Wordplay 2014 Programme

WORD WWW.SHETLANDARTS.ORG WWW.SHETLANDBOXOFFICE.ORG Artwork © Julie Dennison

SHETLAND’S 13TH ANNUAL BOOK FESTIVAL

Da Elves an Da Shoemakker 15 November

11 - 16 NOVEMBER 2014

WELCOME TO WORDPLAY SHETLAND’S 13TH ANNUAL BOOK FESTIVAL

This year, you will notice a couple of changes: the festival is in November, rather than September, and it no longer runs at the same time as Screenplay, Shetland Arts’ annual film festival. What has not changed is that we still have a packed programme of events lined up for you, featuring a wide range of different writers, styles, and genres.

Included among these is sports journalist, Richard Gordon who’s here to talk about his new book, Scotland ’74: A World Cup Story, and comedian, broadcaster, folk singer, flyfisher and poet, Mike Harding who is here to read his poetry. We also welcome back Sally Magnusson, who will be presenting her book Where Memories Go: How Dementia Changes Everything. This event is in collaboration with Alzheimer Scotland.

Continuing the strong BBC Scotland connection to this year’s festival, Steven Canny (Executive Producer of Comedy) and Jack Docherty (writer and actor) are here to run a free workshop about writing comedy for television – not to be missed by anybody who is interested in writing comedy for television.

As ever the festival features a number of collaborations and partnerships, including the generous support of Amnesty International in bringing poet Ghazi Hussein and the equally generous support of the Shetland Association of the Educational Institute of Scotland, who once again have supported a series of author visits to Shetland Schools. Among the authors visiting schools is Ollaberry’s very own Julie Dennison, who is also appearing in the Mareel Auditorium to give an illustrated reading.

Julie is not the only Shetland resident to appear at this year’s festival: we are delighted also to welcome Donald S Murray, Nat Hall, Sheenagh Pugh, and Marian Armitage who feature alongside a wealth of talented writers and artists from across the country including Roseanne Watt, Douglas Robertson, Ron Butlin and Regi Claire.

Jen Hadfield appears with Elizabeth Reeder to celebrate 21 Revolutions, a project by Glasgow Women’s Library. And from Glasgow, we are delighted to welcome Italian born best-selling novelist, Daniela Sacerdoti.

Last and most certainly not least are Ian Stephen and Lawrence Tulloch who are here to deliver a session of storytelling both spoken word and from the page.

We’d like to say thank you to all of the guests, funders, supporters and volunteers, without who none of this would be possible. We can’t claim to have something for absolutely everybody, but we have tried! Enjoy.

FUNDERS & SPONSORS

WORDPLAY is financially supported by The Shetland Association of the Educational Institute of Scotland

BOOKING

 www.shetlandboxoffice.org  01595 745555  In person from: Mareel, Lerwick, ZE1 0WQ and Islesburgh Community Centre, King Harald Street, Lerwick, ZE1 0EQ

FESTIVAL INFO

Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland, ZE1 0WQ  01595 743843  info@shetlandarts.org  www.shetlandarts.org Programme correct at time of going to press.

Check online for up to date programme: www.shetlandarts.org/wordplay Printed by: The Shetland Times Ltd, Gremista, Lerwick, Shetland

THE CURATORS

PETER RATTER LOUIS KEOGH

Originally from outside Glasgow, Louis arrived in Shetland in 1972 looking for a summer holiday. He is determined not to leave until he gets one. He worked for a number of years on the periphery of the oil industry but is currently employed by a local charity who would prefer that their name not be mentioned. Louis has recently commenced working on his first novel, one of the early Enid Blyton ones.

This task has not proved quite as easy as he had anticipated. He is however prepared to persevere

FRANKIE VALENTE

Passionate about literature from an early age Frankie Valente is the author of three bestselling novels, Dancing with the Ferryman, Chasing an Irish Dream and Learning to Dance Again; as well as being a regular columnist for The Shetland Times and Shetland Life magazine. She is about to finish her fourth novel, entitled Dreaming in Norwegian, a contemporary romance set in Shetland and Norway. She also provides writing, editing and publishing advice to other writers.

Peter Ratter is a Shetlander born and bred from the north of the mainland, currently studying literature at the UHI whilst working as a part-time security guard. He developed a keen interest in creative writing whilst attending Brae High School, being taught by local poet Jim Mainland, and he writes bits and pieces when he can, (sometimes in the local dialect.) He has seen the Wordplay festival in varying degrees before, and is very thrilled to have the opportunity to serve as one of the curators this year, considering the excellent mixture or poets and prose writers taking part, both local and abroad. He says that someday he’ll manage to tempt George R.R. Martin to attend, perhaps by swaying with him with some bannocks.

We can dream.

EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE UNTIL FRIDAY 7TH NOVEMBER AT MIDNIGHT.  www.shetlandboxoffice.org  01595 745555  In person from: Mareel, Lerwick, ZE1 0WQ and Islesburgh Community Centre, King Harald Street, Lerwick, ZE1 0EQ

SHETLAND BOX OFFICE  01595 745555

SCOTLAND ‘74: BLOSSOM A WORLD CUP STORY WITH LESLEY RIDDOCH WITH RICHARD GORDON

 MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION   TALK 

 Q&A   TALK 

 Wed 12 Nov 19:30 - 20:30  60 mins Doors: 19:00  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join celebrated sports journalist, writer and broadcaster Richard Gordon as he takes time out from presenting BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound in order to talk about this classic bittersweet story, in which the nation’s footballing heroes snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and still remained unbeaten.

WIRDCRAFT:

AN EVENING OF POETRY, SONG AND DISCUSSION  POETRY READING   TALK 

 Thu 13 Nov 18:30 - 19:30  60 mins  Bonhoga Cafe  FREE

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 Thu 13 Nov 20:00 - 21:00  60 mins Doors: 19:30  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join celebrated journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch, as she makes a welcome return to Shetland in order to discuss the Nordic aspects of Scottish culture and language, in what promises to be a lively session, regardless of the outcome of the referendum.

Come along to Bonhoga Cafe for an evening of poetry, song and discussion featuring the ten craft makers who took part in WirdCraft, a project run by Shetland Forwirds, during this the Year of Dialect. In the project, the makers produce work inspired by Shetland Dialect.

The music will be provided by guitarists, Alan Mackay and Robert Bennett; poetry

by Christian Tait and Laureen Johnson; the discussion will feature contributions from makers, Jo Jack and Helen Robertson. The evening will be introduced by Mary Blance, of Shetland Forwirds.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE www.shetlandboxoffice.org

THE LARK & THE OWL

WITH RON BUTLIN & REGI CLAIRE  Q&A   READING   TALK 

 Fri 14 Nov 18:00 - 19:00  60 mins Doors: 17:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

SHETLAND YOUNG WRITERS AWARD A CELEBRATION  READING   TALK 

 Fri 14 Nov 16:30 - 17:20  50 mins Doors: 16:15  Green Room, Mareel  FREE

Join the winners of the 2014, Shetland Young Writer Award and judges, Mary Blance and Jen Hadfield for this special event, celebrating the annual writing competition run by Shetland Library.

Two writers living together under one roof, Ron Butlin and Regi Claire will talk about their writing life, reading and criticising each other’s work while trying to give creative support. A difficult balance especially when one is a lark, the other an owl, and they have a dog to keep the peace between them!

1914 AND ALL THAT...  READING 

 Fri 14 Nov 21:00 - 22:00  60 mins  Green Room, Mareel  FREE

Shetland Arts in partnership with Shetland Museum and Archives ran a series of creative writing workshops using materials from the archives relating to 1914 as stimuli for creative writing.

This session provides an opportunity to hear the work that has been created as a result of this project.

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THE POETRY OF MIKE HARDING PART 1:

PART 2:

 POETRY READING 

 POETRY READING 

PLAYING THE PIANO UPSIDE DOWN

YOU CAN SLEEP ON THE SETTEE

 Fri 14 Nov 19:30 - 20:30  60 mins Doors: 19:15  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

 Sat 15 Nov 17:00 - 18:00  60 mins Doors: 16:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

Join comedian, broadcaster, folk singer and poet Mike Harding for episode one of his two part poetry reading as he performs a selection of his excellent poems.

Join comedian, broadcaster, folk singer, fly fisherman, dramatist and poet Mike Harding for episode two of his two part poetry reading as he performs another selection of his excellent poems.

His publications include Daddy Edgar’s Pools and Crystal Set Dreams (Peterloo Poets) Strange Lights Over Bexley Heath (Luarth Press) and his latest collection, just published, Connemara Cantos (also Luarth Press)

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His publications include Daddy Edgar’s Pools and Crystal Set Dreams (Peterloo Poets) Strange Lights Over Bexley Heath (Luarth Press) and his latest collection, just published, Connemara Cantos (also Luarth Press).

DA ELVES AN DA SHOEMAKKER

WITH JULIE DENNISON  CHILDREN’S EVENT 

 Sat 15 Nov 10:30 - 11:30  60 mins Doors: 10:15  Auditorium, Mareel  £6 EARLY BIRD: £4

Julie Dennison has won The Shetland Young Writer Award, twice. In this special event for bairns, she will give an illustrated reading of her first book, a Shetland version of the classic Grimm’s fairytale.

THE GUGA STONE: LIES, LEGENDS AND LUNACIES FROM ST KILDA. THE INSIDE STORY.  MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION   READING   TALK 

 Sat 15 Nov 12:00 - 13:00  60 mins Doors: 11:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join author Donald S Murray and artist Douglas Robertson for this special event in which they discuss their collaboration, show drawings and read excerpts from their unique and acclaimed book, published by Luath.

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WATCH OVER ME

CORVUS AND FIELD NOTES FROM A HIDDEN CITY

 READING   TALK 

 Q&A   READING   TALK 

WITH DANIELA SACERDOTI  Sat 15 Nov 14:00 - 15:00  60 mins Doors: 13:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join Daniela Sacerdoti, the bestselling author of Watch Over Me, as she talks about her work and life as a writer and reads from and discusses both novels from the Glen Avich series for adults.

EARLY BIRD TICKETS AVAILABLE UNTIL FRIDAY 7TH NOVEMBER AT MIDNIGHT  www.shetlandboxoffice.org  01595 745555  In person from: Mareel, Lerwick, ZE1 0WQ and Islesburgh Community Centre, King Harald Street, Lerwick, ZE1 0EQ

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WITH ESTHER WOOLFSON

 Sat 15 Nov 15:30 - 16:30  60 mins Doors: 15:15  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 After many years of sharing her Aberdeen home with birds, including a rook and a magpie, Esther Woolfson wrote the acclaimed Corvus—A Life With Birds, an account of her own experiences and of many aspects of the lives and amazing abilities of the crow family. Her most recent book, Field Notes From a Hidden City, in which she examines the natural life of Aberdeen city, was published to enthusiastic reviews.

In summer 2014, the book was shortlisted for both the Thwaites Wainwright and the Ondaatje Prizes and is now under consideration for the prestigious American literary award, the Kirkus Prize.

Join Esther Woolfson as she reads from and talks about these two remarkable books.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE www.shetlandboxoffice.org

WHERE MEMORIES GO: WHY DEMENTIA CHANGES EVERYTHING WITH SALLY MAGNUSSON  READING   TALK 

 Sat 15 Nov 19:30 - 20:30  60 mins Doors: 19:00  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join award winning author, journalist and broadcaster, Sally Magnusson as she talks about dementia and delivers a passionate call to arms for change.

Chronicling the sadness, the loneliness and the unexpected laughs and joys of caring for a loved one as dementia takes hold, Sally talks about her book in which she seeks understanding from a range of experts and asks penetrating questions about how we treat older people.

Shetland Arts is proud to present this event in collaboration with Alzheimer Scotland.

Representatives of Alzheimer Scotland and NHS Shetland Dementia Assessment Service, will be available to offer further information and answer questions about dementia before and after the event in the ground floor foyer.

Sally will be available to sign copies of Where Memories Go after the event. If you already have a copy and would like her to sign it, please bring it with you. If you do not have a copy, we plan to have them on sale in the foyer.

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SHETLAND BOX OFFICE  01595 745555

SHETLAND FOOD & COOKING

WITH MARIAN ARMITAGE  MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION   TALK 

 Sun 16 Nov 11:00 - 12:00  60 mins Doors: 10:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join Lerwick born teacher and cookery writer Marian Armitage in conversation as she discusses her new book, Shetland Food and Cooking, describes the process of researching and writing the book and talks about the people and recipes she met on the way.

POETRY READING

WITH GHAZI HUSSEIN & ROSEANNE WATT

TWO STORYTELLERS AND A NOVELIST...  READING   STORYTELLING 

 POETRY READING 

 Sun 16 Nov 13:00 - 14:00  60 mins Doors: 12:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join these two exceptional poets, one from Palestine, one from Shetland, both now resident in Edinburgh, as they perform their distinctive, inspirational poetry.

We are proud to have the support of Amnesty International in bringing Ghazi Hussein to Wordplay.

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 Sun 16 Nov 18:00 - 19:00  60 mins Doors: 17:45  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join Ian Stephen from Stornoway and Lawrence Tulloch from Yell, two of the country’s most gifted storytellers as they discuss the differences between oral and written story telling, celebrate the publication of their respective books - Of Death and Fish, by Ian and Shetland Folk Tales by Lawrence - and of course tell a few stories in between.

BUY TICKETS ONLINE www.shetlandboxoffice.org

SHORT DAYS, LONG SHADOWS:

SHEENAGH PUGH IN CONVERSATION WITH JEN HADFIELD  POETRY READING   Q&A 

 Sun 16 Nov 14:30 - 15:30  60 mins Doors: 14:15  Auditorium, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8 Join poet Sheenagh Pugh as she celebrates the publication of her new collection of poetry in the company of Jen Hadfield. The event will feature Sheenagh, regarded as one of the finest poets in the country, reading poems from her new collection and in discussion with Jen. Don’t miss it!

'21 REVOLUTIONS'

WITH JEN HADFIELD & ELIZABETH REEDER  MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION   POETRY READING   READING   TALK 

 Sun 16 Nov 16:00 - 17:30  90 mins Doors: 15:45  Auditorium, Mareel  FREE Join award winning poet, Jen Hadfield and celebrated novelist, Elizabeth Reeder as they discuss and share the new work they produced, inspired by the diverse and remarkable collections held by The Glasgow Women’s Library, as part of the 21 Revolutions Project.

We are proud to be running this event in partnership with the Glasgow Women’s Library.

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SALLY MAGNUSSON

Sally Magnusson is an awardwinning journalist and broadcaster.

She has presented numerous programmes for the BBC on both television and radio, including Breakfast News, Reporting Scotland, the Daily Politics, Panorama and Songs of Praise.

A regular presenter on BBC Scotland, Sally is married, has five children and lives near Glasgow.

This is her eighth book. Since her mother’s death, Sally has gone on to establish a charity, Playlist for Life (www.playlistforlife.org.uk), aimed at encouraging access for every person with dementia to a playlist of personally meaningful music from their past life.

DOUGLAS ROBERTSON

DONALD MURRAY

SHEENAGH PUGH

MARIAN ARMITAGE

Douglas Robertson is a visual artist, born and brought up on the east coast of Scotland, and this has had a major influence on his work. His world at that time had three main lines of influence: the spine of the Sidlaw Hills and the Angus Glens to the north; the city of Dundee, with its port and industries; and the River Tay, from its Highland stretches around Dunkeld and Kenmore to the wide river firth between Angus and Fife.

He now travels and exhibits widely around Scotland and the UK, and carries with him the same curiosity and sense of place that he developed growing up on the banks of the Tay. The coast and the countryside both still play an important role in his work.

Donald S Murray was raised in Ness in the Isle of Lewis and lives and works in Shetland.

Now a teacher, journalist and author, Donald has been published in several national anthologies, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland and shortlisted for both the Saltire Award and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. His first non-fiction book The Guga Hunters about the seabirdhunting traditions of his native district was highly praised by the critic and novelist, Will Self. His latest work, The Guga Stone; Lies, Legends And Lunacies from St Kilda , was chosen by Stephen Moss in the Guardian among his Top 10 Nature Books of the Year.

He has been awarded both the Robert Louis Stevenson and the Jessie Kesson Fellowship.

ESTHER WOOLFSON

Esther Woolfson began her writing career with highly acclaimed short stories. A novel Piano Angel, published in 2008 was long-listed for the Impac Dublin Award. She has been Artist in Residence at Aberdeen University’s Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability and, as Writer in Residence at the Hexham Book Festival in 2012, she spent time living in Kielder Forest.

Cold Vision, an anthology of work inspired by the Writers’ Residencies at Kielder, was launched in summer 2014 at an event at the Hexham Book Festival. It includes Esther’s essay on the residency and poems by Kathleen Jamie and Paul Farley. photo by Ross Johnston

Sheenagh Pugh is a poet, novelist, translator, critic, reviewer and considerable online presence through her popular blog. She has also written a book, The Democratic Genre, about fan fiction. She has published nine collections of poetry and both a Selected and a Later Selected Poems.She has won many prizes including the Forward Prize for best single poem, the Bridport Prize, the PHRAS prize, the Cardiff International Poetry Prize (twice) and the British Comparative Literature Association’s Translations Prize.

Marian is a Shetlander who, after studying at the Anderson High School trained as a teacher of ‘Domestic Science’ in Edinburgh in the early 70s.

For almost 35 years she taught Food and Nutrition mostly in London state secondary schools in Islington and Hammersmith & Fulham. She now spends increasingly longer periods of time at the family home in Scatness and has written a book about Shetland Food and Cookery which will be published by the Shetland Times in November.

REGI CLAIRE

Twice shortlisted for a Saltire Book of the Year Award, Regi Claire is the author of four works of fiction: The Waiting, Fighting It, The Beauty Room and InsideOutside.

Her story The Tasting was selected for The Best British Stories, 2013.

Regi is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Queen Margaret University and teaches creative writing at the National Gallery of Scotland. She was born and brought up in Switzerland, but now lives in Edinburgh with her husband, the writer Ron Butlin, and their golden retriever.

Photo © Dawn Marie Jones, Stoyanov & Jones

GHAZI HUSSEIN

Born to a family in exile from Palestine, Ghazi Hussein was first imprisoned at the age of 14. He was never charged but was 'guilty of carrying thoughts'. Repeatedly imprisoned and tortured over the next 20 years, he says that poetry saved his sanity.

Ghazi eventually arrived in Britain with his children in 2000.

A teacher and lecturer who studied philosophy and Arabic grammar, Ghazi's asylum case was originally deemed 'unfounded'. After a three year legal battle, medical evidence of the torture he had endured led to Ghazi and his family being granted refugee status with indefinite leave to stay.

Although Ghazi and his family have been subjected to physical and verbal racial abuse during their stay in Scotland, he says 'If I still remained in my place of birth.....my voice would be silenced. Here in Scotland I have the opportunity to tell my story, one which I believe is important and relevant to what is happening across the world at this time'.

IAN STEPHEN

Ian Stephen is a writer, artist and sailor from the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. He studied English, Drama and Education at Aberdeen University where he graduated in 1980 with a B Ed. (with distinction) and Hons in English. After 15 years in the coastguard service, he resigned in 1995, to work full-time in the arts.

Since the late 70s his wideranging work has been published in numerous UK journals, as well as internationally, in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland and the USA. Ian was the inaugural winner of the Christian Salvesen/Robert Louis Stevenson award and he was the first artist in residence at StAnza, Scotland's annual poetry festival. The practice of navigating through the geography of stories has been a key element of his work across the arts since a Creative Scotland Award in 2002.

Photo: Cape Clear Festival.

RON BUTLIN

With an international reputation as a prize-winning novelist, Ron Butlin is a former Edinburgh Makar / Poet Laureate (20082014). In 2009 he was made the first ever Honorary Writing fellow (together with Ian Rankin) at Edinburgh University. Much of his poetry, as well as many of his novels and short stories, have been broadcast and translated into over a dozen languages. In addition to his plays for BBC radio and theatre (most recently Sweet Dreams for Oran Mor in Glasgow), he has written six operas, three of them for Scottish Opera.

DANIELA SACERDOTI ROSEANNE WATT

Roseanne Watt is a 23 year old poet, filmmaker and musician from the Shetland Islands. She recently graduated from the University of Stirling with a first class BA (Hons) in Film & English Studies. She is currently studying the university’s MLitt in Creative Writing, specialising in poetry.

Daniela Sacerdoti is Italian but has lived in Scotland for the past ten years. She holds a degree in Classics from the University of Turin and her great-uncle was the renowned Italian writer Carlo Levi. Her debut novel Watch Over Me was published last year and she was shortlisted for the Kelpie Prize 2011 for her children’s book The Really Weird Removal Company.

LESLEY RIDDOCH

LAWRENCE TULLOCH

Lawrence Tulloch tells the stories and traditions of his native Shetland, and in particular, the lore of Yell and the northern islands. His repertoire ranges from folktales and sagas to local history and contemporary anecdotes. He is a fine entertainer with an inclination towards humour.

Lawrence was born in 1942 and brought up on the island of Yell, and he has worked as a weaver, a printer, a light keeper and a postmaster during his career.

Before his retirement in 1998 he was a postman. He is still active in the community and is a former Chairman of Shetland Islands Tourism.

The greatest influence on Lawrence Tulloch's storytelling was his father, the tradition bearer Tom Tulloch, and the many visitors who came to their house when he was young.

Lawrence's own storytelling developed through contributions to local radio. Since then, he has been a guest storyteller at several Scottish International Storytelling Festivals. He is a member of 'Scottish Pen', and has made 3 cassette tapes of Shetland folktales.

MIKE HARDING

Mike who? Isn’t he a folk singer or a comedian? Wasn’t he on TV a lot? Didn’t he present the Radio 2 folk programme? And was it him that had a top ten hit with a daft song about a Rochdale Cowboy? Must have retired years ago.

The answer is mostly yes, in that despite on-going and successful parallel careers as a folk singer and musician, radio and TV broadcaster, and a stand-up comedian, still in huge demand in theatres and folk festivals all over the country, Mike is increasingly focussed on his writing and, in particular, his poetry.

His 40-plus publications range from fell walking to fly fishing, taking in such diverse subjects as a series of 8 Little Books on aspects of church architecture and, more recently, a biography of the VW Camper Van. But it is his work as a poet which Mike is keen to bring to a wider audience. His publications include Daddy Edgar’s Pools and Crystal Set Dreams (Peterloo Poets) Strange Lights Over Bexley Heath (Luarth Press) and his latest collection, just published, Connemara Cantos (also Luarth Press).

Lesley Riddoch is an award-winning broadcaster, writer and journalist.

She writes weekly columns for The Scotsman and Sunday Post and is a regular contributor to The Guardian, Newsnight Scotland and Scotland Tonight. She is founder and Director of Nordic Horizons, a policy group that brings Nordic experts into the Scottish Parliament.

Lesley presented You and Yours on BBC Radio 4, The Midnight Hour on BBC2 and The People’s Parliament and Powerhouse on Channel 4. She founded the Scottish feminist magazine Harpies and Quines, won two Sony awards for her daily Radio Scotland show and edited The Scotswoman a 1995 edition of The Scotsman written and edited by its female staff.

She lives in Fife and is married to an Englishman who grew up in Canada.

RICHARD GORDON

Richard Gordon is the longtime presenter of BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound and a life-long Aberdeen FC fan. His passion for football was sparked by the 1970 Scottish Cup semifinal, his beloved Dons winning that day and going on to beat Celtic to lift the silverware. He followed the club throughout their glory years and remains a passionate supporter in these less successful times. He lives in Fintry.

STEVEN CANNY

Steven Canny is Executive Producer of BBC Comedy in Scotland. Shows there include: Miller’s Mountain (BBC1), Bob Servant (BBC4) and What’s Funny About the Indyref (BBC2). He is also a double Sony Gold Award winning producer, writer and director. He has written many plays including a silly comic adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles that has had over 50 productions internationally.

Work as Associate Director with Complicite includes: The Elephant Vanishes; Mnemonic; The Noise of Time. Steven was Associate Director of Al Pacino’s The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui.

JACK DOCHERTY

Jack forms a good 50% of the writing duo Hunter & Docherty, who were principal writers on In One Ear & Radio Active (BBC Radio 4), Spitting Image (ITV), and Alas Smith & Jones (BBC).

With no help from his writing partner, Jack has written a sitcom, Mac, for BBC Scotland and was Script Consultant on Vic Reeves Big Night Out. He wrote and co-starred in two series of The Creatives for BBC2 and co-starred with Mark Williams in Rob Grant’s sci-fi comedy series The Strangerers for Sky 1 and Model Actress Whatever, a half hour film for Channel 4 which he co-wrote and produced with Morwenna Banks and was directed by Rankin.

JULIE DENNISON

Julie Dennison was born in 1995 and has lived in Muckle Roe all her life. She has always had a keen interest in writing and drawing ever since she was peerie. She studied Art and Design at Brae High School, and this book was a large part of her Higher Folio.

She has always been interested in writing and has won the Shetland Young Writers Award twice, including the dialect prize in 2013. She is determined to try and preserve the Shetland dialect, and so in writing a childrens' book, she hopes it will encourage young children to continue spaekan Shetland!

ELIZABETH K REEDER

Originally from Chicago, Elizabeth lives in Scotland and is a writer. She writes fiction, lyrical essays/poems/crossover pieces, does some travel writing and writing for radio, and she teaches on the Creative Writing Programme at University of Glasgow. She has taught creative writing in a wide variety of places and communities, and was instrumental in the instigation and growth of the creative writing evening classes, online courses and mentoring programme in creative writing for University of Strathclyde’s Centre for Lifelong Learning.

FLASH FICTION

Flash Fiction is a form of literary fiction that is very short. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category.

Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as three hundred words, while others consider stories as long as a thousand words to be flash fiction. Elizabeth K Reeder will be running a workshop about how to write flash fiction.

NAT HALL

Nat Hall is a Norman-born, Shetland-based poet & visual artist, educated on French and British shores in Aixen-Provence and Oxford.

Contributor to Shetland Life, The New Shetlander, Shetland ForWirds, NorthWords Now, The Poetry of Scotland, Poésie Française, suckingmud, Poetry Scotland's Open Mouse, the Battered Suitcase, Cella RoundTrip (USA) &Poemata (Canada). Member of Shetland Arts, the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics,Humblyband & the Federation of Writers (Scotland).

Anthologised in Shetland, Scotland & Canada, co-author of From Shore to Shoormal / Dun rivage à l'autre with Donna Allard (BJP, 2012).

JEN HADFIELD Jen Hadfield lives in Shetland.

Her second collection NighNo-Place won the T. S. Eliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She won the Edwin Morgan Poetry Competition in 2012. Her third book Byssus was published by Picador in 2014. She is currently working on the libretto for an opera inspired by Hitchcock's film, Rear Window.

WORKSHOPS CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

with Nat Hall

with Ghazi Hussein

with Elizabeth K Reeder

WRITING IN MORE THAN ONE TONGUE  WORKSHOP 

HOW TO BUILD A POEM

 POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP 

THE ART OF SHORT SHORT FICTION  WORKSHOP 

 Tue 11 Nov 19:00 - 21:00  120 mins  2nd Floor Meeting Room, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

 Sat 15 Nov 10:00 - 12:00  120 mins Doors: 09:45  2nd Floor Meeting Room, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

 Sun 16 Nov 10:00 - 12:00  120 mins  2nd Floor Meeting Room, Mareel  £12/£10 EARLY BIRD: £10/£8

Join multi-lingual poet Nat Hall for this workshop in which she will work with you to explore your creative voice; exploit and blend languages and dialect through your creative process and harness them in your creative writing.

Join Ghazi Hussein, whose writing and teaching have been described as “inspirational,” for this workshop on how to build a poem.

BBC COMEDY WRITING FOR TV WORKSHOP 2014

CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP

Join celebrated author and creative writing tutor, Elizabeth K Reeder for a two hour workshop on writing the increasingly popular literary form, flash fiction. Never tried it before? This could be the perfect opportunity to kick start a new writing project.

Here is how she describes the workshop: “In this workshop we will look at different types of short shorts and flash fictions, and we will discuss elements of craft such as opening lines, different structures, and what sort of endings the best pieces of short short fiction offer up. I’ll bring examples for us to discuss. We’ll quickly get writing and by the end of the workshop we should all have drafts of some great short shorts in hand!”

with Steven Canny & Jack Docherty

Shetland Arts is proud to present this event with the support of Amnesty International.

WRITING COMEDY FOR THEATRE with Steven Canny

 WORKSHOP 

 WORKSHOP 

 Sat 15 Nov 14:00 - 17:00  180 mins  FREE  Auditorium, Shetland Museum & Archives

 Sun 16 Nov 11:00 - 13:00  120 mins  FREE  Auditorium, Shetland Museum & Archives