The poet Jim Stewart (1952-2016) earned that rarest of writer’s accolades: of being well-loved by those who not only knew his work but knew him. He had a well-deserved reputation as a gifted and inspiring teacher who, in typical Dundonian fashion, seemed to hide his calling under a genuine sense of duty, so that his Read More
What drew you to Gagarin Way? Well, Andrew [Andrew Panton, the artistic director at the Rep] approached me with the play and asked if I wanted to direct, which is unusual for me – I usually come up with and direct my own ideas for plays. But I was drawn to Gagarin Way in part because Read More
In June 2018 I interviewed Philip Lopate, who is probably the most famous living essayist in the world. On camera.* It was something I’d never done before, and to say I was nervous is an understatement. I shook hands with him the day before and heard him deliver his keynote for the ‘Taking ideas for Read More
Bute Noir is a three-day crime writing festival held in the town of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, a short ferry from Glasgow. Despite being one of the smaller venues for such a festival, the island can hold its own in the field, with some of the most respected authors of this genre attending Read More
“You’re spot on time. Isn’t that good?” Fiona Kidman is warm and merry, bright as a button. She takes me through her kitchen and into the dining room, stopping to point out the view from her window. “Can you see the lights? That’s the airport above the sea, Wellington.” In Wellington, New Zealand, it’s 9.00 Read More
On not straight-jacketing the essay form, creative failures, telling jokes etc.The renowned US essayist, Philip Lopate, interviewed by Paula Lyttle at the “Taking Ideas for a Walk” Essay conference for the University of Dundee Centre for Creative and Critical Cultures, Hospitalfield House, 19-20 June 2018.
Susan Nickalls, a freelance journalist and former student of the Writing Practice and Study programme at the University of Dundee, in conversation with the Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma, on the design and building of the V&A Dundee. The interview was filmed at Discovery Point. DURA is grateful for the use of Discovery Point Premises. A Read More
At this year’s spring exhibition of Danh Voh’s photographs and sculptural installations of found and preserved objects at the Guggenheim in New York, I felt, viscerally, for the first time what had merely been an abstract idea: the rhythm of buildings, the poetry of objects, the stories that reside within, the narrative webs they are Read More
“The hardest thing of all is to see what is really there” (J A Baker) I clatter down the stairs of the Tower Extension at the University of Dundee, heart pounding inside my chest, hoping that my voice will come back to me and my nerves will disappear like the rolling haar on the Read More
I first met Joan in 2015 when she was tutoring a course on writing young adult fiction at Moniack Mhor writing centre near Inverness. As a tutor, Joan was witty, good-humoured, inspiring and passionate about storytelling and writing. In her workshops we played with ideas, with “what ifs” and with real and invented words. Joan Read More
