Cold Turkey’s Holy Stocking

Cold Turkey is a scrumptious festive buffet of music, spoken word and arty weirdness, featuring Hollie McNish, Michael Pedersen and Withered Hand. This is the mouth-watering seventh serving.

Cold Turkey was founded as a collective by Michael Pedersen, Scott Hutchison, Hollie McNish & Withered Hand. Since Scott’s leaving, Michael, Hollie & Dan/WH have been joined by special guests such as: Kae Tempest, Paul Smith (Maximo Park), Kathryn Joseph & more. The sleigh sails on: in tribute and for the love & joy of it.

SPECIAL GUESTS TBA

Hollie McNish

is a Ted Hughes Award winning poet, a twice Sunday Times Bestselling author, and the first poet to record a poetry album in London’s Abbey Road Studios. Having published some six superb books, she’s sold out theatres of the scale of Hackney Empire and Liverpool Playhouse, penned a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ Athenian tragedy Antigone, and counts amongst her fans Matt Haig, Jodie Comer, Jo Brand and Lemn Sissay. Her recent book, Lobster & Other Things I’m Learning to Love, was an instant bestseller, and her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese and more. She really loves writing.

Michael Pedersen

is a prize-winning poet and author, he’s the Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University and the Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends, was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction at Scotland’s National Book Awards. His third poetry collection, The Cat Prince, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has also been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has been praised by the likes of Stephen Fry, Kae Tempest, Shirley Manson, Irvine Welsh & many more.

Withered Hand 

is Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Dan Willson. Alongside activity with his band, Dan is a well-travelled solo musician with a cult following since the release of his debut ‘Good News’ in 2009. The release of a strident second album ‘New Gods’ in 2014 propelled Withered Hand into the charts, featuring album appearances by friends, luminaries and supporters from the Scottish music scene, including members of Belle & Sebastian, Frightened Rabbit, The Vaselines, King Creosote and more. His recent sublime follow-up album How to Love (2023) was critically acclaimed, and 2024 saw him release a collaboration album with the ace Kathryn Williams, currently longlisted for Scottish Album of the Year 2024.