-
Indelible Ink: Jackie Kay’s ‘Trumpet’
There have been a few novels featured in these columns by writers who are as well known, and sometimes better known, as poets. These include Ron Butlin, Kevin MacNeil, John Burnside, James Robertson, Alan Spence, and this month, Jackie Kay. Re-reading her debut novel ‘Trumpet’ I found myself asking if there are any conclusions that […]
Alistair Braidwood
January 7, 2013
-
Indelible Ink: Jeff Torrington’s ‘Swing Hammer Swing!’
This month has seen two of Scotland’s greatest living writers in the news. Alasdair Gray has had his short fiction collected into one impressive volume, while James Kelman won the Saltire Book of the Year award for ‘Mo said she was quirky’, and in time honoured fashion managed to make the newspapers by forecfully restating […]
Alistair Braidwood
December 10, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: William McIlvanney’s ‘Weekend’
With the recent success at home and abroad of Scottish writers such as Irvine Welsh, Iain Banks, Ali Smith, Ian Rankin, A.L Kennedy etc, it’s perhaps odd to think of a time when having Scottish novels post R.L. Stevenson in a Scottish house was the exception rather than the norm, at least with most of […]
Alistair Braidwood
November 6, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Nina de la Mer’s ‘4a.m.’
In previous columns, mention has been made of the Chemical Generation of writers, whose members included Irvine Welsh, Alan Warner, Gordon Legge, Laura Hird and Paul Reekie among others. They were a group who appeared in the mid 90s and who were collectively thought of as writers who reflected the thoughts, hopes and dreams (and […]
Alistair Braidwood
October 1, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Ajay Close’s ‘Forspoken’
One of the best things about writing this column is that it has given me the excuse to revisit books from my past, and it’s always interesting to see how they’ve aged. In the late 90s I picked up a copy of Ajay Close’s ‘Forspoken’ for the simple reason that she was one of the […]
Alistair Braidwood
September 3, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Andrew Raymond Drennan’s ‘The Immaculate Heart’
Recently there has been hot debate about the nature of the Booker Prize and if it has institutionalised class and national prejudice at its heart. I understand why writers view these things as important, but as James Kelman said in his speech following his win in 1994 for ‘How Late it Was, How Late’, he […]
Alistair Braidwood
August 6, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Martin Millar’s ‘Lux the Poet’
As with love, defining what makes something cult is difficult, but you know it when you encounter it. In the late 1980s Scottish writing had been reinvigorated by Iain Banks, James Kelman and Alasdair Gray, amongst others, all of whom are great writers, but who are too high profile to be ‘cult’, and anyway, whether […]
Alistair Braidwood
July 3, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Ewan Morrison’s ‘Swung’
I’d love to say such things are deliberate, but as Indelible Ink is planned five months in advance it is pure coincidence that I’m looking at a Ewan Morrison novel just as his latest book ‘Tales from the Mall’ is published to great acclaim (and you can read my review of that at Scots Whay […]
Alistair Braidwood
June 4, 2012
-
Indelible Ink: Zoe Strachan’s ‘Spin Cycle’
Novels set in Glasgow often play up to the grittier side of the city. Ever since the success of ‘No Mean City’ writers would ramp up the violence, hard drinking and gang culture as if these were somehow unique to my home town. But in the last 20 years there have been many Glasgow novels […]
Alistair Braidwood
May 7, 2012
