-
Scotland Writers FC
It started, like all the best ideas, in the pub. I can’t remember which pub now, or how exactly the conversation went, but that’s always the way with pub chat, isn’t it? Either way, myself, fellow author Allan Wilson and publisher Mark Buckland were standing with pints in hand talking about books and football, a […]
Doug Johnstone
February 6, 2014
-
Indelible Ink: Kirsty Gunn’s ‘The Big Music’
I first came across the term ‘The Big Music’ with reference to The Waterboys in the early 1980s. It was the name of a track on their 1984 album, ‘A Pagan Place’ and I think it was Mike Scott, in an interview from that time, who explained this was what the band aimed to make; […]
Alistair Braidwood
February 4, 2014
-
Writing Competition, 1st Place – ‘Promenade’ by James Carson
‘Promenade’ is a wonderful journey through Glasgow, and by extension, Scotland, moving from the past to the present, a voyage of discovery as our guide sees the city as if with new eyes, wondering at the sites he sees and the people he meets. Same as it ever was, yet always changing.
Alistair Braidwood
January 7, 2014
-
Writing Competition, 2nd Place – ‘Homesickness’ by Katriona Kerr
Emotion, both positive and negative, drives ‘Homesickness’. It’s a fantastic depiction of the love/hate relationship which many of our entrants expressed, but none did it with such fervour and poetry as Katriona managed.
Alistair Braidwood
January 7, 2014
-
Writing Competition, 3rd Place – ‘Snowglobes’ by Max Scratchman
Max’s ‘Snowglobes’ is a wonderful summary of a nation, outlining how the landscape and the people unite to provoke the strongest of emotions, and taking a fresh look at Scotland’s ‘stereotypes’, embracing them instead of rejecting them.
Alistair Braidwood
January 7, 2014
-
Indelible Ink: The Dear Scotland Writing Competition Winners
As regular readers of this column will know, we recently ran the Dear Scotland, Indelible Ink Writing Competition, with no idea as to who would enter, or what they would send in. The prize was all 50 books which have appeared on these pages, and the only instructions were that pieces had to be under […]
Alistair Braidwood
January 7, 2014
-
Announcing the Winner of the Dear Scotland Writing Competition
Thank you to everyone who entered our first writing competition this year. It was genuinely thrilling to read the stories and poems as they came in and I know that the judges, Vic Galloway, Nina de la Mer, and Alistair Braidwood, had an enjoyably difficult time picking a winner.
Pete Reid
December 23, 2013
-
The Dear Scotland Xmas Video
It’s that time of year again. A very special Christmas video, featuring a very Scottish Santa:
Pete Reid
December 13, 2013
-
Indelible Ink: Andrew Crumey’s ‘Pfitz’
In these columns talk has often turned to common themes in modern Scottish literature, but I hope the previous 49 novels, when taken as a whole, show as much diversity as unity, with different voices sometimes dealing with the same topics, but more often realising something completely new. In case this hasn’t come across, this […]
Alistair Braidwood
December 2, 2013
