Scottish Poetry Library

Purpose-built library dedicated to Scottish poetry, with a free reading room off the Canongate

Address 5 Crichton's Close, Edinburgh EH8 8DT

The Scottish Poetry Library occupies an award-winning building in Crichton's Close, just off the lower Canongate — a quiet, modest space designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects in 1999 and later extended. The library holds the most comprehensive collection of Scottish poetry in existence, from medieval verse to contemporary work in Scots, Gaelic, and English. Visitors can use the reading room freely without charge; the library also runs a programme of readings, workshops, and events. It is one of those Edinburgh institutions that rewards knowing about it: peaceful, serious, and unexpectedly moving in the quality of its collection.

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