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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
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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
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Dear Scotland Writing Competition: Win 50 of the Greatest Scottish Novels
Next month sees the 50th edition of Indelible Ink, Dear Scotland’s monthly column on the best of Scottish writing. In an act which can only be described as impulsive, Pete Reid, Editor of Dear Scotland has just bought all 50 books featured since the first column was published four years ago. From ‘Morvern Callar’ to […]
Alistair Braidwood
November 5, 2013
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Indelible Ink: Leila Aboulela’s ‘The Translator’
One of the best things about reading books written in and of the country you live in is that they give you new perspectives on the familiar and everyday, making you look again at places and people you had long since taken for granted. In the last few years I have read work by English, […]
Alistair Braidwood
November 4, 2013
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Indelible Ink: Sophie Cooke’s ‘The Glass House’
Sophie Cooke’s 2004 debut novel, ‘The Glass House’, fits comfortably into the fine Scottish literary tradition of portraying dysfunctional families, and uncovering the accompanying secrets and lies. It’s a painful coming of age novel juxtaposed against the beautiful Perthshire countryside, and it’s the terrible reality set against an apparent idyllic life that makes the novel […]
Alistair Braidwood
October 10, 2013
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Indelible Ink: Muriel Spark’s ‘The Driver’s Seat’
It could be argued that Muriel Spark was the greatest Scottish writer of the 20th century, and it’s an argument I would have sympathy for. Even if you only know her for the 1961 novel ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ you’ll be aware that her writing is dark, playful and often wilfully obtuse. More […]
Alistair Braidwood
September 4, 2013
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Indelible Ink: Karin Altenberg’s ‘Island of Wings’
Recently Scotland’s Highlands and Islands have been the setting for all sorts of interesting and diverse books, from Kevin MacNeil’s ‘The Stornoway Way’ and the fabulous collection of poetry which he edited, ‘These Islands We Sing’, through Robert Alan Jamieson’s ‘Da Happie Laand’ and Neil Butler’s ‘The Roost’ to the recently published ‘Orkney’ by Amy […]
Alistair Braidwood
July 9, 2013
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Indelible Ink: Archie Hind’s ‘The Dear Green Place’
There have been a few great Glasgow novels discussed on these pages; Alasdair Gray’s ‘Lanark’, Jeff Torrington’s ‘Swing Hammer Swing’ and James Kelman’s ‘Kieron Smith, boy’ are just three examples, but perhaps the most recognisable literary depictions of the city can be found in Archie Hind’s ‘The Dear Green Place’. Hind didn’t opt for the […]
Alistair Braidwood
May 7, 2013
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Indelible Ink: George Friel’s ‘Mr Alfred MA’
Nothing is completely original, but sometimes it is harder to discover some influences than it is others. This is partly because history, cultural or otherwise, is often sold to us in convenient packages of dates, people and places. If you were to read many an overview of Scottish writing in the 20th century you could […]
Alistair Braidwood
April 1, 2013