIE MEN (7) would thi prisoner in thi bar please stand fur thi aforesaid crime uv writn anuthir poem awarded the certificate of safety by thi scottish education department fit tay be used in schools huvn no bad language sex subversion or antireligion I hereby sentence you tay six munths hard labour doon thi poetry section uv yir local library coontn thi fuckin metaphors
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Assoc for Scottish Literature
@scotlit@mastodon.scot replied  ·  activity timestamp 4 days ago

This newspaper hoarding – hung by Tom Leonard here on his bookcase – was described by the author as

“the only ‘trophy’ I ever got for my poetry that continues to give me some pleasure, when I remember it.”

3/3

https://www.tomleonard.co.uk/journal/blog-march.html

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

april -march 2010 - tomleonard.co.uk

Tom Leonard - Scottish Writer. Read and hear his work
A sheet of paper from a newspaper hoarding, suspended in front of a set of bookshelves. The paper hoarding is creased, having been folded up for a long time. The hoarding is white, with a blue bar along the bottom bearing the logo of THE SCOTSMAN newspaper. The headline is hand-written in thick black marker pen:

SCHOOLS BAN
ON AWARD
WINNING
POETRY
A sheet of paper from a newspaper hoarding, suspended in front of a set of bookshelves. The paper hoarding is creased, having been folded up for a long time. The hoarding is white, with a blue bar along the bottom bearing the logo of THE SCOTSMAN newspaper. The headline is hand-written in thick black marker pen: SCHOOLS BAN ON AWARD WINNING POETRY
A sheet of paper from a newspaper hoarding, suspended in front of a set of bookshelves. The paper hoarding is creased, having been folded up for a long time. The hoarding is white, with a blue bar along the bottom bearing the logo of THE SCOTSMAN newspaper. The headline is hand-written in thick black marker pen: SCHOOLS BAN ON AWARD WINNING POETRY
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