Maggie & Me
The Guardian 13 May 2024 On the page, Damian Barr’s 2013 memoir is subtle and seductive. His coming-of-age tale is like a Scottish version of The End of Eddy by…
Nan Shepherd: Naked And Unashamed
The Scotsman 3 May 2024 Fame is fickle. Today, you can see the face of Nan Shepherd, set against a backdrop of Highland wilderness, on your Royal Bank of Scotland…
Edinburgh International Children’s Festival 2024
The Scotsman 26 April 2024 Noel Jordan likes to build his programmes for the Edinburgh International Children’s Festival organically. Rather than start with a rigid framework, he selects the productions…
The Girls of Slender Means
The Guardian 18 April 2024 We are in that open-ended time between a long collective trauma and the arrival of a Labour government. You will know the feeling, but this…
James V: Katherine
The Guardian 11 April 2024 Anyone with half an eye on today’s global politics will know bad things happen when religious zealots come face to face. The same is true…
Shō and the Demons of the Deep
The Scotsman 8 April 2024 Wouldn’t it be good if we could get rid of nightmares? That is the idea behind Shō And The Demons Of The Deep, a children’s…
Sunset Song
The Scotsman 29 March 2024 In 2016, BBC Scotland conducted a poll to determine Scotland’s favourite novel. The winner beat some formidable competition, coming in ahead of The Wasp Factory…
The Girls of Slender Means
The Scotsman 26 March 2024 In January 2018, the Edinburgh International Book Festival put on a celebration of Muriel Spark. Taking place in the Usher Hall on the eve of…
Don’t. Make. Tea.
The Guardian 24 March 2024 It is 2037 and the government has instituted a new system for assessing claims for disability benefits. Having listened to complaints about the old questionnaire,…