Hexameter are a spoken word collective of six poets all closely connected with Dumfries & Galloway and key figures in Southwest Scotland’s flourishing literary scene. They strongly believe that poetry should not be confined to the page but is best realised through being heard and performed.

Hexameter are Robin Leiper, Alexandra Monlaur, John Priestley, Peter Roberts, David Mark Williams and Annie Wright. All are prize winners or have been shortlisted for national competitions over the last few years. Two members are winners of the Wigtown Book Festival Poetry Prize Fresh Voice Award: Peter Roberts in 2020 and Robin Leiper in 2023.

They have come together in a way that that allows each poet to showcase their distinctive voice while also creating a group identity. This approach has been realised with the launch this year of their first anthology 6 by Six, published by Glasgow-based Coronach Press. It contains six poems each by the six members of the collective. Copies of the anthology on sale will be signed by all six poets and available at a special discount.

Hugh McMillan has said of 6 by Six that it contains “well-crafted work which is at times wryly humorous, at times dark, at times tender, but always displays the acute and intelligent observation that marks out the very best of poetry” and concludes: “It’s an important collection, not just for Galloway.”

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