Birlinn Limited Author Availability Brochure
2017 C O N TA C T
Jan Rutherford
Publicity and Marketing Director Birlinn Ltd 10 Newington Road West Newington House Edinburgh EH9 1QS Tel: 0131 337 9724 Mob: 077 1047 4308 E:mail: jan.ppw@janrutherford.co.uk
Anna Marshall Events Manager
Birlinn Ltd 10 Newington Road West Newington House Edinburgh EH9 1QS Tel: 0131 337 9724 Mob: 078 3577 3083 E:mail: anna@birlinn.co.uk
CONTENTS
2016
FEATURED
Alexander McCall Smith Alistair Moffat Malachy Tallack
NON-FICTION
Nick Perry Scotland: Mapping the Islands Eilidh Muldoon Alan Taylor Sheila Szatkowski Angus Roxburgh Craig Murray James Miller Paul Murton Alan McKirkdy Mark Muller Stuart John MacLeod
FICTION
www.birlinn.co.uk
Gregory Dowling Jan-Philipp Sendker Denzil Meyrick Shirley McKay Sandra Ireland Angus MacDonald Jane Menczer Sheena Kalayil Charlie McGarry
FOOD & DRINK
Blair Bowman & Nikki Welch Charles MacLean Ian Buxton Scottish Food BiblesSeries Sue Lawrence
2-3 4-5 6-7
8 9 10-11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22-23 24-25 26 27 28 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 37
CONTENTS 2016
POETRY
39 40 41 42 43 44
Liz Lochhead Scottish Poetry Library Kenneth Steven Michael Pedersen Jenni Fagan Ron Butlin
47 48 49
Tom Doyle Stuart Cosgrove Zoe Howe
MUSIC
GEMS FROM 2015 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62
Karl Sabbagh Tam Dalyell Alastair McIntosh Walter Reid David Torrance James Hunter Rosemary Goring John McKendrick Roger Hutchinson Robert Crawford Louise Wyllie & Jan Patience Kevin MacNeil
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ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH Creator of Precious Ramotswe and The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which has sold 25 million copies in English and been translated into 46 languages. An hour in the company of Alexander McCall Smith is an hour of sheer delight!
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the world Happy to do: In-discussion or solo events; festivals large and small. Alexander is a hugely experienced performer, with more than 50 appearances a year before audiences ranging from small rural knitting groups to a packed Sydney opera house 2016/17 – limited availability Live Literature Funded: Yes
www.polygonbooks.co.uk
Aug 2017: July 2017: May 2017: Oct 2016: Aug 2016: May 2016:
The Race to Kangaroo Cliff (hbk) (School Ship Tobermory Series) Scotland Street Vol.12 (hbk) Chance Developments (stand-alone pbk) School Ship Tobermory (pbk) The Bertie Project (44 Scotland Street, Vol. 11) The Sands of Shark Island (School Ship Tobermory series) My Italian Bulldozer (stand-alone)
Also available: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series; the 44 Scotland Street series; the Isabel Dalhousie series; The Corduroy Mansions series; the von Igelfeld series; The School Ship Tobermory series,The Precious series; Fatty O’Leary’s Dinner Party, Trains & Lovers, Emma; The Forever Girl; A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh Who is Alexander McCall Smith? Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most prolific and best-loved authors. His career has been a varied one: for many years he was a professor of Medical Law and worked in universities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Then, after the publication of his highly successful No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, which has sold over 25 million copies, he devoted his time to the writing of fiction and has seen his various series of books translated into over 45 languages and become bestsellers across the world. These include the 44 Scotland Street novels, first published as a serial novel in The Scotsman, the Isabel Dalhousie novels, the von Igelfeld series; and Corduroy Mansions which started life as a delightful cross-media serial, written on the website of the Telegraph Media Group, winning two major cross-media awards. Alexander McCall Smith created Precious Ramotswe as a character in a short story in the 1990s. She made her debut in the novel The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency in 1998 and since then that novel (and a further fifteen titles in the series) has sold many millions of copies to fans across the world .
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About 44 Scotland Street Vol. 12: Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in the fictitious 44 Scotland Street from Alexander McCall Smith. With customary charm and deftness, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another instalment in this popular series, now running in its eleventh season in the Scotsman. Anything could happen to Bertie and the gang… About Chance Developments: Inspired by a bundle of vintage photographs, Alexander McCall Smith started to imagine the stories of the people they portrayed. Through fifteen photographs he explores the many themes of love– romantic love, platonic love, passionate love, familial love, unrequited love, and many more. Every one of these images, from formal sepia portraits to hazy family snaps is powerful and intriguing in its own way and through Alexander’s pen, each reveals a story of love. The result is an always charming yet often unexpectedly poignant collection of stories about that most powerful of human emotions. About The Sands of Shark Island (School Ship Tobermory): For information on McCall Smith’s children’s series please see our Children’s Author Availability Brochure.
www.alexandermccallsmith.com www.facebook.com/alexandermccallsmith @McCallSmith
Praise for The Revolving Door of Life: ‘Always a delight, fans of Bertie should ready themselves for a satisfying treat!’ – Bookbag
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ALISTAIR MOFFAT Award winning historian and author of over 20 books. Let Alistair Moffat take you on a fascinating, immersing journey through the history of a people.
Author based: Scottish Borders Willing to travel: Limited availability but happy to consider anything within the UK and beyond Happy to do: Festivals large and small, bookstore events, readers’ groups et al Recent Events: Cheltenham Literature Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Chalke Valley History Festival 2017: Limited Availability Live Literature Funded: No
April 2017: March 2017:
The Scots: A Genetic Journey (New Edition) Britain: A Genetic Journey (New Edition) The Reivers: The Story of the Border Reivers (New Edition) The Wall: Rome’s Greatest Frontier (New Edition)
Also available: Bannockburn: The Battle for a Nation (2015); Scotland: A History from Earliest Times (2015); Scotland’s Last Frontier (2015); Hawick: A History from Earliest Times (2014); The British: A Genetic Journey (2013); The Great Tapestry of Scotland (2013); The Scots: A Genetic Journey (with Dr Jim Wilson) (2011); The Borders (2010); The Faded Map (2010); Tuscany: A History (2009); The Wall (2009); The Reivers (2008); The Sea Kingdoms (2008). Who is Alistair Moffat? Alistair Moffat is a man of many talents, Director of the Borders Book Festival, and Co-Chairman of the Great Tapestry of Scotland- and he still finds time to write! Formerly Director of The Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Director of Programmes for Scottish Television, Alistair Moffat is now a regular BBC Radio 4 and television broadcaster and presenter. His non-fiction books have a huge UK and international following. He is in high demand as a speaker for events all over the UK. AboutThe Scots: A Genetic Journey: History has always mattered to Scots, and rarely more so than now at the outset of a new century, after more than ten years of a new parliament and the new census of 2011. An almost limitless archive of our history lies hidden inside our bodies and we carry the ancient story of Scotland around with us. The mushrooming of genetic studies, of DNA analysis, is rewriting our history in spectacular fashion. In this new edition of The Scots: A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat explores the history that is printed on our genes, and in a remarkable new approach, uncovers the detail of where we are from, who we are and, in so doing, vividly paints a DNA map of Scotland. This edition takes into account recent developments in DNA science and includes recent findings on early farming and its migrations, Neanderthal DNA, the classic Celtic DNA Y chromosome haplogroup, the royal Stewart lineages, and physical characteristics.
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About Britain: A Genetic Journey: Based on exciting new research involving the largest sampling of DNA ever made in Britain, Alistair Moffat, shows how all of us who live on these islands are immigrants. In an epic narrative, sometimes moving, sometimes astonishing, always revealing, Moffat writes an entirely new history of Britain. Instead of a parade of the usual suspects– kings, queens, saints, warriors and the notorious – this is a people’s history, a narrative made from stories only DNA can tell which offers insights into who we are and where we come from. About The Reivers : As a consequence of near-constant conflict between England and Scotland in the 14th-16th centuries, Borderers suffered at the hands of marauding armies, who ravaged the land, destroying crops, slaughtering cattle, burning settlements and killing indiscriminately. Forced by extreme circumstances, many Borderers took to reiving to ensure the survival of their families and communities, and for the best part of 300 years, countless raiding parties made their way over the border. The story of the Reivers is one of survival, stealth, treachery, ingenuity and deceit, expertly brought to life in Alistair Moffat’s acclaimed book.
www.alistairmoffat.co.uk
About The Wall: Hadrian’s Wall is one of the most spectacular historical monuments in Britain. Nothing else approaches its vast scale. Built by more than 30,000 soldiers and labourers, the Wall consisted of more than 24 million stones, giving it a mass greater than all the Egyptian pyramids put together. At least a million people visit Hadrian’s Wall each year and it has been designated a World Heritage Site. In this book, based on literary and historical sources as well as the latest archaeological research, Alistair Moffat considers who built the Wall, how it was built, why it was built and how it affected the people who lived in its mighty shadow. Praise for Alistair Moffat: ‘A most compelling, thought-provoking and entertaining history’ – Rosemary Goring, The Herald ‘A fascinating picture’ – James Naughtie, BBC Radio 4 ‘Alistair gave a brilliant talk...he’s such a nice person and everyone enjoyed themselves’ - The Moffat Bookshop
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MALACHY TALLACK ‘Tallack is one of a burgeoning group of young travel writers...who have reinvigorated their increasingly tired genre with elements of psychogeography: the study of how places make us feel.’ - Will Self, The Guardian Oct 2016: The Un-discovered Islands June 2016: Sixty Degrees North: Around the World in Search of Home (pbk) Who is Malachy Tallack? Malachy Tallack is a writer and musician who has recently been awarded the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, and the New Writers Award from the Scottish Book Trust. As a singer-songwriter he has released four albums and an EP, and performed in venues across the UK. Author based: Glasgow Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Dundee Literary Festival, Stanfords Travel Writing Festival, multiple bookshop events Live Literature Funded: Yes
Meet the Illustrator
Malachy has spent most of his life in Shetland, but has also travelled and lived in many places around the world, including several years on Fair Isle. Malachy is frequently invited to literary festivals and book events across the UK. His events often include a musical element, ranging from A Capella singing in Shetland dialect, to country & western songs on the guitar. Highlight events have included performing to sell out audiences at EIBF & Cheltenham Literature Festival.
KATIE SCOTT Malachy’s words will be accompanied in the book by glorious full-colour illustrations by Katie Scott, who has previously worked with the New York Times, Kew Gardens and the BBC. She is the illustrator of the beautiful Animalium and the forthcoming Botanicum.
Illustrator based: London Willing to travel: UK and beyond. Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, schools and libraries, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
About The Un-discovered Islands: The oceans of the world are filled with places seen once and then never again; places born in myth and mystery. These islands have not been lost to rising seas or earthquakes. These islands are human in origin, the products of imagination and error- phantoms, fakes and legends. Gathered in the book are two dozen islands once believed to be real but no longer on the map. These are the products of imagination, deception and simple human error. They are phantoms and fakes: an archipelago of ex-isles and forgotten lands. From the well-known story of Atlantis to more obscure tales from around the globe; from ancient history right up to the present day. This is an atlas of legend and wonder, of places discovered and then un-discovered. About Sixty Degrees North: The sixtieth parallel marks the border between North and South. Malachy explores the places that share this latitude, beginning and ending in Shetland, where he has spent most of his life. Sixty Degrees North is also a deeply personal book, which begins with the author’s loss of his father and his troubled relationship with Shetland. Informed by the journeys travelled it moves towards a kind of resolution: an acceptance of loss, and ultimately a love of the place Tallack calls ‘home’. Praise for Un-Discovered Islands: ‘This is a splendid and wistful book’ – The Spectator ‘One of the best new travel books’ – The Guardian
3. Sarah Ann Island
1. Atlantis
4. Lemuria or
2. The Island of Buss
Kumari Kandam
NICK PERRY October 2016: Peaks & Troughs BBC RADIO 2 FACT NOT FICTION BOOKCLUB AUTUMN 2016 Who is Nick Perry? Nick Perry spent his childhood in Dorset, out in the countryside daydreaming most of the time. He was educated at Parkstone Sea Training School before leaving for London where he worked for ATV Television. He travelled around Europe moving from job to job until he came into money. On impulse he bought a hill farm in North Wales, some experiences of which form the backdrop to Peaks and Troughs. He lives with his wife Arabella in the Wiltshire countryside where he spends his time writing, walking and listening to classical music. Author based: Wiltshire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Aye Write Festival Live Literature Funded: No
About Peaks &Troughs: The Good Life meets Withnail and I in this funny nostalgic memoir. As 1970 dawns Jack, brother Nick and his family set off from swinging London to fulfil their dream of living off the land in the wild unforgiving hills of North Wales. They know nothing of farming or what battles lie ahead with the weather and their neighbours, or the ingenuity needed to survive. But armed with the Farmer’s Weekly and protected by their youthful idealism and sense of the ridiculous they begin their adventure. Peaks and Troughs is a warm-hearted, humorous and inspirational tale of life in all its drama – birth, death, tragedy, comedy, disappointment and hope – with the star player being one Rattlerow King David the 57th, a prize boar whose prodigious sex drive literally saves Nick’s bacon. Will appeal to readers of Peter Mayle, James Herriot and shepherd James Rebanks. Praise for Peaks & Troughs “Beatifully written...very warm hearted”
www.polygonbooks.co.uk
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- Jonathan Ross
CHRISTOPHER FLEET, CHARLES WITHERS & MARGARET WILKES October 2016:
Scotland: Mapping the Islands
Also available: Edinburgh: Mapping the City (2014); Scotland: Mapping the Nation (2011) Who are the authors? Chris Fleet is Senior Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland. In 2010 he was awarded both the Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and its Bartholomew Globe for excellence in the assembly, delivery and application of geographical information through cartography, GIS and related techniques. Professor Charles Withers is the Geographer Royal for Scotland, and the Ogilvie Chair of Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests centre on the historical geography of science, in the Enlightenment and in the nineteenth century, in travel and exploration, the history of cartography, and the history of the book. Margaret Wilkes is Convener of the Collections Committee of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and one of its Board of Directors. About Scotland: Mapping the Islands: Scotland’s many islands hold an extraordinary fascination, not least for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who land on them each year. Maps too fascinate, as objects of visual delight and historical importance, and as a means to represent and understand landscapes.
Authors based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: British Science Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Dundee Literary Festival, National Library of Scotland, Wigtown Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
This stimulating and informative book reproduces some of the most beautiful and historically significant maps from the National Library of Scotland’s magnificent collection in order to explore the many dimensions of island life and how this has changed over time. Arranged thematically and covering topics such as population, place-names, defence, civic improvement, natural resources, navigation, and leisure and tourism, Scotland: Mapping the Islands presents the rich and diverse story of Scottish islands from the earliest maps to the most up-todate techniques of digital mapping in a unique and imaginative way. Praise for Scotland: Mapping the Islands: ‘A triumph of a book’
– Alexander McCall Smith
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EILIDH MULDOON July 2017: The Hebridean Colouring Book March 2017: The Colouring Book of Edinburgh April 2016: The Colouring Book of Scotland Who is Eilidh Muldoon? Eilidh Muldoon studied Art History and gained an MFA in Illustration from Edinburgh College of Art in June 2013, where she is currently Illustrator in Residence. She is also a freelance artist and illustrator whose work has appeared in prints, greetings cards and giftware. Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes
About The Colouring Book of Edinburgh: A unique Scottish colouring book suitable for adults as well as children. Eilidh Muldoon’s illustrations are ideal for all levels of colouring – plenty of intricate detail for those who like a colouring challenge, yet simple enough for those with less patience to create beautiful colour artwork in a short time. Featuring 23 of the festival city’s most iconic places, including: Edinburgh Castle • Victoria Street • Grassmarket • St Giles • National Museum of Scotland • The Mound and Ramsay Gardens • Calton Hill • Old Town • Usher Hall • Balmoral Hotel • Scott Monument and Princes Street Gardens • West Register House • Holyrood Palace • HMS Britannia • Ocean Terminal & Botanic Gardens • New Town • Dean Village • Arthur’s Seat • Scottish Parliament • Zoo • Greyfriars Bobby • The Shore, Leith • The Meadows
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About The Colouring Book of Scotland: This is the first colouring book dedicated to the beautiful landscapes and landmarks of Scotland, and is sure to be popular with locals and visitors as well as everyone who enjoys the calming qualities and artistry of colouring. Suitable for adults as well as children, the book features 20 of the country’s most iconic places, including: Edinburgh Castle • Forth Rail Bridge • St Andrews • HMS Discovery, Dundee • Balmoral castle • Loch Ness/Urquart Castle • Dunrobin Castle, Stromness, Orkney • Skara Brae • Callanish standing stones • Lews Castle, Lewis • Highland Games • Eilean Donan • DuartCastle, Mull • Tobermory, Skye • Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow • Caerlaverlock Castle • Abbotsford House • Melrose Abbey • Rosslyn Chapel • Falkirk Wheel • Stirling Castle • Edinburgh Christmas Market About The Hebridean Colouring Book: The Hebrides contain some of Scotland’s most breathtaking scenery, magnificent castles, picturesque villages and towns, as well as numerous monuments and other features of interest. In this book, suitable for adults and children alike, Eilidh Muldoon presents 31 of the most iconic Hebridean places. Places featured include: St Clements Churh, Rodel, Harris • Dun Carloway • Ness Harbour, Lewis Gearranish Blackhouse towship, Lewis • Kissimul, Barra • Dunvegan, Skye • Eilean Iarmain (pier and hotel) Skye • Neist Point and Lighthouse, Skye • Talisker, Cuillins, Skye • Kinloch Castle, Rum • Sgurr of Eigg • Muck Harbour • Breacacha Castle Coll • Iona Abbey• Staffa Treshnish/Clac Guairidh ruined townships Mull, Tobermory • Lip na Cloiche Garden, Mull • Bowmore, Islay • Bruichladdich, Islay • Barnhill, Jura • Oronsay Priory • Scalasaig, Colonsay • Kiloranm House and Gardens Colonsay • Achamore Gardens, Gigha • Oban and Ferries • St Kilda •
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ALAN TAYLOR November 2017:
Appointment in Arezzo: My Life with Muriel Spark
September 2016:
Glasgow: The Autobiography
Who is Alan Taylor? Alan Taylor has been a journalist for over 30 years. He was deputy and managing editor at The Scotsman, and for the last 15 years has been Writer-at-Large for the Sunday Herald. He has contributed to numerous publications, including The TLS, The New Yorker and The Melbourne Age, and edited three acclaimed anthologies – The Assassin’s Cloak (2000), The Secret Annexe (2004) and The Country Dairies (2009). Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: British Science Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Dundee Literary Festival, National Library of Scotland Live Literature Funded: No
About Appointment in Arezzo: This book is an intimate, fond and funny memoir of one of the greatest novelists of the last century. This colourful, personal, anecdotal, indiscrete and admiring memoir charts the course of Muriel Spark’s life revealing her as she really was. Once, she commented sitting over a glass of chianti at the kitchen table, that she was upset that the academic whom she had appointed her official biographer did not appear to think that she had ever cracked a joke in her life. Alan Taylor here sets the record straight about this and many other things. With sources ranging from notebooks kept from his very first encounter with Muriel and the hundreds of letters they exchanged over the years, this is an invaluable portrait of one of Edinburgh’s premiere novelists. The book will be published to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Muriel’s birth in 2018. About Glasgow: The Autobiography: Glasgow: The Autobiography tells the story of the fabled, former Second City of the British Empire from its origins as a bucolic village on the rivers Kelvin and Clyde, through the Industrial Revolution to the dawning of the second millennium. Arranged chronologically and introduced by journalist and Glasgowphile Alan Taylor, the book includes extracts from an astonishing array of writers. Some, such as William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Dirk Bogarde and Evelyn Waugh, were visitors and left their vivid impressions as they passed through on. Many others were born and bred Glaswegians who knew the city and its inhabitants intimately. They come from every walk of life. Together they present a varied and vivid portrait of one of the world’s great cities in all its grime and glory - a place which as at once infuriating, frustrating, inspiring, beguiling, sensational and never, ever dull.
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SHEILA SZATKOWSKI June 2017: Enlightenment Edinburgh: A Guide Also available: Capital Caricatures: A Selection of Etchings by John Kay (2007) Who is Sheila Szatkowski? Sheila Szatkowski is a writer and historian based in Edinburgh. Her interest in the Scottish Enlightenment began at Edinburgh University under the tutelage of George E. Davie, philosopher and author of The Democratic Intellect. She is currently completing a biography on thelife and unpublished works of John Kay (1742-1826). About Enlightenment Edinburgh: During the 18th century, Edinburgh was the intellectual hub of the Western world. Adam Smith, David Hume, Dugald Stewart and Adam Ferguson delivered their diverse tomes on philosophy and political economy. Others such as James Hutton, Joseph Black, Lord Hailes, Sir John Clerk of Eldin and Robert Adam pushed ahead with new discoveries and ideas in the fields of science, medicine, law and architecture. If Edinburgh was the beating heart of this Scottish Enlightenment then its physical embodiment was the New Town and the great civic improvements in the old medieval city. In this informative and highly illustrated guide Sheila Szatkowski introduces the noteworthy buildings and people of 18th and early 19th-century Edinburgh.
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
It is a book about people and places, clubs and conversations, and a celebration of how topography and cultural achievement came together to create the great enlightenment city that is Edinburgh.
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ANGUS ROXBURGH October 2017:
Moscow Calling
Who is Angus Roxburgh? Angus Roxburgh studied Russian and German at Aberdeen University. A distinguished journalist and broadcaster, he was Sunday Times Moscow correspondent (1987-89), BBC Moscow correspondent (1991-97) and BBC Europe correspondent (1998-2005). From 2006-2009 he was media consultant at the Kremlin, and is now a freelance writer and journalist. He is the author of the acclaimed The Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the Struggle for Russia and was consultant on the award-winning BBC documentaries, The Second Russian Revolution, and Putin, Russia and the West.
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to Travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
About Moscow Calling: In Moscow Calling Roxburgh presents his Russia – not the Russia of news reports, but a quirky, crazy, exasperating, beautiful, tumultuous world that in forty years has changed completely, and yet not at all. From the dark, fearful days of communism and his adventures as a correspondent as the Soviet Union collapsed into chaos, to his frustrated attempts as a media consultant to teach Putin’s Kremlin about democracy, this is a unique, fascinating and at times humorous insight into a country that today, more than ever, is of global political significance. This is a book which features the human stories behind the big political events that have shaped Russia over the last four decades.
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CRAIG MURRAY August 2016: Sikunder Burnes: Master of the Great Game Who is Craig Murray? Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human rights activist. He was a member of the British Diplomatic Service for 20 years, British Ambassador to Uzbekistan 2002–2004 and Rector of the University of Dundee 2007– 2010. About Sikunder Burnes: This is an astonishing true tale of espionage, journeys in disguise, secret messages, double agents, assassinations and sexual intrigue.
Author based: Argyll Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Waterstones Oban, Cruachan Visitor Centre Live Literature Funded: No
Alexander Burnes was one of the most accomplished spies Britain ever produced and the main antagonist of the Great Game as Britain strove with Russia for control of Central Asia and the routes to the Raj. There are many lessons for the present day in this tale of the folly of invading Afghanistan and Anglo-Russian tensions in the Caucasus. Murray’s meticulous study has unearthed original manuscripts from Montrose to Mumbai to put together a detailed study of how British secret agents operated in India. The story of Burnes’ life has a cast of extraordinary figures, including Queen Victoria, King William IV, Earl Grey, Benjamin Disraeli, Lola Montez, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. Among the unexpected discoveries are that Alexander and his brother James invented the myths about the Knights Templars and Scottish Freemasons which are the foundation of the Da Vinci Code; and that the most famous nineteenthcentury scholar of Afghanistan was a double agent for Russia.
Praise for Sikunder Burnes: ‘Murray’s book is a terrific read. He has done full justice to the life of a remarkable British hero, without ignoring his faults’
– Daily Mail
‘If you are a fan of the Flashman series of books, you will be gripped by the story of this British spy’
–The Sun
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JAMES MILLER May 2017:
The Finest Road in the World: The Story of Travel and Transport in the Scottish Highlands
Also available: The Dam Builders; The Gathering Stream; Scapa; The Foresters Who is James Miller? Jim is a freelance writer and author of several books. He has written fiction, drama and poetry but in recent years his focus has been on non-fiction and some feature journalism. His range of interests is very wide but prominent among the themes are topics relating to Highland and Scottish history, and the environment. Author based: Inverness Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore and external events and festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: Yes
About The Finest Road in the World: Trains and stagecoaches stuck in the snow, wild storms driving sailing ships off course, traffic pile-ups on so-called ‘killer’ highways – stories abound about the horrors of travel in the Highlands and Islands, and have done for as far as the records go back. James Miller tells the dramatic and sometimes surprisingly humorous story of travel and transport in the Highlands. Some of the figures in the story are familiar – General George Wade, Thomas Telford and Joseph Mitchell among them – but there are a host of others too, including the intrepid Lady Sarah Murray, who offered sound advice for travellers (‘Provide yourself with a strong roomy carriage, and have the springs well corded’). This thought-provoking book will appeal to all who like stories of travel and transport, and are interested in how changing modes of transport have affected the ways of life in the Highlands and remain crucial to the modern life and the future of the region.
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PAUL MURTON July 2017:
The Hebrides
Who is Paul Murton? Paul Murton is well known as a documentary film maker whose work includes Grand Tours of Scotland and Grand Tours of the Scottish Islands (4 series). He grew up in rural Argyll and has been an inveterate traveller since his teenage years. He has spent half a lifetime exploring some of the most beautiful islands in the world – the Hebrides, travelling the length and breadth of the Scotland’s rugged, six-thousand-mile coast line, and sailing to over eighty islands. About The Hebrides:
Author based: Aberfoyle Willing to Travel: Anywhere in the Uk and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Live Literature Funded: No
In this book Paul visits each of the Hebridean islands in turn, introducing their myths and legends, history, culture and extraordinary natural beauty. In addition he also meets the people who live there and learns their story. He has met crofters, fishermen, tweed weavers, Gaelic singers, clan chiefs, artists, postmen and bus drivers – people from every walk of life who make the islands tick. This blend of the contemporary and the traditional creates a vivid account of the Hebrides and serves as unique guide to the less wellknown aspects of life among the islands.
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ALAN MCKIRDY April 2017: June 2017:
Cairngorms: Landscapes in Stone Edinburgh: Landscapes in Stone Mull, Iona & Ardnamurchan in Stone Argyll & the Islands in Stone
Also available: Arran: Landscapes in Stone; Skye: Landscapes in Stone; Set in Stone (2015); Land of Mountain and Flood (pbk) (2009); Land of Mountain and Flood (hbk) (2007)
Author based: Perthshire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, MV Festival, Perth Museum, Skye Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Alan McKirdy? Alan McKirdy has edited and written many popular books on geology and has contributed to a number of TV and radio programmes. The Landscapes in Stone series explain how Scotland’s scenery was made, why it looks the way it does today and how it has changed over millions of years. The series is written for the non-specialist and features stunning photographs and exploratory diagrams. About Cairngorms: Landscapes in Stone: The geology of the Cairngorms was created on a timeline that stretches back hundreds of millions of years. Although the area has been heavily glaciated it still boasts 18 Munros and attracts climbers, walkers and assorted adventurers who want to pit themselves against some of the most challenging conditions to be found anywhere in the UK. About Edinburgh: Landscapes in Stone: This book is a fascinating exploration into Edinburgh’s geological history over millions of years, including the passage of ice that has left an indelible stamp on Edinburgh’s cityscape and the use of rocks quarried locally from long-disappeared seas to create the stunning elegance of Edinburgh’s New Town. About Mull, Iona & Arnamurchan: Alan McKirdy explores the fascinating geology of the area – in particular the eruption of two major volcanoes around 60 million years ago whose magma chambers formed the spectacular hills and glens of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and Glen More on Mull. About Argyll & the Islands: Argyll and the islands that lie off from the west coast of the Kintyre are some of the most historically resonant places in Scotland. But the rocks beneath tell a story of an even more ancient world that stretches back billions of years. Praise for Land of Mountain and Flood:
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‘Big and beautifully illustrated, this book is rigorous yet lucid, and written with patriotic pride - a work of more than scientific importance, *****’ – Scotsman
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MARK MULLER STUART May 2017:
Storm in the Desert: British Intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring
Who is Mark Muller Stuart? Mark Muller Stuart is Founder of Beyond Borders Scotland. He is a senior advocate at Doughty Street Chambers in London and the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, where he specialises in public international law, criminal, terrorism and human rights related litigation. He also regularly advises numerous international bodies on humanitarian and conflict resolution laws. Since 2005 he has acted as a Senior Advisor to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Beyond Conflict and InterMediate. Author based: Scottish Borders Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Beyond Borders Festival, TedX Glasgow Live Literature Funded: No
As an advocate and mediator he has appeared before various UN, OSCE, EU, and Council of Europe bodies including before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. About Storm in the Desert: In this remarkable book, Mark Muller tells the story of British intervention in Libya and the Arab Spring from a unique civil society standpoint: he was there in Benghazi two weeks after the UN No-Fly Zone Resolution was passed, meeting with Rebel leaders to discuss how Western civil society might help them stabilise the country and resolve difficult legacy issues such as victim claims over Lockerbie and the supply of IRA Semtex. In an age when Western governments have become risk averse and distrusted in the Middle East, Muller documents how non-state mediators, non-governmental organisations, journalists, artists and like-minded diplomats, such as assassinated US Ambassador Chris Stevens, explore ways to support democratic movements and promote human rights in one of the world’s most turbulent regions. Storm in the Desert describes a dramatic story of revolution but also the murky but sometimes inspiring role successive British governments have played in trying to contain conflict in the region. It gives a unique insight into the world of diplomacy and power politics and the way they impact upon ordinary human lives, suggesting that it is civil society not government that ultimately stabilises countries and unearths the truth about conflict and the ill-treatment of civilians at the hand of state forces.
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FICTION
GREGORY DOWLING July 2017:
The Four Horsemen
Also available: Ascension (2015) Who is Gregory Dowling? Gregory Dowling grew up in Bristol before studying English at Christ Church, Oxford where he obtained a First Class Degree. He moved to Venice in 1981, where he is Associate Professor of American Literature at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Gregory has published four novels, co-edited two anthologies of poetry and written various non-fiction books and academic articles. He is non-fiction editor for the journal Able Muse and editor of the British section of the Italian poetry-journal Semicerchio, and wrote for Time Out Guide to Venice. About The Four Horsemen: After reluctant spy Alvise Marangon is arrested in a tavern brawl, he is summoned to meet the Missier Grande, head of the city’s powerful secret service. Rather than being expelled from the city, he is coerced into a top-secret investigation of the mysterious death of one of the service’s agents and the existence of a mysterious secret society. Formed by four rakish noblemen, it is known as the Four Horsemen and dates back to the Ottoman Empire. As Alvise delves into the case, he finds all the hallmarks of assassination and corruption, and is soon profoundly out of his depth and on the run.
Author based: Venice Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
Praise for Ascension: ‘Blends a laconic, amused style informed by American detective literature with a profound knowledge of Venetian geography and history. Stylish, clever and gripping’ – The Times, Historical Fiction Book of the Month ‘Alvise is a terrific character, the murder mystery is absorbingly ingenious and, if you are a sucker for Venice, the sights, sounds and smells of its streets and canals ooze up from the page’ – Daily Mail
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JAN-PHILIPP SENDKER The creator of international best-seller, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Jan Philipp’s books have sold 2 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into over 30 languages. September 2016: Dragon Games Also available: Whispering Shadows; A Well-Tempered Heart; The Art of Hearing Heartbeats
Author based: Berlin Willing to travel: Anywhere in the world Happy to do: Bookstores and external events, festivals large and small. Recent Events: Extensive US and European tours, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Goethe Institute Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Jan-Philipp Sendker? Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. He lives in Berlin with his family. In 2000 he published Cracks in the Great Wall, a non-fiction book about China. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was his first novel and is already a bestseller in several European countries and the USA, selling over 400,000 copies in Germany alone. A film is in pre-production. About Whispering Shadows: In the wake of his hugely popular Art of Hearing Heartbeats series, Sendker has embarked upon an even more ambitious series of novels set in modern day China. After spending many years in Hong Kong as a foreign correspondent for Stern, Jan-Philipp developed a fascination with the city and China, returning to visit on many occasions to research his subject. In the first of these novels, Whispering Shadows, a moving love story fused with a tense suspense thriller, he so effectively creates the backdrop, so graphically describes the locations that you imagine yourself there. Whispering Shadows tells the story of Paul Leibovitz, an ambitious advisor, dedicated father, and loving husband. But after living for nearly thirty years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul’s marriage unravels in the fallout. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than twenty-four hours later, Elizabeth’s son is found dead in Shenzhen, and Paul, invigorated by a newfound purpose, sets out to investigate the murder on his own. As Paul, Elizabeth, and a detective friend descend deeper into the Shenzhen underworld they discover dark secrets hidden beneath China’s booming new wealth. In a country where rich businessmen with expensive degrees can corrupt the judicial system, the potential for evil abounds.
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About Dragon Games: In his new novel, Dragon Games, Sendker picks up the story with his two protagonists and delves deeper into Chinese life and culture. We learn the details of Christine’s dark family history which is mired in the horrors and iniquities of Mao’s cultural revolution and now her brother and his wife who are living in rural China are victims of a very modern ecological scandal that is just as terrifying as past atrocities. About The Art of Hearing Heartbeats: A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will change her life once more. About A Well-Tempered Heart : Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father’s native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads. One day, in the middle of an important business meeting, she hears a stranger’s voice in her head. In the following days, her crisis only deepens. Not only does the female voice refuse to disappear, but it starts to ask questions Julia has been trying to avoid. Interwoven with Julia’s story is that of a Burmese woman named Nu Nu who finds her world turned upside down when Burma goes to war and calls on her two young sons to be child soldiers. This spirited novel explores the most inspiring and passionate terrain: the human heart. Praise for Jan-Philipp Sendker events: ‘Every event we’ve had with Jan Philipp has exceeded our expectations, both in sales and attendance...once you experience one of Jan Phillip’s events you can see why his fans are willing to go to such length to see him in person. From the beginning of the event he holds the audience in his hand and commands their attention with ease’ - McLean and Eakin Booksellers, Michigan ‘His books are mesmerizing, and meeting him and listening to him speak adds to the wonderment. Sendker is a particularly good speaker. He knows what to talk about and how to answer questions in a way that not only satisfies the asker but also invites more interest’ - The Bookmark Bookshop, Florida
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DENZIL MEYRICK ‘Touches of dark humour, multi-layered and compelling’ – Daily Record April 2017: Well of the Winds Also available: Whisky from Small Glasses, Dark Suits and Sad Songs,The Last Witness; Rat Stone Serenade
Author based: West Dunbartonshire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Spirit of Moray Book Festival, Tidelines Book Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Granite Noir Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Denzil Meyrick? Denzil Meyrick served in Strathclyde Police Force in Glasgow during the 1990s, when the Scottish city was the murder capital of Europe. He encountered the violence and danger of Glasgow’s criminal underworld first-hand, and after leaving the police due to injury, used his experience to inform his gripping DCI Daley thriller series. His books have sold over 145,000 copies worldwide, and he is in increasing demand at book festivals and book shop events across the country. About Well of the Winds: As WWII nears its end, a man is stabbed to death on the shoreline of Kinloch, in the shadow of the great warships in the harbour. Many years later, the postman on Gairsay, a tiny island off the coast of Kintyre, discovers that the Bremner family are missing from their farm. There’s a pot on the stove and food on the table, but of the Bremners there is no sign. When DCI Daley comes into possession of a journal written by his wartime predecessor in Kinloch, Inspector William Urquhart, he soon realises that the Isle of Gairsay has many secrets. Assisted by his indomitable deputy, DS Brian Scott, and new boss, Chief Superintendent Carrie Symington, Daley must solve a wartime murder to uncover the shocking events of the past and the present. About Rat Stone Serenade: It’s December, and the Shannon family are returning home to their clifftop mansion near Kinloch for their annual AGM. Shannon International is one of the world’s biggest private companies, with tendrils reaching around the globe in computing, banking and mineral resourcing, and it has brought untold wealth and privilege to the family. However, a century ago Archibald Shannon stole the land upon which he built their home – and his descendants have been cursed ever since. When heavy snow cuts off Kintyre, DCI Jim Daley and DS Brian Scott are assigned to protect their illustrious visitors. As an ancient society emerges from the blizzards, and its creation, the Rat Stone, reveals grisly secrets, ghosts of the past come to haunt the Shannons. As the curse decrees, death is coming – but for whom and from what?
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About Dark Suits and Sad Songs: When a senior Edinburgh civil servant spectacularly takes his own life in Kinloch harbour, DCI Jim Daley comes face to face with the murky world of politics. To add to his woes, two local drug dealers lie dead, ritually assassinated. It’s clear that dark forces are at work in the town. With his boss under investigation, his marriage hanging on by a thread, and his sidekick DS Scott wrestling with his own demons, Daley’s world is in meltdown. When strange lights appear in the sky over Kinloch, it becomes clear that the townsfolk are not the only people at risk. The fate of nations is at stake. Jim Daley must face his worst fears as tragedy strikes. This is not just about a successful investigation, it’s about survival. About The Last Witness: James Machie was a man with a genius for violence, his criminal empire spreading beyond Glasgow into the UK and mainland Europe. Fortunately, James Machie is dead, assassinated in the back of a prison ambulance following his trial and conviction. But now, five years later, he is apparently back from the grave, set on avenging himself on those who brought him down. Top of his list is his previous associate, Frank MacDougall, who unbeknownst to D.C.I. Jim Daley, is living under protection on his lochside patch, the small Scottish town of Kinloch. Daley knows that, having been the key to Machie’s conviction, his old friend and colleague D.S. Scott is almost as big a target. And nothing, not even death, has ever stood in James Machie’s way . . . About Whisky from Small Glasses: When the body of a young woman is washed up on an idyllic beach on the west coast of Scotland, D.C.I. Jim Daley is despatched from Glasgow to lead the investigation. Far from home, and his troubled marriage, it seems that Daley’s biggest obstacle will be managing the difficult local police chief; but when the prime suspect is gruesomely murdered, the inquiry begins to stall. As the body count rises, Daley uncovers a network of secrets and corruption in the closeknit community of Kinloch, thrusting him and his loved ones into the centre of a case more deadly than he had ever imagined. The first novel in the D.C.I. Daley Thriller series, Whisky from Small Glasses is a truly compelling crime novel, shot through with dark humour and menace. Praise for the DCI Daley series: ‘Tartan noir continues to flourish . . . just the right amount of authenticity . . . gritty writing . . . most memorable’ – The Herald ‘simultaneously dark and funny’ – Scottish Field
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SHIRLEY MCKAY September 2017: 1588: A Calendar of Crime (pbk) Queen & Country (pbk) June 2017: Friend & Foe (pbk) Time & Tide (pbk) February 2017: Fate & Fortune (pbk) Hue & Cry (pbk) October 2016: 1588: A Calendar of Crime (hbk) Also available: Queen and Country; Friend & Foe (2014); Time & Tide (2015); Fate & Fortune (2011); Hue & Cry (2010) Author based: Fife Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Bloody Scotland, Inverness Book Festival, Skye Book Festival, Newcastle Festival, various bookstores. Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Shirley McKay? Shirley McKay was born in Tynemouth but now lives with her family in Fife. At the age of fifteen she won the Young Observer playwriting competition. She went on to study English and Linguistics at the University of St Andrews before attending Durham University for postgraduate study in Romantic and seventeenth-century prose. She was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. Shirley works as a freelance proofreader. About 1588: Set in the year of the Armada, 1588: A Calendar of Crime brings together five eBook exclusive short stories featuring Hew Cullan, together with Frances, Giles, Meg and other characters from the Hew Cullan series. From the gruesome murder of a candlemaker to Spanish ghosts on Hallowmas, Shirley McKay delivers five gripping tales of mystery that will keep you reading long into the night. The stories were released throughout the year as stand alone eBooks before being gathered into the Calendar of Crime anthology. Stories include: Candlemas. ‘The Crackling House’ Whitsunday. ‘Visitation’ Lammas. ‘Golden Lads’ Martinmas. ‘Dead Spaniard’ Yule. ‘The Keeping of Christmas’ Praise for Shirley McKay: ‘A gripping mystery that holds the reader to the very last page, and a marvellous portrait of St Andrews in the sixteenth century’ – John Burnside ‘Intoxicating mix of dramatic crime and repressed passion’ -New Books
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SANDRA IRELAND September 2016: Beneath the Skin Who is Sandra Ireland? Sandra Ireland began her writing career as a correspondent on a local newspaper but quickly realised that fiction is much more intriguing than fact. In 2013 Sandra was awarded a Carnegie- Cameron scholarship to study for an MLitt in Writing Practice and Study at the University of Dundee, graduating with a distinction in 2014. Her work has appeared in various publications and women’s magazines. She is currently writing her second novel, another psychological thriller. About Beneath the Skin: Taking a job in the studio of an Edinburgh taxidermist probably isn’t Walt’s wisest decision. Suffering from combat stress and struggling to outrun the demons from his past, he now finds himself confronted by the undead on a daily basis. His boss Alys and her sister Mouse are sharing a secret that is threatening to destroy them. When Mouse’s eight-yearold son disappears, can Walt find the strength for one more battle and finally lay the past to rest? Deliciously disturbing, this psychological thriller peels back the skin of one modern family to reveal the wounds no one wants to see. It deals with the effects of trauma and how facing up to vulnerability is sometimes the only way to let go of the past.
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Dundee Literature Festival Live Literature Funded: No
Praise for Beneath the Skin: ‘Ireland writes about powerful and troubling subjects and shows how the past can have devastating consequences’ – Daily Mail
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ANGUS MACDONALD September 2016: Ardnish Was Home: A Novel Who is Angus MacDonald: Angus MacDonald has lived all his life in the Highlands and is steeped in the folklore. Angus served in the local regiment, the Queen’s Own Highlanders, before building a financial publishing company that was sold in 2007. He now has businesses in recycling, renewables and education, and runs the Moidart Trust, a charitable organisation that helps people to develop companies in the West Highlands. Authors based: Argyl/Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Write Highland Hoolie (Mallaig) Live Literature Funded: No
About Ardnish Was Home: Young Donald Peter Gillies, a Lovat scout soldier lies in hospital in Gallipoli in 1916, blinded by the Turks. There he falls in love with his Queen Alexandra Corps nurse, Louise, and she with him. The story moves back and forth from their time at the field hospital to the west highlands of Scotland where Donald grew up. As they talk in the quiet hours he tells her the stories of the coast and glens, how his family lived and the fascinating life of a century ago: bagpiping, sheep shearing, celidhs, illegal distilling, his mother saving the life of the people of St Kilda, the navvies building the west highland railway and the relationship between the lairds and the people. Louise in turn tells her own story of growing up in the Welsh valley: coal mining, a harsh and unforgiving upbringing. They get cut off from the allied troops and with another nurse are forced to make their escape through Turkey to Greece, getting rescued by a Coptic priest and ending up in Malta. By this time their love is out in the open, but there is still another tragic twist to their story waitingon the way back to Donald’s beloved highland home... Praise for Ardnish Was Home: ‘a genuine portrait of a time gone forever . . . a very good read’ – Rosamunde Pilcher ‘This is a book that is truly enthralling - brutal, poetic, unjust but beautiful… kept me captivated throughout and left wanting more at the end’ – The Bookbag
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‘a fast-paced narrative with deeply likeable characters … far more than yet another wartime love story … impossible to put down’ – Scottish Field
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JANE MENCZER May 2017: An Unlikely Agent Who is Jane Menczer? Jane Menczer lives in Cambridgeshire and is a school teacher. An Unlikely Agent is her debut novel. In 2006, she received an Escalator award from the New Writing Partnership and in 2007 she was awarded Arts Council funding to support the writing and researching of An Unlikely Agent. Her eye for historical detail and ear for the authenticity of period mark her out as a major talent. About An Unlikely Agent: London, 1905. Margaret Trant lives with her ailing, irascible mother in a dreary boarding house in St John’s Wood. The pair have fallen on hard times, with only Margaret’s meagre salary from a ramshackle import-export company keeping them afloat. When a stranger on the tram hands her a newspaper open at the recruitment page, Margaret spots an advertisement that promises to ‘open new horizons beyond your wildest dreams!’. After a gruelling interview, she finds herself in a new position as a secretary in a dingy backstreet shop. But all is not as it seems; she is in fact working for a highly secret branch of the intelligence service, Bureau 8, whose mission is to track down and neutralise a ruthless band of anarchists known as the Scorpions.
Author based: Cambridgeshire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
Margaret’s guilty love of detective fiction scarcely prepares her for the reality of true criminality, and her journey of self-discovery forms the heart of this remarkable novel, as she discovers in herself resourcefulness, courage, independence and the first stirrings of love.
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SHEENA KALAYIL June 2017: The Bureau of Second Chances Who is Sheena Kalayil? Sheena Kalayil was born in Zambia in 1970 where her parents were teachers seconded from India. She arrived in the UK aged eighteen and, after graduating, worked all over the world in countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Slovenia and Spain. She now teaches at the University of Manchester and is currently writing up her PhD in Linguistics with Lancaster University. She lives near Manchester with her husband and two daughters.
Author based: Manchester Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
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About The Bureau of Second Chances: After more than thirty years in London, recently widowed Thomas Imbalil returns to India. He spends his first months in uncluttered isolation in his house overlooking the Arabian Sea, in a small village in Kerala. But when he agrees to look after his friend’s optical store, he meets and befriends Rani, the young assistant. Before long he discovers that Rani is using the store to run an intriguing side-business. He agrees to turn a blind eye, but the discovery has made him restless, and reminds him of the loneliness he is feeling and which lies ahead of him. Rani also reveals herself as a much more complex individual than he had first imagined, and while he had envisaged a quiet reacquaintance with his homeland, Thomas finds himself becoming more and more entangled with the lives of those around him.
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CHARLIE McGARRY July 2017: The Ghost of Helen Addison Also available: The Road to Lisbon (2012) Who is Charlie McGarry? Charlie McGarry lives in Glasgow He currently works as a newspaper page designer and sub-editor, having formerly been a business analyst for British Telecom. He is the coauthor of The Road to Lisbon (Birlinn, 2012). About The Ghost of Helen Addison: First in a brand new series of crime thrillers featuring an utterly unique protagonists and touches of the supernatural. Leo Griffin is not your average detective. He lives for the finer things in life; the comfort and solitude of self-indulgence at home, and ordinarily his most pressing decisions involve which vintage of wine to pair with the finest cut of steak. But he has one thing no one else does. Leo has visions. When a student is brutally murdered on the shores of Loch Dhonn, Leo must leave the hedonistic comforts of his Glasgow abode behind and join the police force frantically hunting for her killer. All is not what it seems on the once sleepy shores of the village, and Leo finds himself in a desperate race against time to unravel his visions before the beast can kill again.
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Author based: Glasgow Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
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FOOD & DRINK
BLAIR BOWMAN & NIKKI WELCH May 2017: The Pocket Guide to Whisky Also available: The Pocket Guide to Wine (2014) Winner of the Gourmand Drink Awards 2014 Who is Blair Bowman? Blair Bowman is the founder of World Whisky Day, first launched in 2012 and which is now celebrated every year, on every continent including Antarctica. He has been a whisky enthusiast since helping found Aberdeen University’s Malt Whisky Society. He currently writes for Scottish Field as their Whisky Columnist and is a contributing editor to the Cask & Still, Scotland’s newest whisky magazine. Who is Nikki Welch: Nikki Welch spent ten years selling and marketing wine for a number of wine producers and major supermarkets. She now owns Convivium Wine (www.conviviumwine.co.uk), organizes events for the public and for wine companies, trains staff, writes about wine and acts as a consultant for wine businesses, helping them understand what wine drinkers really want. She is the owner of the WineTubeMap, a unique way to navigate the world of wine. About The Pocket Guide to Whisky: The ever-expanding world of whisky can be a daunting one, with a deluge of new brands, distilleries and literature on the subject making it all but impossible for the amateur whisky drinker to find their feet in the industry. Following on from the bestselling Pocket Guide to Wine, Blair Bowman provides a compact and accessible, easy-to-use guide to help budding whisky enthusiasts on their way. Uniquely, The Pocket Guide to Whisky explores every kind of whisky, from the well known Scottish giants of Glenlivet to the exotic Japanese Hibiki, and includes the evergrowing and hotly debated blended whiskies too!
Authors based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: TedX, BBC Good Food Show Live Literature Funded: No
This little volume will tell you everything you need to know, from what to look for in whisky and what to avoid, to getting the best value for money; to the perfect accompaniments to your dram and the ideal whisky for every occasion. From novice to expert, this guide enables whisky lovers to find out more about the brands they already like and to make informed choices as they explore further.
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CHARLES MACLEAN ‘Charles MacLean is Scotland’s leading whisky expert’ -The Times September 2016: Whiskypedia: A Gazetteer of Scotch Whisky (New Edition) Also available: Famous for a Reason: The Story of the Famous Grouse
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Private and corporate tastings around the world, Harrogate Literarture Festival 2017 Limited availability Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Charles MacLean? Charles MacLean has been researching, writing and lecturing about Scotch whisky for 30 years. He is the author of nine books on the subject, including the standard work on whisky brands, Scotch Whisky, and the authoritative Malt Whisky, both of which were short-listed for Glenfiddich Awards. His Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History won Wine & Spirits Book of the Year in the 2004 James Beard Awards and Best Drink Book in the World at the Food Media Awards. He is a consultant to the whisky industry, and to Bonhams International Auctioneers, and sits on the judging panel of the International Wine & Spirits Awards. About Whiskypedia: The flavour of Scotch whisky is as much influenced by history, craft and tradition as it is by science. Whiskypedia explores these influences. Introductory sections provide an historical overview, and an explanation of the contribution made by each stage of the production process. Each entry provides a brief account of the distillery’s history and curiosities, lists the bottlings which are currently available, details how the whisky is made, and explores the flavour and character of each make. Praise for Whiskypedia: ‘Whisky’s finest guru’ -The Sunday Times ‘Charles MacLean writes like no other expert on the subject. His prose is informed and highly entertaining’ - The Independent
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IAN BUXTON August 2017: Whiskies Galore October 2016: Whisky Also available: 101 Gins: To Try Before You Die Who is Ian Buxton? Ian Buxton has been working in and around the whisky industry for about 20 years, but has been drinking professionally for a good deal longer. He began writing regularly for Whisky Magazine shortly after it launched, and now also writes for The Keeper, Country Life, Scotland Magazine, Scottish Field and in Russia for Whisky and Magnum magazines. Ian has published three books: Whisky History, Hints & Tips, a facsimile edition of Aeneas MacDonald’s 1930 classic Whisky and 101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die. About Whiskies Galore: Island whiskies have long held a fascination and a powerful emotional draw on whisky drinkers the world over. Their special combination of heritage, mystique, and remote location captures the imagination; their highly distinctive flavours are often imitated but seldom bettered. There have been few books on island whisky and none written in recent years. But Whiskies Galore is not your average whisky book. Join Ian Buxton on a personal journey across Scotland’s islands, where he learns to fish with high explosives, ends up hurling his dinner into the sea, and comes face to face with a basking shark. Combining an expert’s knowledge of whisky with a travel writer’s fondness for anecdote, and with a keen description of place, he provides a special treat for all who love the islands’ magical drams.
Author based: Worcestershire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Sheffield’s Festival of Words, Dundee Literature Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Wimbledon Book Festival, Cheltenham Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
About 101 Gins: We’re in the middle of a new Gin Craze- it’s harder to find anything hipper on the international bar scene. From Adnams to Zuidam; Beefeater to Bombay and London to Plymouth (and beyond) this new book from best-selling drinks writer Ian Buxton will be the authoritative guide to the new world of gin. Praise for 101 Gins: ‘His humorous scepticism is part of the fun, but he is also an enthusiast and able to explain the varied distillation processes’
– The Guardian
‘By turns wise, witty and well-informed, this is all the tonic your gin will ever need!’
– Alex Nicol, Edinburgh Gin
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SCOTTISH FOOD BIBLES SERIES July 2017: The William Shearer Tattie Bible June 2016: The Scottish Oats Bible July 2016: The Chain Bridge Honey Bible Nov 2016: The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible Also available: The Arbroath Smokie Bible, The MacSween Haggis Bible, The Scottish Food Bible, The Scottish Salmon Bible, The Stornoway Black Pudding Bible, The Venison Bible. About The William Shearer Tattie Bible: Ever since the humble potato arrived from Peru around 1730 it has been a key component of the Scottish diet. In this book Liz Ashworth introduces the heritage and history of the potato and the numerous varieties available, including information on nutritional benefits, the tattie season and how to grow your own. About The Scottish Oats Bible: In this practical and imaginative book, award-winning cookery writer Nichola Fletcher features 45 recipes which show the remarkable versatility of different kind of oats. The result is a huge variety of mouthwatering recipes, from fish haggis, wild mushroom risotto and grouse soup to oatmeal candy, spiced oatmeal cake and a detox oatmeal drink, that show how oats can be combined with a vast range of other ingredients and also take centre stage themselves. About The Chain Bridge Honey Bible: Scottish honey, with its fragrances of heather, meadowsweet, clover and birch, is a unique, magical ingredient, and The Chain Bridge Honey Bible features a host of easy-to prepare recipes drawing on this wonderful resource. Liz Ashworth introduces us to its versatility from dishes as varied as Medieval sweet pickled salmon and honeyspiced beetroot, to the delectable cranachan and more contemporary chocolate honey fudge cake. Prepared in collaboration with one of the UK’s oldest and largest honey farms, Chain Bridge in the Borders, this book draws on the experience and traditions of generations of skilled beekeepers and Scottish cooks in the use of this quintessentially natural and organic food. About The Three Chimney’s Marmalade Bible: Marmalade is an iconic Scottish food, traditionally made every year in January and February when Seville oranges are available. Shirley Spear, whose multi-award-winning Three Chimneys restaurant on the Isle of Skye is a magnet for foodies, has written the ultimate guide to marmalade – not just to making it, but to using it as an ingredient all the year round in a delicious variety of dishes.
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SUE LAWRENCE July 2017: The Scottish Soup Bible July 2016: Scottish Baking (pbk) Also available: The Scottish Berries Bible Who is Sue Lawrence: Sue Lawrence, the ‘Queen of Baking’, is a food writer and journalist who has written many books on cooking and baking, including The Scottish Kitchen (2002), The Sue Lawrence Book of Baking (2004) and Eating In (2011). She won Masterchef in 1991 and regularly features on STV’s The Hour. In December 2013 she appeared on the Christmas Edition of the Great British Bake Off. About The Scottish Soup Bible: Acclaimed cookery writer Sue Lawrence celebrates the enormous range of Scottish soups in this imaginative and practical collection of recipes, organized in three sections: Fish/Seafood, Meat/Game and Vegetables/Pulses. Featuring the very best of local produce, the 40 recipes range from Cullen Skink and Cock a Leekie to Nettle and Barley Broth and Dulse and Oatmeal Soup.
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent events: Fringe by the Sea, Scottish Baking Awards, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Stirling Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
About Scottish Baking: In recent times Britain as a whole can’t get enough of programmes like The Great British Bake-off but Scotland has always had a wonderful tradition of baking. Leading cookery writer Sue Lawrence has now combined her two passions, for baking and Scottish cooking, into one definitive book. This is a book that will reach out to anyone who loves to dabble with flour, sugar, and butter. About The Scottish Berries Bible: Part of Birlinn’s bestselling Food Bible series combines new and traditional recipes, including Bramble Clafoutis, Strawberry Risotto and Chocolate Raspberry Brownies. Sue provides recipes that are easy to cook but reliably produce delicious results. Praise for Sue Lawrence: ‘The queen of home baking’ – Time Out ‘There couldn’t be a book by Sue Lawrence that I wouldn’t want to own and, indeed, I’d be horrified to learn that there were any titles I don’t own. She writes beautifully, is as much chatty historian as cookery writer and her recipes always interest me and make me ravenous’ – Nigella Lawson 37
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POETRY
LIZ LOCHHEAD
SCOTLAND’S MAKAR 2011-2016 May 2016: Fugitive Colours (NEW COLLECTION) Also available: A Choosing: The Selected Poems of Liz Lochhead (2011); The Colour of Black and White (2005); Dreaming Frankenstein and Collected Poems (2003); True Confessions and New Cliches (2003) Who is Liz Lochhead? Scottish poet and playwright Liz Lochhead was born in Motherwell in 1947. She is a Fellow of Glasgow School of Art, an Honorary Doctor of Letters of Glasgow University, a Fellow of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and of Glasgow Institute of Art, and is an Honorary President of the Scottish Poetry Library. Her poetry collections include Dreaming Frankenstein (Polygon, 1984), True Confessions and New Clichés (Polygon, 1985), Bagpipe Muzak (Penguin, 1991), and The Colour of Black and White: Poems 1984– 2003 (Polygon, 2003). Her plays include Tartuffe (Polygon, 1986), Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (Penguin, 1989) and the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award-winning Medea (Nick Hern Books, 2000). Liz Lochhead lives in Glasgow.
Author based Glasgow Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Edinburgh International Book Festival; Hay Festival; international festivals Live Literature Funded: Yes
About Fugitive Colours: This stunning new collection features never-before published work along with poems written during her time as Scots Makar, and marks the end of her term as Scotland’s Poet Laureate (2011-2016). Whether commissioned works, such as ‘Connecting Cultures’, written for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 or more personal works, ‘Favourite Place’, about holidays in the west coast with her late husband, this collection is beautiful, sensitive and brilliant. Throughout her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist-playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that ‘when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I were a playwright, I’d like to be a poet in the theatre.’ Praise for Liz Lochhead: ‘Human relationships, especially as seen from a woman’s point of view, are central: attraction, pain, acceptance, loss, triumphs and deceptions, habits and surprises; always made immediate through a storyteller’s concrete detail of place or voice or object or colour remembered or imagined’ – Edwin Morgan ‘Dreaming Frankenstein is a rare thing: a book of poems which sparkles’ – The Scotsman
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SCOTTISH POETRY LIBRARY August 2016: Whatever the Sea November 2015: Beneath Troubled Skies- Poems of Scotland at war 1914-1918 About Whatever the Sea: There is not one way to age but neither can any of us truly stop our bodies from ageing. Ageing is not a single phenomenon but complex, multiple, perplexing. This anthology may not console but it can widen our perspectives, helping us to change what we can change: our attitudes. Poetry can help to give us a fresh language to think about ageing and these poems are carefully chosen to fortify, celebrate, lament, grieve, rage and ridicule. In association with the Baring Foundation, The Saltire Society and the Scottish Poetry Library, Whatever theSea, edited by Lizzie MacGregor, brings together newly commissioned poems from: Vicki Feaver, Diana Hendry and Douglas Dunn as well as a selection of poems dealing with ageing. Authors based Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small
‘Weathering. Patina, gloss and whorl. The trunk of the almond tree, gnarled but still fruitful. Weathering is what I would like to do well’ Alasdair Reid
Contributors available for events include Douglas Dunn, Vicki Feaver and Diana Hendry. About Beneath Troubled Skies: The story of Scotland at war in the poetry of the time, in English, Gaelic and Scots, by servicemen, volunteers, and those on the home front. Well known soldier poets like E.A. Mackintosh, Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna and Joseph Lee are joined by others who fought with their pens to chronicle and comment on the war, among them Mary Symon, Neil Munro and Margaret Sackville. The book is in chronological order, following the war as it develops, with introductions to each year by Yvonne McEwen. From the very first ‘Sough o’ War’ sweeping through the land to conflicting attitudes to volunteering; from the despair of the trenches to the anguish of the bereaved; from unexpected humour to hatred to comradeship; from women at work to men shattered by conflict; from the appalling tragedies of Gretna and the Iolaire to sorrow for a generation cast into the fire, and a last angry condemnation of the human race. Contributors available for events include Lizzie MacGregor and Yvonne McEwen.
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KENNETH STEVEN May 2017: Deirdre of the Sorrows Also available: Glen Lyon (2013) Who is Kenneth Steven? Kenneth has always been first and foremost a poet, fourteen of his collections have been published over the years, and he has made many poetry related programmes for BBC Radio. Kenneth is known for his poetry readings - often undertaken in conjunction with musicians, talks, workshops, storytelling, readings and imagination workshops. For ten years he co-led a writing retreat on Iona called Into Blue Silence. He now runs his own course through the Columba Hotel on the island - Write from the Heart. About Deirdre of the Sorrows: The story of Deirdre of the Sorrows is widely known in Ireland, yet all but forgotten across the water in Scotland. This great tragic love story, which has its roots in the ninth or tenth century, is very much shared by both countries. For Deirdre, according to the legend, fled with her lover Naoise to Argyll. The oldest song in Scotland is believed to be Deirdre’s haunting farewell to her adopted land as she returns once more to Ireland.
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Dundee Literature Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes
In this new sequence, Deirdre of the Sorrows, Kenneth Steven beautifully reimagines the legend of this love story; he brings back to life Deirdre’s journey and attempts to capture its timeless power.
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MICHAEL PEDERSEN ‘Michael’s poems are so physical you can almost touch the images in them. Fabulously sensual and alive. I adore poetry like this’ – Stephen Fry May 2016: #UntitledTwo Neu! Reekie! Also available: #UntitledOne Neu! Reekie! (2015); Play With Me (2013)
Author based Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small. Recent events: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Stanza Poetry Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes http://neureekie.tumblr.com/
Who is Michael Pederson? Michael Pedersen is a poet, playwright and animateur with an electric reputation on the performance circuit and a prolific precedent of collaborations, having teamed up with some of the UK’s top musicians, film-makers and artists. He is widely published in magazines, journals, anthologies and e-zines, and a key creative within Dream Tower Productions. He’s also the lyricist for cult band Jesus, Baby! and has written short plays for various troupes including the National Theatre of Scotland. Pedersen is also co-founder and circus master at Neu! Reekie! – started in January 2011, now one of the country’s most formidable literary nights. Based at the Summerhall Arts complex Neu! Reekie! has organised over seventy cultural showcases, on three continents, featuring spoken word, animation and live music. Other eclectic elements are thrown into the mix too, just to see what happens. About #Untitled One : A poetry anthology boasting some of the UK’s most exciting voices who have all shared the Neu! Reekie! bill. Many of the works are new, many are favourites read at the events; all are savoured, sublime, sumptuous voices within poetry already – with the exception of Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap and Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit – who are ferocious forces within music and beyond. Contributors include: Irvine Welsh, Douglas Dunn, Liz Lochhead, Ron Butlin and Tom Leonard; as well as younger blood such as: Jenni Fagan, Hollie McNish and William Letford. Praise for Michael Pedersen & Neu! Reekie!: ‘Neu! Reekie! dismantles the structures and snobberies dividing high and low art – art is for everyone’ – Skinny
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JENNI FAGAN ‘The patron saint of Literary Street Urchins’ – New York Times April 2016: The Dead Queen of Bohemia- New & Collected Poetry Who is Jenni Fagan? Currently Writer In Residence at The University of Edinburgh, and Sunday Herald Cultural Awards Author of the Year 2016, Jenni Fagan is a poet and novelist. Her debut novel The Panopticon was selected as part of Waterstones best worldwide debut novels of 2012. Jenni was recently selected as one of the (once-a-decade) Granta Best of Young British Novelists. The original collection Dead Queen of Bohemia won the 3AM Poetry Book of the Year in 2010. Jenni Fagan has worked as a Writer In Residence in several locations, and has worked with visually impared writers, young offenders and women in prison. She is in constant demand to appear at events throughout Europe and the UK.
Author based Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scottish Book Trust, Aye Write (Glasgow), Foyles (London) Live Literature Funded: No
About The Dead Queen of Bohemia: The Dead Queen of Bohemia is a journey through a life lived on the edge. Following in the schools of Gertrude Stein and William Burroughs, this collection is woven with surrealistic imagery; it is both unflinching and dislocating. Within these pages you will find poetry that is simplistic yet beautiful, tender and humane. With themes of loss and recovery, hope and defiance, these were written by a self-taught poet who started writing at the age of seven and so far has not stopped. The Dead Queen of Bohemia documents the progression of a voice and a life written over the last twenty years. It opens with Jenni’s most recent work and includes her previous two collections, both now out of print. Praise for The Panopticon: ‘The term ‘stunning debut novel’ doesn’t even begin to cover The Panopticon. ...An utterly magnificent achievement’ - Irvine Welsh ‘A brilliant, raw, wonder of a book — read it right away’ - Matt Haig
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RON BUTLIN EDINBURGH’S MAKAR 2008–2014 August 2015: The Magicians of Scotland (pbk) Also available: The Magicians of Edinburgh (2012)
Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small, schools and libraries Recent Event: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Borders Book Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes
Who is Ron Butlin? Ron Butlin is a poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer and opera librettist whose works have been broadcast in the UK and abroad and have been translated into many languages. His volumes of poetry include the award-winning Ragtime in Unfamiliar Bars (Secker & Warburg, 1985) and Histories of Desire (Bloodaxe, 1995). His New and Selected Poems was published by Barzan in 2005. His novels include The Sound of My Voice (winner of the Prix Mille Pages 2004 and Prix Lucioles 2005, both for Best Foreign Novel), Night Visits and most recently Belonging. He was Edinburgh Makar from 2008-2014. About The Magicians of Scotland : The Magicians of Scotland will build upon the success of The Magicians of Edinburgh (reprinted five times) and on that book’s critical acclaim. In his role as Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin will give this collection an Edinburgh emphasis while seeking to celebrate and interrogate Scotland and its people at a crucial turning point in our country’s history. Just as The Magicians of Edinburgh’s themes ranged from Sir Walter Scott to the new Parliament, from Greyfriar’s Bobby to the trams, the themes of the new collection will include Scotland’s past, present and future, its landscape and people, its myths and politics – from Bannockburn, Flodden to Faslane, the Loch Ness Monster, wind farms, Hutton to Higgs, Bonnie Prince Charlie to Donald Trump. It will be accessible, serious and entertaining. Praise for Ron Butlin : ‘Butlin is the best, the most productive Scottish poet of his generation’ – Douglas Dunn Praise for The Magicians of Edinburgh: ‘Edinburgh poems in the fullest sense. A consistently successful collection’ – Edinburgh Review
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MUSIC
TOM DOYLE March 2017: Captain Fantastic: Elton John’s Stellar Trip
through the ’70s
Also available: Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s (2013), The Glamour Chase: The Maverick Life of Billy MacKenzie (2011) Who is Tom Doyle? Tom Doyle is an acclaimed music journalist, author and long-standing contributing editor to Q, whose work has also appeared in Mojo, the Guardian, Marie Claire, Elle, The Times and Sound on Sound. Over the years he has been responsible for key magazine-cover profiles of Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Kate Bush, Elton John, R.E.M. and U2, among many others. About Captain Fantastic: In August 1970 Elton John achieved overnight fame after a rousing performance at the Troubadour in Los Angeles; over the next five years he was unstoppable, scoring seven consecutive number 1 albums and sixteen Top 10 singles in America. But behind his outré image and comedy glasses lay a desperately shy individual, conflicted about his success, his sexuality, and his narcotic indulgences.
Author based: London Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
In 1975, at the apex of his fame, John attempted suicide twice yet, after announcing his retirement in 1977 at the age of thirty as well as coming out as a gay man, he gradually found his way back to music. Captain Fantastic is an intimate look at the rise, fall and rise again of John’s fame-and-drug fuelled decade, with a final section bringing his life up to the present. Praise for Man on the Run: ‘The go-to guy if you want to coax confessions from a superstar, Doyle writes without agenda. ****’ – Mojo ‘The book is larded with tales of Seventies rock-star excess’ – Rolling Stone
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STUART COSGROVE ‘Cosgrove weaves a compelling web of circumstance’ - The Independent October 2016: Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul (NEW EDITION) March 2016: Young Soul Rebels, A Personal History of Northern Soul
Author based: Glasgow/London Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Aye Write (Glasgow), Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
DETRIOT 67: THE YEAR THAT CHANGED SOUL
Who is Stuart Cosgrove? Stuart Cosgrove is a television executive with Channel 4. He was media editor with the NME and a feature writer for a range of newspapers and magazines. In 2005 he was named Broadcaster of the Year in the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards and in 2012 he won numerous awards including a BAFTA and Royal Television Society award for Channel 4’s coverage of the London Paralympics 2012. Stuart presents Scotland’s most popular radio show Off the Ball and lives in Glasgow and London. About Young Soul Rebels: Young Soul Rebels sets up a powerful and intimate story of Northern Soul, Britain’s most fascinating underground musical scene. In his unique style, Cosgrove takes the reader on a journey into the iconic clubs that made it famous – The Twisted Wheel, The Torch, Wigan Casino, Blackpool Mecca and Cleethorpes Pier – the bootleggers that made it infamous, the splits that threatened to divide the scene, the great unknown records that built its global reputation and the crate-digging collectors that travelled to America to unearth these gems. About Detroit 67: Detroit 67 is the story of Motor City in the year that changed everything. Cosgrove takes you on a turbulent year-long journey through the drama and chaos that ripped through Detroit in 1967 and tore it apart in personal, political and interracial disputes. It is the story of Motown, the break-up of The Supremes and the damaging disputes at the heart of the most successful African-American music label ever. Set against a backdrop of urban riots, escalating war in Vietnam and police corruption, the book weaves its way through a year when soul musiccame of age and the underground counterculture flourished. Praise for Young Soul Rebels:
STUART COSGROVE
‘fascinating’ **** – Mojo ‘it simply scintillates’ ***** – Record Collector
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ZOË HOWE ‘A great writer who is in love with rock ’n’ roll and a writer who can make the essence and magic of the dark stuff seem so alive’
– John Robb, Louder Than War
February 2017: Lee Brilleaux, Rock ‘n’ Roll Gentleman (pbk) Also available: Barbed Wire Kisses: The Jesus & Mary Chain Story (2015) Who is Zoë Howe? Zoë Howe is a music author whose other books include the acclaimed Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits; ‘How’s Your Dad?’ Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent, British Beat Explosion – Rock n’ Roll Island and Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson’s memoir Looking Back At Me, published by Cadiz Music in 2012. Her writing has also appeared in The Quietus, Company, Notion, BBC Music, Holy Moly, Classic Rock and NME. Zoë has also made music radio series for stations including the award-winning Resonance FM, and she can be heard talking about rock ’n’ roll from time to time on BBC 6 Music, Absolute Radio, Planet Rock, BBC London and elsewhere.
Author based: Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
About Lee Brilleaux: Lee Brilleaux, the uniquely charismatic star of proto-punk R&B reprobates Dr Feelgood, was one of rock’n’ roll’s greatest frontmen. But he was also one of its greatest gentlemen – a class act with heart, fire, wanderlust and a wild streak. Exploding out of Canvey Island in the early 1970s – an age of glam rock, post-hippy folk and pop androgyny – the Feelgoods, with Lee Brilleaux and Wilko Johnson at the helm, charged into London, grabbed the pub rock scene by the throat and sparked a revolutionary new era, proving that you didn’t have to be middle class, wearing the ‘right clothes’ or living in the ‘right place’ to succeed. Lee Brilleaux: Rock ’n’ Roll Gentleman, while a totally different work, is a companion of sorts to the hugely popular Wilko Johnson book: Looking Back At Me (also co-authored by Howe). It is the first comprehensive appreciation of Lee Brilleaux and, with its numerous exclusive interviews and previously unseen images, is a book no Dr Feelgood fan would wish to be without. Praise for Lee Brilleaux: ‘this is a book that needed to be written about the iconic frontman of one of the most influential British bands of all time’ - Dave Jennings, Louder Than War 49
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GEMS FROM 2015
KARL SABBAGH ‘Sabbagh...is a crusader’ - The Financial times June 2016: A Rum Affair: A True Story of Botanical Fraud Who is Karl Sabbagh? Karl Sabbagh is a writer, journalist and TV producer. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Living Body (with Christian Barnaard), Power into Art and Palestine: A Personal Journey. About A Rum Affair: In the 1940s, the eminent British botanist John Heslop Harrison proposed a controversial theory: that vegetation on the islands off the west coast of Scotland had survived the last Ice Age. His premise flew in the face of what most botanists believed – that no plants had survived the 10,000-year period of extreme cold. But Heslop Harrison had proof – the plants and grasses found on the isle of Rum.
Author based: Worcestershire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
Harrison didn’t anticipate, however, an amateur botanist called John Raven, who boldly questioned whether these grasses were truly indigenous to the area, or whether they had been transported there. This is the story of what happened when a tenacious amateur set out to find out the truth, and how he uncovered a most extraordinary fraud. Praise for A Rum Affair: ‘An exciting scientific detective story’ – Times Literary Supplement ‘A breezy ride . . . informative and amusing’ – Washington Post Book World
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TAM DALYELL ‘One of the most principled, honourable and dogged politicians of his generation’ - Daily Mail Aug 2016: The Question of Scotland: Devolution & After (pbk) Also available: The Importance of Being Awkward: The Autobiography of Tam Dalyell (2012)
Author based: Linlithgow, West Lothian Willing to travel: Happy to consider anything within the UK Happy to do: Festivals large and small, bookstore events, readers’ groups et al Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Hay Literary Festival, Pitlochry Winter Words, Aye Write (Glasgow), National Library of Scotland Special requirements: Requires to be driven to and from events Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Tam Dalyell? When veteran Labour MP Tam Dalyell retired as Father of the House in 2005, the Commons lost one of its most colourful and outspoken politicians. In a parliamentary career that spanned 43 years and the administrations of eight Prime Ministers, Dalyell was never a stranger to controversy. He argued fiercely against the Gulf War, military action in Kosovo, and the invasion of Iraq. He has also been a leading figure in the attempt to uncover the truth about the Lockerbie bombing. As the originator of The West Lothian Question, Tam’s warnings about devolution and the disintegration of the United Kingdom are proving to be remarkably prescient. Answering the West Lothian question is now one of the most important and urgent political debates of our time, as leaders debate whether Scottish or Welsh MPs should be able to vote upon English-only matters after the devolution of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. Tam is always in high demand for events, with repeated sellout crowds at Hay and Edinburgh Book Festivals. About The Question of Scotland: Following the Scottish Referendum, and subsequent SNP success in the 2015 General Election Tam Dalyell offers a personal reflection on why the UK is on the brink of the most serious constitutional crisis in its history. As Scotland’s longest serving MP, Tam utilises his first-hand experience of our political history to help explain why we have ended up where we are today, and offers sage advice and suggests ways forward which will inform debate as the UK moves into a new political era. Praise for Importance of Being Awkward: ‘A story of principle and persistence from a politician whose like we shall surely not see again’
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– Journal of the Law Society of Scotland
ALASTAIR MCINTOSH ‘Thoughtful, incisive and emotionally powerful’ — Friends of the Earth July 2017: Poachers’ Pilgrimage (pbk) Also available: Hell & High Water (2008) Who is Alastair McIntosh? Alastair McIntosh is an independent writer, broadcaster, speaker and activist who is involved in a wide range of contemporary issues, from land reform, globalization and nonviolence to psychology, spirituality and ecology. Alastair is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow (visiting professor) in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow and a Research Fellow at the School of Divinity (New College) in the University of Edinburgh.
Author based: Glasgow Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore and external events and festivals large and small Recent Events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Solas Festival, Wigtown Book Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes
About Poachers’ Pilgrimage: The islands of the Outer Hebrides are home to some of the most remote and spectacular scenery in the world. They host an astonishing range of mysterious structures – stone circles, beehive dwellings, holy wells and ’temples’ from the Celtic era. Over a twelve-day pilgrimage, often in appalling conditions, Alastair McIntosh returned to the islands of his childhood and explored the meaning of these places. Traversing moors and mountains, struggling through torrential rivers, he went from the most southerly tip of Harris to the northerly Butt of Lewis. The book is a walk through space and time, across a physical landscape and into a spiritual one. Alastair had just come back from lecturing at military institutions across Europe. As he battled with his own ability to endure some of the toughest terrain in Britain, he met with the healing power of the land and its communities. This is a moving book, a powerful reflection not simply of this extraordinary place and its people met along the way, but of imaginative hope for humankind. Praise for Hell & High Water: ‘McIntosh’s excellent expose might just clear a path out of the darkness’ - The Herald ‘An alternative, deeply humanist version of green politics ... of genuine international importance’ - The Scotsman
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WALTER REID ‘He makes us think along with the politicians, the diplomats, the riotous amateurs who made British policy’ - The Scotsman May 2016: Keeping the Jewel in the Crown: The British Betrayal of India (hbk) Also available: Empire of Sand: How Britain Made the Middle East (2013); Churchill, 1940-1945 (2012); Arras, 1917 (2011); Architect of Victory: Douglas Haig (2009) Author based: Bridge of Weir, Scotland Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Recent Events: Aye Write (Glasgow) Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Walter Reid? Walter Reid was educated at Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, where he read history. He is the author of five books on 20th century military history, and is renowned for his ability to turn meticulous research into approachable, capable prose. He knows how to pick his way through a maze of committees, memoranda, doubts, bluffs and improvisations, and present the information in a way that is accessible, engaging and, in the words of The Scotsman, ‘begs to be read’. About Keeping the Jewel in the Crown: In 1947, when India achieved independence, Britain portrayed the transfer of power as the outcome of decades, even centuries, of responsible planning – the honourable discharge of an historic responsibility. That view has never been seriously challenged in Britain. But Walter Reid shows that the official narrative is a travesty of what really happened. Drawing on the documentary evidence – letters, diaries, state papers – he reveals how Britain selfishly deceived and prevaricated in order to arrest political progress in India for as long as possible – a shameful passage in British imperial policy which led to tragedy and untold suffering when independence finally became inevitable. Praise for Keeping the Jewel in the Crown: ‘Walter Reid is a hugely admired and respected writer on military and political history whose research is incredibly impressive, his viewpoint should not be ignored.’
- LoveReading
Praise for Empire of Sand: ‘Extremely well written and enjoyable to read’ – European Review of History ‘[An] impeccably researched book’ – the Herald
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DAVID TORRANCE ‘Torrance has an excellent eye for political detail’
– Scotland on Sunday
June 2016: Nicola Sturgeon: A Political Life (NEW EDITION) August 2015: Salmond: Against the Odds (NEW POSTREFERENDUM EDITION) Who is David Torrance? David Torrance is a writer, journalist and broadcaster. He was formerly political reporter for STV and is now a freelance political commentator, regularly appearing on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC television, as well as supplying obituaries to the Herald and commentary for The Scotsman, The Times and several websites. He is the author of 12 books.
Author based: London Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Live Literature Funded: No
About Salmond: Against the Odds (New Edition): In this new edition of his acclaimed biography, with which many of Salmond’s close friends and colleagues have cooperated, acclaimed political biographer David Torrance turns his attention to arguably the most intriguing politician Scotland has produced. Utilising a raft of published and unpublished material, he charts the life and career of Alex Salmond, including his time as leader of two SNP administrations, the 2014 referendum, his subsequent resignation as party leader and his announcement to run for the 2015 UK general election. About Nicola Sturgeon: A Political Life: From the age of just 16, Nicola Sturgeon has devoted her life to the SNP – her determination and grit finally winning her one of Labour’s stronghold seats in Govan in 2007, a constituency she battled to win for almost a decade. Sturgeon swiftly became one of the Scottish Government’s most successful ministers. By the time Alex Salmond resigned as First Minister and SNP leader in the wake of a No vote Sturgeon was viewed as his inevitable successor. Ten years earlier she’d been perceived as what some called a ‘nippy sweetie’, a street-fighting Glaswegian politician lacking Salmond’s broad populist appeal. But in the intervening period she had softened her image and even begun to outstrip her mentor and boss in terms of voter approval. As the country prepares for a General Election, Nicola Sturgeon could hold the balance of power in her hands, not just in Scotland, but in the United Kingdom.
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JAMES HUNTER September 2016: Set Adrift Upon the World- The Sutherland Clearances (pbk) Also available: The Making of the Crofting Community (2010); On the Other Side of Sorrow (2014)
Author based: Inverness Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore and external events and festivals large and small Recent events: Timesspan Arts & Heritage Centre, Strathnaver Museum, Highland Archive, UHI Centre for History, Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: No
Who is James Hunter?: James Hunter is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He has written extensively about the north of Scotland and about the region’s worldwide diaspora. In the course of a varied career Hunter has been, among other things, director of the Scottish Crofters Union, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise and an award-winning journalist. About Set Adrift Upon the World: They would be better dead, they said, than set adrift upon the world. They opposed and confronted men sent to evict them. They had a leading land agent brought to trial on capital charges. They won support in the press. But their landlords, Britain’s wealthiest couple, proved invincible. So set adrift they were. Thousands of them. Their land made over to sheep farmers, their communities destroyed, their homes burned and demolished. Such were the Sutherland clearances. Never before has this extraordinary episode been investigated in such detail. James Hunter’s researches took him to archives in Scotland, England and Canada. To the now deserted straths of Sutherland. To the frozen shores of Hudson Bay. To a New Orleans battlefield where hundreds of men from Sutherland died fighting for a country that, back home, sent other soldiers north to enforce eviction, dispossession and expulsion. The outcome of Hunter’s travels and enquiries is a gripping, moving, definitive account of a people’s struggle for survival in the face of tragedy and disaster. Praise for Set Adrift Upon the World: ‘His [Hunter’s] scholarship is breathtaking’
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- The Herald
ROSEMARY GORING ‘Rosemary Goring skilfully and vividly recreates dangerous times...A really, gripping story’ – Love Reading March 2016: Dacre’s War (pbk) Also available: After Flodden (2014) Who is Rosemary Goring? Rosemary Goring is the Literary Editor of The Herald and The Sunday Herald- the only remaining literary editor in Scotland. She is also the author of the best-selling Scotland: The Autobiography (Penguin, 2014). Author based: Edinburgh Willing to travel: Anywhere in the world Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent Events: Aye Write, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Borders Book Festival, National Library of Scotland, bookstore events. Live Literature Funded: No
Rosemary is vastly experienced at events, having appeared solo, in-conversation and as part of panel events at multiple book festivals and bookshops across the country. She is also a capable, friendly and knowledgable chairperson. About Dacre’s War: Dacre’s War is a story of personal and political vengeance. Ten years after the battle of Flodden, Adam Crozier, head of his clan and of an increasingly powerful alliance of Borderers, learns for sure that it was Lord Thomas Dacre – now the most powerful man in the north of England – who ordered his father’s murder. He determines to take his revenge. As a fighting man, Crozier would like nothing better than to bring Dacre down face to face but his wife Louise advises him that he must use more subtle methods. So he sets out to engineer Dacre’s downfall by turning the machinery of the English court against him. A vivid and fast-moving tale of political intrigue and heartache, Dacre’s War is set against the backdrop of the Scottish and English borders, a land where there is never any chance of peace. Praise for Dacre’s War: ‘Dacre’s War is an absorbing, dense read, packed with political twists. The Scottish Borders are superbly evoked – this is a land of constant fear and hardship, as well as great beauty. Highly recommended.’ – Antonia Senior, The Times ‘A must read for history enthusiasts and those who love dark romance... Goring’s novel uniquely engages in the personal elements of political revenge, bringing to life a land where there is never any chance of peace’ – Scottish Field
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JOHN MCKENDRICK February 2016: Darien: A Journey in Search of Empire Who is John McKendrick? John McKendrick was born and brought up in Glasgow. He studied at the LSE and Oxford and is currently a barrister in London and an advocate in Edinburgh. He also worked for two years in Panama and the Caribbean. He was Times Lawyer of the Week in 2013. Author based: Edinburgh & London Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: No
About Darien: The Company of Scotland and its attempts to establish the colony of Caledonia on the inhospitable isthmus of Panama in the late seventeenth century is one of the most tragic moments of Scottish history. Devised by William Paterson, the stratagem was to create a major trading station between Europe and the East. It could have been a triumph, but inadequate preparation and organisation ensured it was a catastrophe – of the 3000 settlers who set sail in 1688 and 1699, only a handful returned, the rest having succumbed to disease, and the enormous financial loss was a key factor in ensuring union with England in 1707. Based on archive research in the UK and Panama, as well as extensive travelling in Darien itself, John McKendrick explores this fascinating and seminal moment in Scottish history and uncovers fascinating new information from New World archives about the role of the English and Spanish, and about the identities of the settlers themselves.
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ROGER HUTCHINSON August 2016: St. Kilda: A People’s History (pbk) Also available: Martyrs- Glendale and the Revolution in Skye(2015), The Silent Weaver; The Toon; Father Allan; Walking to America; Calum’s Road The Soap Man; Camanachd! Who is Roger Hutchinson? Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. After working as an editor in London, in 1977 he joined the West Highland Free Press in Skye. Since then he has published thirteen books, including Polly: the True Story behind Whisky Galore. He is still a columnist for the WHFP, and has written for BBC Radio, the Scotsman, the Guardian, the Herald and The Literary Review. His book The Soap Man (Birlinn 2003) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year (2004) and the bestselling Calum’s Road (2007) was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize. About St Kilda: St Kilda is the most romantic and most romanticised group of islands in Europe. Soaring out of the North Atlantic Ocean like Atlantis come back to life, the islands have captured the imagination of the outside world for hundreds of years. Their inhabitants, Scottish Gaels who lived off the land, the sea and by birdcatching on high and precipitous cliffs, were long considered to be the Noble Savages of the British Isles, living in a state of natural grace.
Author based: Raasay Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Islay Book Festival, Ullapool Book Festival, Wigtown Book Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival Live Literature Funded: Yes
St Kilda: A People’s History explores and portrays the life of the St Kildans from the Stone Age to 1930, when the final 36 islanders were evacuated to the Scottish mainland. Bestselling author Roger Hutchinson digs deep into the archives to paint a vivid picture of the life and death, work and play of a small, proud and self-sufficient people. Praise for Calum’s Road: ‘wonderful, elegant and serious’
– The Telegraph
‘This is an extraordinarily fine book, and one of the most important books to have come out of the Highlands and Islands in recent yearst’ – West Highland Free Press
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ROBERT CRAWFORD et al. July 2016: The Book of Iona: An Anthology Also available: The Book of St Andrews (2007) Who are the contributors? Robert Crawford is Professor of Modern Scottish Literature in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of seven collections of poetry. Together with Mick Imlah he is co-editor of The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse (2000), while his prose books include biographies of Robert Burns and T. S. Eliot.
Authors based: Fife and across Scotland Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Live Literature Funded: Yes
Other contributors available for events include Meg Bateman (Skye), Alan Dearle (St Andrews), Meaghan Delahunt (Edinburgh), Jennie Erdal (Ansrtuther), Sara Lodge (London/Edinburgh), Victoria MacKenzie (Crail), Candia McWilliam (Edinburgh), Ruth Thomas (Edinburgh),Alice Thompson (Edinburgh). About The Book of Iona: The Book of Iona shows how novelists, poets, saints and sinners over the centuries have written about one of the world’s most famous and best loved islands. Including many new, specially commissioned Iona stories and poems from writers including Meg Bateman, Jennie Erdal, Meaghan Delahunt, Candia McWilliam, Ruth Thomas and Alice Thompson, this anthology also contains a treasure trove of earlier material – from poems attributed to St Columba in modern translations by Edwin Morgan and Robert Crawford to amusing accounts of their visits to the island by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and John Keats. In The Book of Iona, as on Iona itself, the sacred and the secular rub shoulders. Here is where a medieval Gaelicspeaking monk encounters Seamus Heaney, and where Robert Louis Stevenson sails past Queen Victoria. Full of surprises, this is an anthology that will delight every lover of Iona and all lovers of literature.
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LOUISE WYLLIE & JAN PATIENCE ‘A widely recognised and popular figure far beyond the world of the visual arts’ - The Guardian April 2016: Arrivals and Sailings: The Making of George Wyllie Who are Louise Wyllie and Jan Patience? Louise Wyllie is artist George Wyllie’s eldest daughter. Recent writings include an episode of CBeebies drama, Katie Morag. She edited and commissioned the recent George Wyllie Retrospective exhibition catalogue, which won an D&AD InBook Award. Jan Patience has been a journalist and editor for over twentyfive years. She writes on visual art for The Herald, Homes and Interiors Scotland and the Daily Record, among others. Jan was a driving force behind the Whysman Festival in 2012. About Arrivals and Sailings: Containing never-beforeseen images and fresh insight into his influences and early life, this book seeks to answer questions about the forces which shaped his unique worldview.
Author based: Jan: Glasgow Louise: Inverness-shire Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK and beyond Ha ppy to do: Bespoke events, bookstore events and festivals Live Literature Funded: No
The voyage begins with Wyllie’s Glasgow childhood – a period ‘disadvantaged by happiness’ – and moves on to time spent serving in the Pacific with the Royal Navy during WWII, where he witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by the world’s first atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. After the war, like Robert Burns and Adam Smith before him, Wyllie became an Excisemen. He made ‘time for art’ in his forties, going on to create memorable public art works such as the life-sized Straw Locomotive, which hung from the Finnieston Crane in Glasgow, and the giant seaworthy Paper Boat, with the letters QM (Question Mark) on her side. By the time of his death at the age of ninety in 2012, this idiosyncratic self-taught artist had laid out his vision of himself as the artist-shaman, arrow in hand, making a last Cosmic Voyage. Praise for Arrivals and Sailings: ‘A fascinating insight into the great, quixotic life of George Wylie, and how he came to leave his indelible mark on the Scottish arts landscape’ – Alan Cumming
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KEVIN MACNEIL ‘Kevin MacNeil is a writer prepared to take his chances’ - The Scotsman March 2016: The Brilliant & Forever Also available: A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll & Hyde (2011)
Author based: London Willing to travel: Anywhere in the UK Happy to do: Bookstore and external events, festivals large and small Recent events: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Aye Write (Glasgow), WordPlay (Shetland) Live Literature Funded: No
Who is Kevin MacNeil? Kevin MacNeil was born and raised in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Novelist, poet, playwright, editor, aphorist and lyricist, his books include A Method Actor’s Guide to Jekyll and Hyde, The Stornoway Way, Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides and Be Wise, Be Otherwise. He is also an international creative writing tutor, and has vast experience teaching workshops, leading residential writing retreats, lecturing on creative writing courses at university level (Edinburgh, Uppsala, Kingston), and mentoring debut novelists from obscurity to award-winning prominence. About The Brilliant & Forever: On an island like no other, populated by writers, the annual Brilliant & Forever Festival is a much anticipated event; its participants a story away from either glory or infamy. This year, three best friends – two human, one alpaca – are chosen to compete, so victory is not only about reward. This is a novel like no other; a wonderful, provocative tussle, a whip-cracking, energetic, laugh-out-loud satire on what we value in culture, and in our lives. And yet, written with exquisite warmth and empathy, it’s also a moving exploration of integrity, friendship and belonging. It’ll split your sides and break your heart. Praise for A Method Actor’s Guide: ‘A funny, irreverent and moving 21st-century look at human nature, and an intriguing rewiring of a classic’ - The Herald
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