Books
Take a look at the top five bikepacking routes in Scotland
For round-the-world cyclist Markus Stitz bikepacking is the purest way to discover Scotland off the beaten track. An evolution of cycle touring, bikepacking sees riders head out with everything they’ll need to spend the night strapped to their bike. And few know more about it than Markus who founded Bikepacking Scotland after becoming the first…
Read MoreBook festivals unveil details
BOOK lovers have received details of three major events over the summer. The Borders Book Festival announced details of its programme today. Authors speaking at the festival – which runs on 15-18 June at Melrose’s Harmony Garden – include Sebastian Barry, Robert Harris, and Douglas Stuart. Celebrities appearing at the event include former Prime Minister…
Read MoreHighland Book Prize shortleet unveiled
FOUR authors have made it onto the shortleet for the Highland Book Prize. A longlist of 12 was whittled down to Companion Piece by Ali Smith, Confessions of a Highland Art Dealer by Tony Davidson, Crann-Fìge by Duncan Gillies, and WAH! Things I Never Told My Mother by Cynthia Rogerson. The winner of the competition…
Read MoreRead the runner-up in the Glencairn Glass Crime Short Story Competition
Allan Gaw was the runner-up in the Glencairn Glass Short Story Competition with The Last Tram to Gorbals Cross. Once you’ve read his story then check-out the winning entry – The Dummy Railway by Francis Crawford in the May issue of Scottish Field magazine. GLASGOW, 1928: A bluebottle thuds against the pane. Reeling on the…
Read MoreShortleet for 2023 Walter Scott Prize unveiled
SEVEN books have been named on the shortleet for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. The titles competing for the £25,000 prize are: These Days by Lucy Caldwell (Faber) The Geometer Lobachevsky by Adrian Duncan (Tuskar Rock Press) Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Hutchinson Heinemann) The Chosen by Elizabeth Lowry (Riverrun) The…
Read MoreSci-fi music revives Dundee’s Frankenstein link
DUNDEE’S link with Frankenstein will be explored during next month’s Science Fiction Experience rock concert. David Darling, the science writer who is producing the gig, has penned a track inspired by the book, which Mary Shelley wrote after living in Dundee from 1812 to 1814. The show coincides with the 200th anniversary of the second…
Read MoreGlencairn Glass short story competition results revealed
THE Glencairn Glass – the world’s favourite whisky glass, produced by Scottish glassware company Glencairn Crystal – has today revealed the winner and runner-up of its Scottish-themed crime short story competition, in association with Scottish Field. Having supported and celebrated Scottish crime writing talent with its ongoing sponsorship of the prestigious McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland…
Read MoreBook Review: ‘One Hungry Dragon’
Megan Amato reviews One Hungry Dragon, the new children’s book from Edinburgh-based author Alastair Chisholm. IT’S no secret that Edinburgh-based children’s author Alastair Chisholm loves dragons as his early reader series, The Dragon Storm, is full of lore and popular amongst children ages six to eight. In One Hungry Dragon, he takes on a younger…
Read MoreRecord audience for Granite Noir festival
A RECORD 15,000 people visited Aberdeen over the weekend for the Granite Noir crime writing festival. The festival’s seventh outing attracted almost 11,500 people to its shows, with a further 3,000 or so visiting the “Curriculum of Crime” exhibition at the city’s Music Hall. Highlights of this year’s festival included author Val McDermid in conversation…
Read MoreBook review: ‘Clanlands Almanac’ paperback
Book reviewer Simone Waters brings a fresh pair of eyes to the paperback release of Outlander stars Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish’s The Clanlands Almanac. The Clanlands Almanac Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish Hodder & Stoughton SCOTLAND’S two favourite storytelling sons are back. Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish are no strangers to success; this duo…
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