Final three revealed in hunt for top teen novel

Three Scottish writers are in the running for the 2019 Scottish Teenage Book Prize after the competition’s shortlist was announced earlier today. Voting for the winner has now opened for young readers across the country. The shortlisted authors for the prize have been revealed by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity changing lives through reading…

Read More

This Pelican brief is an uplifting experience

Prepare yourself for an hour of the most surreal and physical style of comedy as critically acclaimed Pelican bring a brand new, mad cap, uplifting and hugely entertaining show to this year’s Fringe. Formed by ex-Cambridge Footlights Sam Grabiner, Jordan Mitchell and Guy Emanuel, Pelican blend sketch, improvisation and physical theatre to create the finest comedy…

Read More

Comedian Scott is on the ‘one to watch’ list

This year’s Chortle’s One To Watch at the Fringe is Scott Bennett, with his show Leap Year. What does it mean to follow your dreams when you feel like you have so much to lose? Scott  will tell you as he has finally made a decision that has changed his life and the lives of his family.…

Read More

The incredible transformation of this Georgian property

When Julie Allan and her family moved into their property on Edinburgh’s Gillespie Street, it bore very little resemblance to the family home that it is today. The house had been an HMO and was decidedly unloved. The Allans got the keys just before Christmas and only had time to paint the walls and hastily…

Read More

The queen of the one-liners is Sheep shape

One of the only female one-liner acts currently on the UK circuit today and fresh from improv and comedy writing training at the world renowned Second City Training Centre in Chicago, Adele Cliff brings her hotly anticipated debut hour to the festival. This is a gag-packed show about individuality, searching for friends, following and fitting…

Read More

Packed programme for 20th Wigtown Book Festival

Scotland’s National Book Town is set to celebrate its 20th birthday with 10 days of events and entertainment featuring authors, campaigners, comedians and poets. A packed programme of authors, celebrity speakers and events has been unveiled for the 20th annual Wigtown Book Festival – which has been described as the ‘brightest jewel on the festival…

Read More

Edinburgh Festival Fringe review: Marcus Brigstocke

So, apparently, it’s time to establish, for once and all, what’s good and bad about life and its major players. Here you find Lucifer appearing in person, complete with red face, menacing horns and astonishingly white shiny teeth. Topics covered include everything from gender fluidity to utterly British foibles, the demise of Theresa May, and…

Read More

Book review – 1824: The World’s First Football Club

Queen’s Park Football Club are acknowledged as Scotland’s oldest football club, having been founded in 1867. But Hampden Park’s finest weren’t the first team in the land. The Foot-Ball Club which was formed in Edinburgh in 1824, the world’s first known organisation dedicated to football. It was founded by John Hope, a student lawyer, and…

Read More

You can’t help but take note of Susie’s work

Calligrapher and painter Susie Leiper is surrounded by quills and a range of Chinese brushes in her bright Edinburgh New Town mews studio. You may not think that you’ve ever seen Susie’s work, but you definitely have. It was Susie’s fair hand that produced the Gaelic poetry calligraphy on the new Royal Bank of Scotland…

Read More

The fantastic four power on in Rura’s new album

Four go on alone in Rura’s third album which, for the first time, is a wholly instrumental recording following the departure of singer Adam Holmes at the end of 2016. It is a testament to the confidence the remaining band members have in their own musical ability to defer seeking a new vocalist either from…

Read More