Books
The Good Books, Jenny Colgan: ‘When I was six my parents found me reading a Dr Spock baby book’
The best selling rom-com author on reading parenting books as a child, why she recommends people read Middlemarch and her favourite books of the year. The first book I remember reading: Topsy and Tim. I wasn’t reading them, but apparently I’d learned them off by heart. My mum used to show off and pretend…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Neil Lancaster: ‘Ian Rankin is the master of Scottish fiction’
The retired Met police officer turned author on being inspired by Ian Rankin, John Niven’s heartbreaking memoir and Tony Kent as the British David Baldacci. The first book I remember reading: When I was about ten, my sister was doing her English O’Levels, and one of the books she was being forced to read…
Read MoreBoswell Book Festival: Rose Reilly, Jackie Kay, John Niven and Aasmah Mir all set to feature
Boswell Book Festival is back this year and features stories from two living legends of WW2, a Tik Tok sensation from the Hebrides and Ayrshire’s own world cup winner. Football legend Rose Reilly, who became the only Scottish person to have won a football world cup while playing for Italy in 1983, kicks off the…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Les Wilson: ‘I grew up reading Winnie-the-Pooh, I do a good Eeyore voice’
The former political journalist on being inspired by historian Jan Morris and shrinking time on CalMac ferries to Islay by reading. The first book I remember reading: The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne. My mother read it to me (using all sorts of wonderful character voices) and I watched her finger move…
Read MoreScottish muse: We speak to 13 authors about their favourite writing spots
Scotland has never been short of literary gems, whether authors were born, raised or immigrated here, this land has inspired and emboldened many to create. From past literary heroes like Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robbie Burns and Muriel Spark to prolific modern legends like Jackie Kay, Ian Rankin, Sir Alexander McCall Smith…
Read MoreWhat Colour Are Your Wellies? A new Hebridean children’s story
One year ago, two wildlife guides living on the Isle of Mull launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the creation of a children’s book celebrating the natural beauty of the Hebrides. They reached their funding goal in just 24 hours, doubled it before the end of the campaign, and their idea was picked up by…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Alex Kane: ‘I often turn to audiobooks now because I can listen to them anywhere’
Writer Alex Kane on her love of Ruth Ware and enjoying audiobooks. The first book I remember reading: I read lots when I was little, but the first book that I really remember reading was Saffy’s Angel by Hilary McKay. I was on my first ever holiday abroad and was finding the sun far…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Philip Miller: ‘I might set fire to my terrible poems in a cleansing ritual’
The journalist and civil servant Philip Miller on growing up reading comics and writing poetry. The first book I remember reading: The old Ladybird version Tales of King Arthur, the first is called The Mysteries of Merlin. They had these clean, clear illustrations. I read them over and over. The first longer book that…
Read MoreGlencairn Glass: Winner and runner-up announced for crime short story competition
A sinister story about a Scottish recipe for stovies and a grisly tale about the strange sheep of Greshornish have been chosen as the winning and runner-up stories in The Glencairn Glass crime short story competition this year. Philip Wilson won Scottish themed crime fiction competition, now in its third year, with Elisabeth Ingram Wallace…
Read MoreThe Good Books, Douglas Jackson: ‘I was bereft by the end of The Alan Rickman Diaries’
The former journalist on being encouraged to persevere by the late John Le Carre and why he always recommends the Aubrey-Maturin Napoleonic naval adventures. The first book I remember reading: My dad took me to the library before I was old enough to get a ticket and I’ve been an avid reader ever since.…
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