A CUMBERLAND twist is being added to traditional Burns Night celebrations at Carlisle art gallery and museum Tullie House.

Tomorrow night (Friday, January 29) the venue is hosting Burns Night Live, an evening of poetry from poets living in Carlisle today, and the spoken word traditions of Cumberland dialect.

As well as celebrating the 256th birthday of Scotland's national poet, the 245th birthday of Cumberland bard Robert Anderson will also be marked, with members of the Lakeland Dialect Society and local poets reading bygone and modern-day verse.

Louise Green, from the dialect society, said: "Poetry and prose in the Lakeland dialect offers a unique window on our wonderful heritage.

"This evening at Tullie House will be a great celebration of our colourful past, and we're thrilled to have been invited to take part. This is a great opportunity to hear modern dialect poets perform their work.”

Rather than the traditional Burns Night haggis, toasts will be made in dialect to the 'tatie pot' and to the Cumberland lads and lasses, and a glass will be raised to Cumbrian poets past and present.

Burns Night Live begins at 7pm, with the bar open from 6.30pm.

Tullie House's current exhibition, Picture the Poet, features high-quality photographic portraits of some of Britain’s favourite poets, in a partnership between the National Portrait Gallery, the National Literacy Trust and Apples and Snakes, working with six museum partners over three years.

Eloise Stott, exhibitions engagement coordinator at Tullie House, said: “Picture the Poet is an exhibition designed to celebrate the poetry and spoken word of Britain’s best-loved poets.

"We are really proud to be able to promote the wonderful spoken word tradition of the Cumberland dialect as part of this, and to celebrate the talent of poets and writers living in the Lake District. This is a great opportunity to put Cumbria on the map at the final venue for this nationally touring exhibition programme.”

Picture the Poet runs until March 6.

For more, phone 01228-618718 or visit www.tulliehouse.co.uk