Books
Shortleet 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…
Read MoreRobert Burns Minecraft project gets awards nod
A PROJECT to promote Robert Burns within the Minecraft computer game is in the running for an award. The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust and the University of Glasgow have been shortlisted in the innovation of the year category at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards. The project is up against The Prebiotic Company and Glasgow Caledonian…
Read MoreWalter Scott Prize longlist unveiled
THE longlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction has been published Twelve novels are in the running for the £25,000 prize, which celebrates books published in the UK, Ireland, and the Commonwealth. James Robertson won last year’s prize with News of the Dead. Katie Grant, chair of the judges, said: “This year’s submissions…
Read MoreBook Review: ‘Snow Widows’
Snow Widows Katherine MacInnes William Collins Books [review rating=”3″ align = “left”] THIS meta-biography written in present tense gives the before lesser heard voices of women a chance to have their own outlet. Former journalist and prizewinning biographer Katherine MacInnes has long been researching the female perspective on polar exploration’s golden age and has travelled…
Read MoreBook review: ‘Wee Unicorn’
Wee Unicorn Meg McLaren Hachette THE unicorn has never gone out of fashion and its magical presence has long been rendered in children’s books in all manner of ways. However, in Wee Unicorn, Inverness-based writer and illustrator Meg McLaren transform’s the fabled creature from a being with mystical powers to a lonely protagonist who yearns…
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