Scottish author Val McDermid awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh

Scottish author Val McDermid has been awarded an honorary degree from University of Edinburgh. Originally from Kirkcaldy, Val is one of the UK’s most accomplished and respected novelists, an international number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than forty languages and sold over 19 million copies worldwide. Her multi-award-winning series and…

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The Good Books, David Goodman: ‘It’s a shameful thing to admit for an English Literature graduate, but I couldn’t get through Ulysses’

David Goodman on not being able to get through Ulysses, how Iain Banks inspired him, and the books of his childhood.    The first book I remember reading: If we’re talking children’s books, it’s probably Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, which I read dozens of times with my parents. But the first…

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The Good Books, Marisa Haetzman: ‘Denise Mina is one of Scotland’s great writers, I’m looking forward to her next book’

Dr Marisa Haetzman is a former consultant anaesthetist and together with her husband Chris Brookmyre, she writes under the joint pen name Ambrose Parry. The pair will be appearing at Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival in Stirling 12-14 September. For tickets and further information go to www.bloodyscotland.com   The first book I remember reading: I don’t…

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The Good Books, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart: ‘Keeping readers enthralled as to what might happen next should be the focus of any storyteller’

Dugald Bruce-Lockhart on not reading War and Peace, his love of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses and the books of his childhood.    The first book I remember reading: Other than the Ladybird book of dinosaurs, the first proper story I remember reading was Shadow the Sheepdog, by Enid Blyton. Along with Gerald Durrell’s novels, my…

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