I am not a fan of poetry. The decision to attend an event that was not only a reading of poetry, but poetry set to music, was not mine. Subsequently, I was not looking forward to spending a wet and grey afternoon listening to a genre towards which I had an aversion, accompanied by a Read More
Maybe it’s a quirk of crime-writers that they remain reserved and secretive, but this session afforded little in the way of scoops or sensational confessions from either of the authors. Or perhaps with only an hour in which the audience could question the two crime-writing specialists, such admissions were unlikely. Quintin Jardine can justifiably be Read More
As a fellow writer, I was excited to be asked to review A.L. Kennedy’s event. Kennedy’s latest book, On Writing, is a collection of her regular blog posts for The Guardian newspaper, as well as a selection of essays, and is one in a long line of works that includes novels, short story collections and Read More
Best known as a radio DJ, Vic Galloway is also a musician, journalist and presenter. He has now fulfilled a personal ambition by adding “published author” to this list. His book, Songs in the Key of Fife, tells the story of the hugely influential musicians hailing from the East Neuk of Fife, many of whom Read More
Jane Rodgers, presents to the world her first collection of short stories, Hitting Trees with Sticks. The collection is a wide reaching one, taking us from Manchester to Uganda, and touching upon subjects as diverse as African tribal politics, homosexuality, the true nature of love, and death. Each story presents a snap shot, which though Read More
In his eloquent Reith Lectures of 1993, Edward Said argued that intellectual work is also political, that as an intellectual one had a “special duty” to make sure that the “authorised powers of one’s own society” are “accountable”. The public intellectual is both inside and outside society, knowing his society intimately but also seeing it Read More
Immediately following Weiwei’s detention the whole world had demanded to know why he had been arrested. Overnight he was transformed into a martyr… In April 2011, the artist Ai Weiwei was arrested and imprisoned in his home in China. Since then, he has become something of a Western folk hero – a champion of artistic Read More
There are belts to clinch, belts of bling and belts to hold up breeks, and then there is perhaps the most remarkable belt of them all – the Shetlander’s knitting belt. From that sturdy item, many yarns may spool, and they in turn create patterns, pick up motifs of tradition and knit up something warm Read More
To be treated to readings by two writers included in Granta’s 2013 Best Young Novelists list was double blessing indeed on a grey October morning in Dundee. In a venue steamy with wet raincoats, Jenni Fagan and Sarah Hall read from their latest works, each with her own distinctive style. Fagan’s prizewinning début novel, The Read More
Billed as “an exploration of Scottish crime writing from opposite sides of the country”, the session opened with readings from each of the author’s respective novels, then moved on to explore the past careers of both Mina and Johnstone, before a discussion of Scottish crime was conducted in intriguing and amusing detail. Mina’s reading from Read More