Elvis tribute act Molly Thapviwat wins poetry prize at Wigtown Book Festival.

The Scotsman

Scotsman Arts and Culture correspondent at the Wigtown Book Festival 2025

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Jane Bradley, arts and culture correspondent at The Scotsman, and I'm here today with

00:06Molly Tafinwap, who is a nominee for the Wigtown International Poetry Prize, which is being

00:11announced tonight here at Wigtown Book Festival.

00:14Hi, Molly.

00:15Hello.

00:16Hi.

00:17I believe you've traveled all the way from Thailand to be here today.

00:19Yes.

00:20Yes.

00:21And it's a long, long way here.

00:22But I'm glad to be here.

00:23Here I am now.

00:24And how did it feel when you found out you were on the nomination list?

00:27Oh my gosh, I can't.

00:28I can't begin.

00:29First of all, it is very honorable for me to, excuse me, for my poem to be shortlisted.

00:35And first thing that comes to mind is I just got to be here.

00:38I have to be here and, you know, take that opportunity and, you know, just live my dream

00:45to be here at the Scotland's national book town.

00:49And here I am.

00:51Yeah.

00:52Absolutely.

00:53Fantastic.

00:54And you've been on a little bit of a tour around Scotland.

00:55This is your first time here.

00:56Yes.

00:57This is my first time here in Scotland.

00:59I stopped by in Glasgow and I visited even the Rock and I've been in Wigtown for three

01:05days now.

01:06Yeah.

01:07Great.

01:08And your poem is actually inspired by the miners' strikes that happened in Scotland in the

01:1280s and the rest of the UK.

01:13Yes.

01:14I'm very drawn to writing poetry or, well, most of my works come from different objects,

01:21like daily objects in life.

01:23And miners' jackets comes up in my mind, you know, like, and I thought it was something

01:28that I should write about.

01:30And it is something very relatable in terms of historical moments.

01:36And the jacket itself, the main object that I focus on in my poetry, it's not just the

01:43jacket.

01:44emotion behind it.

01:45It's just a representative of it.

01:47But the entire piece, once you read it, it reflects many emotional purposes.

01:53I guess that's how I'm going to put it.

01:57And yeah, people can relate to it.

01:59There's historical glimpses to it.

02:01So I think it's a perfect blend.

02:03Fantastic.

02:04Well, good luck tonight.

02:05But you've got quite a number of different careers under your belt, haven't you?

02:09You're not just a poet.

02:10No, I'm not.

02:11Well, I'm an English teacher, and I was a child actress in Thailand when I was younger.

02:17But what I do enjoy doing the most, and I actually take it professionally, is I am a

02:23female Elvis tribute artist.

02:25Yes.

02:26So it's like an impersonator, but it could be a personal thing for me that I feel like

02:31when you use the worst impersonation, you try to be like Elvis.

02:36Like you might wear your sideburns or, you know, wear a wig or something like that.

02:39But that's not how my performances are.

02:42I just sing because I love his music.

02:45But of course, he got the moves.

02:46So when I sing, I have to dance.

02:49Yeah.

02:50And that's the thing about my Elvis tribute artist career.

02:54And do you think you might be able to give us a little demonstration?

02:57Yes.

02:59Fantastic.

02:59Well, I will leave you to that.

03:00Thank you so much.

03:01Okay.

03:06I'll do Blue Sweet Shoes.

03:08And here it is.

03:11Well, it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready now, go, cat, go,

03:17but don't you step on my Blue Sweet Shoes.

03:21Well, you can do nothing but lay off of my Blue Sweet Shoes.

03:25Let's see.

03:26The Keep Shoes is where you're going.

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