THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS

Catriona Lexy Campbell is from the Isle of Lewis and has been working in the Gaelic world for a number of years as a writer, actress and teacher. She has had five published books as of now, ‘Balach Beag a Mhàthar’ (Stòrlann 2004), ‘Sgeulachdan Eagalach Feagalach’ (Acair 2006), ‘Samhraidhean Dìomhair’ (Clàr, under Ùr-Sgeul 2009), ‘Cleasan a’ Bhaile Mhòir (Sandstone Press 2009) and ‘Cluicheadairean’ (Acair 2013).”

Helen Sedgwick is the author of The Comet Seekers, published in 2016 by Harvill Secker in the UK and HarperCollins in the US and Canada.

Helen has an MLitt in Creative Writing from Glasgow University. She won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2012 and her writing has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and widely published in magazines and anthologies.

As a literary editor, Helen has worked as the managing director of Cargo Publishing and managing editor of Gutter, and she founded Wildland Literary Editors in 2012. Before writing her debut novel, Helen was a research physicist with a PhD in Physics from Edinburgh University. She lives in the Scottish Highlands.

Jim Crumley has written more than thirty books, mostly on the wildlife and wild landscape of his native Scotland. The first instalment of his Seasons series, The Nature of Autumn, was longlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize 2017. The follow-up to that book is the stunning The Nature of Winter. The third in the series, The Nature of Spring, was Radio 4’s Book of the Week. The Nature of Summer, the final book of  Seasons, will be published later this year by Saraband.

The Eagle’s Way was shortlisted for a prestigious Saltire Society award, and his Encounters in the Wild series – which sees Jim get up close and personal with Britain’s favourite animals – has found him many new readers. He has also recently written about the return of the beaver to the UK’s wetlands in Nature’s Architect (Saraband, 2015).

Jim is a widely published journalist and has a monthly column in The Scots Magazine, as well as being a poet and occasional broadcaster on both radio and television.

Zoe Venditozzi was born in 1975 and grew up in a small village in North East Fife. After graduating with an honours degree in English from the University of Glasgow, Zoe worked in a variety of jobs including selling answerphones, nannying and editing the letters page on The People’s Friend. When Zoe and her husband moved to New Zealand she decided to train as a teacher and dreamed of becoming a writer. However, it was only when she returned to Scotland and started having children that Zoe started to write seriously. Zoe has an Mlitt in Creative Writing from the University of Dundee and has had short stories and poems published in various magazines and books.

Zoe’s novel Anywhere’s Better Than Here was published in October 2012 by Sandstone Press. She’s currently working on a book about a neurotic new mum and a psychic teenager and she’s also putting together a short story collection.

Zoë Strachan was born in Irvine and grew up in Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. She moved to Glasgow in 1992, where she began her studies at Glasgow University. She graduated in 1996 with an MA in Archaeology and Philosophy.

After university Strachan worked a range of jobs including telephone banking, call-centres, directory enquiries and dog walker, later enrolling on the Creative Writing course run by Glasgow and Strathclyde Universities, from which she graduated with an M.Litt in 2000. Rachel Seiffert (The Dark Room) and Louise Welsh (The Cutting Room) also studied with her.

She was given a two-book advance by Picador and published her first novel, Negative Space, to much critical acclaim in 2002. The book was set in Orkney and her adopted city of Glasgow. Negative Space was nominated for the Saltire First Book of the Year, the SAC Book of the Year and won a Betty Trask Award. Her second novel, Spin Cycle, was published in 2004, and the third, Ever Fallen in Love, in 2011.

She is a member of a group of young, female Glasgow writers known as the “Glasgow Girls”, comprising Strachan, Louise Welsh, Laura Marney and Anne Donovan. Strachan publishes short stories in anthologies and literary magazines here and abroad, has written extensive journalism and some essays and criticism, and has written drama, short stories and other pieces for radio. She has also been teaching on the Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow since 2003, with a sabbatical in 2006 which she spent in Bamberg and Berlin working on her next novel.

Strachan lives in Glasgow with her partner, the writer Louise Welsh.

Will Napier was born in West Virginia, USA, to an American father and a British mother. After having moved around other parts of the US and travelling abroad, He moved to the Kingdom of Fife in 1999 with his wife and two sons.

He is a graduate of the M.Litt degree in Creative Writing at Glasgow University and is currently a PhD student in the university’s Department of English Literature.

Will’s fiction has appeared in Nerve Magazine, The Sunday Herald Magazine, Confluence and The Knuckle End: An Anthology of Emerging Scottish Literary Talent.

His first novel, Summer of the Cicada, was published by Jonathan Cape in 2005. He is currently writing a collection of short stories and his second novel.

Novelist William McIlvanney was born in Kilmarnock and studied at the Academy there, before going on to read an MA in English at the University of Glasgow. After graduating in 1960, he worked for 15 years as an English teacher. His first novel, Remedy is None, won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1996. He is best known for his gritty portrayals of working class life in 1970s Glasgow and Kilmarnock (fictionalised as “Graithnock”). His 1975 novel Docherty won the Whitbread Novel Award, and its sequel, The Kiln, won a Saltire Society Award.

McIlvanney’s 1985 novel The Big Man was made into a film starring Liam Neeson and featuring Billy Connolly. His most recent novel is Weekend, published in 2006. McIlvanney is also a successful poet, with collections published in 1970 and 1991.

Unfortunately McIlvanney’s books went out of print but 2012 saw a real revival of interest in the author and his works. Canongate’s editorial director, Francis Bickmore, bought world rights and republished Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch and Strange Loyalties in 2013, followed by Doherty and The Big Man in 2014.

William McIlvanney’s brother Hugh is a respected sports journalist and writer, and his son, Liam McIlvanney, is an academic and novelist working in New Zealand. William McIllvanney died in 2015.

William Letford has worked as a roofer, on and off, since he was fifteen years old. He has received a New Writer’s Award from the Scottish Book Trust and an Edwin Morgan Travel Bursary which allowed him to spend three months in the mountains of northern Italy helping to restore a medieval village. He has an M.Litt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow.

In 2011 he was considered “A particular highlight at last night’s Unbound in the Spiegeltent…” by

The Guardian

Courtesy of Carcanet Press

During his work as a roofer William would hide poetry in the buildings “I love the idea of it not being seen for so long, then discovered along with the measurements and the pencil marks.” Letford told The Independent.

I don’t sign them and don’t take note of where they are. I didn’t plan any of them and apart from the people I was working with, nobody knew they were up there. In 100 years or so it will be incredible if somebody stumbles across them.

William Dalrymple was born in East Lothian but now divides his time between London and Dehli, India. After graduating from Cambridge University he wrote In Zanadu: A Quest at the age of 22, which won the Yorkshire Post Best First Book Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book Award; he has since won awards and acclaim for each of his subsequent books.

In 1989 Dalrymple moved to Delhi to research his second book, City of Djinns, a lyrical, varied history and description of Old and New Delhi. His fifth book White Mughals, tracing the history of a love affair between a British dignitary and a Hyderabadi noblewoman, and challenges assumptions about the division been the ‘rulers and the ruled’ in the British Raj. He describes himself as fascinated by Islam – “I love the music, I love the food, I love the architecture. It is the thing in life which has most fascinated me.” Works such as White Mughals are in part an attempt to change Western perceptions about Islam.

Dalrmyple is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (and was the youngest Fellow to join), and a member for the Royal Asiatic Society. He has also written and presented for radio and televison; a list of his articles and essays can be found on his website. He is married with three children, and is currently writing a book about the First Afghan War.

William Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1952, the son of expatriate Scots from Fife. He regards himself as a Scottish writer, saying recently in the Scottish Review of Books, “If someone asks me what nationality I am, I unhesitatingly say I’m Scottish… I’m also aware sometimes I’m included in anthologies of Scottish literature, and sometimes I’m excluded… In Scotland, the net is not being thrown wide enough.” (Here, at BooksfromScotland.com, we’re very happy to include William Boyd.)

His writing brought him success almost immediately with his first novel, A Good Man in Africa, winning the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Somerset Maugham Award in 1981. The following year, his next novel An Ice-Cream War was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Since then, he has been a prolific writer and screenwriter with some of his novels and short stories adapting to radio and the small screen.

Boyd’s most recent works include Bamboo, an autobiographical selection of non-fiction writings from the past three decades, and the novel Ordinary Thunderstorms.

Sir Walter Scott looms large in any roll call of Scottish writers yet few people now, outside the academic arena, would claim to have read his work in its entirety. Yet, the man and his books gripped Europe in the 19th century and made him one of the best-known and influential writers of the age. (He also retains the distinction of being the only writer in Britain to have had a railway station named after one of his works: Edinburgh’s Waverley station.)

He was born in Edinburgh in 1771 in the Old Town, where he lived for much of his early years. He suffered from bouts of ill health in his youth and was often sent to relatives in the Borders, an area for which he retained an enormous affection, finally settling there when he became successful. In 1786-87 when Scott was fifteen, he met Robert Burns at a literary salon in Edinburgh. The poet made a distinct impression on Scott as he recalls: ‘I think his countenance was more massive than it looks in any of the portraits. I would have taken the poet, had I not known what he was, for a very sagacious country farmer of the old Scotch school; that is, none of your modern agriculturalists who keep laborers for their drudgery, but the douce guidman who held his own plough. There was a strong expression of sense and shrewdness in all his lineaments: the eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was large, and of a cast which glowed (I say literally glowed). I never saw such another eye in a human being, though I have seen the most distinguished men of my time. His conversation expressed perfect self-confidence, but without the least intrusive forwardness; and when he differed in opinion, he did not hesitate to express it firmly, yet at the same time with modesty.’

After studying law at Edinburgh University, Scott qualified as a lawyer, and became an Advocate in 1792. During his time as an Advocate he spent time in the Scottish Borders where he renewed his interest in the area and in the Border Ballads. His main literary debut came in the form of the collection, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in 1802 and which included a contribution from James Hogg, the ‘Ettrick Shepherd’. Scott also studied German at the time in order to read Goethe and Schiller, among others, and translated several works into English. He had begun his literary career in verse and song but soon moved on to prose. In the late 18th century, the novel was not seen as a serious literary form, (not compared to poetry in any case) so Scott’s first foray into novel writing was made anonymously with the publication of Waverley in 1814. The work was literally an overnight success, selling out very rapidly in the days following publication. Thereafter, Scott’s output was prodigious. Waverley was followed by eight Scottish-based novels, including the bestselling Rob Roy, a novel about the legendary Jacobite rebel.

In 1797 Scott had married Charlotte Carpenter in Carlisle and settled in Edinburgh where the first two of his children are born. In 1799, he became Sheriff Depute of Selkirkshire and made a decision to move his family from Edinburgh to the Borders. In 1818 he accepted a baronetcy and commenced the building of a new house, which he called Abbotsford a few years later. It would be a much-admired example of Scots Baronial architecture but was one that would prove very costly. In 1824 the family moved in and enjoyed the many comforts of the house, as did many distinguished visitors.

1826 was to prove one of the worst years in Scott’s life, however. In May, Scott’s wife died and later that year Scott’s publishers and printer, Archibald Constable and James Ballantyne, upon whom Scott had drawn loans and advances to finance Abbotsford, suffered severe financial difficulties and Scott found himself in debt to the tune of £121,000. He would have been forced to sell the house had he not placed it in the name of his son, thus taking it out of reach of his creditors. Scott was thus able to remain in the house until his death in 1832. (The house, which is open to the public, is a major attraction these days.)

The fall out from the financial troubles ruined the relationship between Scott and his publishers and cast a shadow over his later years. His immense literary output did not dim however as he continued to write to pay off his debts. He is buried in Dryburgh Abbey.

There are many editions of his work, both academic editions and cheaper Classic editions. Edinburgh University Press publishes the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels.

Prolific children’s author Vivian French now lives and works in Edinburgh, but was born in Bedfordshire and has lived in London and Bristol. Originally an actor in children’s theatre, she has also worked in counselling and as a storyteller. Her father was a headmaster but she had an unhappy time at school.

She was first published in 1990, after a fellow author, Diana Hendry, encouraged her to submit one of her stories for publication. Since then she has had over 200 books published, including numerous picture books and popular Tiara Club series of stories for girls.

French is a visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England, and also teaches at the Edinburgh College of Art. She has held Writer in Residence positions at both the Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Swansea Festival, and regularly attends other children’s book festivals.

She now lives in Edinburgh, and has four grown up children.

Victoria Hendry has worked in the London Museum of Jewish Life and Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery, both of which stimulated her appetite for the story behind
 the objects. She has an MSc in Creative Writing from Edinburgh University and was shortlisted for the Society of Women Writers and Journalists International Life Writing Prize in 2012. Born in Glasgow, Victoria lives in Edinburgh, and her debut novel, A Capital Union, was published by Saraband in 2013.

Short story writer and novelist, Vicki Jarrett, was born in Edinburgh and studied Publishing at Napier University. The first short story she finished and submitted was awarded second prize in the Macallan Scotland on Sunday Short Story Competition in 1996. Subsequent short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Somerset, shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize 2009 and the Bridport Prize 2012 and published in a variety of anthologies and magazines, including Gutter issues 04 and (upcoming) 08.

Nothing is Heavy

Her first novel, Nothing is Heavy, was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize in 2011 and published by Linen Press Books in September 2012. Nothing is Heavy is a fast-paced dark comedy set over the course of one Saturday night, told from three points of view: a chip shop worker, a pole dancer and a man in a monkey costume.

She is currently working on a short story collection inspired her eclectic employment history and a second novel. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband and two children.

Crime novelist Val McDermid grew up in Kirkcaldy, and spent a lot of her childhood with her grandparents in East Wemyss. At High School she was placed in an experimental high-IQ stream, taught separately from the other children; the Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also part of the programme. Expected to excel in all areas, she was criticised for failing to take part in a school hockey match – instead, she was being interviewed for Oxford University. McDermid was the first female Scottish pupil from a state school to attend St Hilda’s College, where she read English.

After University she became a journalist, first working in Devon and later in Glasgow and Manchester. She had been writing since she was aged 21 – her first book, Like A Happy Ending, was adapted for stage and radio but was never published. Her first published novel, Report for Murder, was written in 1984 and published in 1987; it featured lesbian journalist Lindsay Gordon. Four further novels featuring Gordon have been published.

In 1991 McDermid gave up her journalism to write full time, although she still contributes to various national newspapers. Her graphic psychological thrillers and murder mysteries had sometimes proved controversial, and her profile was raised further when her Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series of novels was adapted for television with the ITV show The Wire in the Blood. The first novel in the series, The Mermaids Singing, won a CWA Dagger Award for best novel in 1995. In 2010 she was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in recognition of her 20 years of crime writing.

Her other crime series include the Karen Piries series, the Kate Brannigan series, the Lindsay Gordon series, and the Allie Burns series. In 2024 she contributed to Polygon’s Darkland series of books with Queen Macbeth.

Poet Valerie Gillies was born in Canada, but raised in south Lanarkshire and now lives in Edinburgh. She has been writing and teaching poetry and creative writing since the 1970s, working for organisations such as Artlink, the Avron foundation, and the University of Edinburgh. She completed her MLitt at the University of Edinburgh, after previously studying in India. She was the first editor of the SPL’s poetry map of Scotland.

Gillies is particularly known for her collaborative work with photographers and other visual artists, most notably for her collection Men and Beasts with Rebecca Marr. Other collections include The Tweed Journey and most recently The Spring Teller.

She was Edinburgh Makar between 2005 and 2008, and has won three SAC awards and the Eric Gregory Award for Edinburgh. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, and has three children.

Valerie was born in 1969 and grew up in the Hillfoots town of Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire where people know her as Valerie Forsyth. She attended Alva Academy and went on to become a nursery nurse. During the late 1990s, following the birth of her three children, Valerie embarked on an Open University Honours degree, Humanities with History, which was completed in 2003 after she and her family moved to Caithness. Since then Valerie has written the best-selling history book Camp 165 Watten about the prisoner of war camp in the Caithness village where she lived for 4 years, which was published in 2007 with a second edition published three years later. This was followed in 2011 by a book of biographies in The Caithness Influence.

Valerie has successfully published two other books for Amazon’s Kindle. These are Sons of Kirriemuir (2012) about some well-known, and not so well known, Kirriemarians, including J M Barrie and Bon Scott, and her first novel Janus Spring (2012), a 9/11 conspiracy story. She is currently working on the sequel and has almost completed a book of biographies of Highland folk from Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland and Caithness. Valerie also contributes to The Scots Magazine.

Tony Black was born in Newcastle in Australia and raised in Scotland and Ireland. he now lives and works in Edinburgh. A former Young Journalist of the Year who once reviewed night clubs for The Daily Record, he now writes for The Edinburgh Evening News and The Scotsman. A fan of crime writing, he is the editor of online magazine Pulp Pusher, and is a regular contributor to Thug Lit and Shots Magazine.

His début crime novel, Paying for It, is a hard-boiled expose of criminal gangs, people trafficking and alcoholism in Edinburgh; the sequel Gutted was launched in 2009. Black’s third novel is Loss, and Long Time Dead was published in 2010.

Toni Davidson lives and works in Glasgow, but was born in Ayr in 1965. He has written two books – the novel Scar Culture, one of The List’s 100 Best Scottish Books of All Time, and the short story anthology The Gradual Gathering of Lust. Scar Culture has been published in 14 countries around the world.

He has also contributed to and edited three important anthologies of writing – And Thus I Will Freely Sing (1989), the first collection of LGBT writing from Scotland, Intoxication: An Anthology of Stimulant-Based Writing, and Damage Land: New Scottish Gothic Fiction. He has described his writing as “forms of cultural activism”.

Poet Tom Pow was born in Edinburgh in 1950. After studying at St Andrews University, he taught English at schools in Edinburgh, Madrid and London, before moving to Dumfries to teach at the Academy there. In the 2000s he lectured in Creative Writing and Storytelling at the University of Glasgow campus in Dumfries; his time working at the Crichton campus inspired his collection Dear Alice. Dear Alice won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Scottish Book Award for poetry in 2009.

As well as poetry, he has written a number of books for children, including picture books (most recently Tell Me One Thing, Dad) and novels, including Captives in 2006. He has also written for the radio, and a travel book about Peru called In the Palace of Serpents.

Tom Pow has held a number of writer-in-residence positions, such as the Scottish/Canadian Writing Fellow at the University of Alberta in 1992/93, and Poet in Residence at the StAnza festival in 2005. In the 2000s he lectured in Creative Writing and Storytelling at the University of Glasgow’s Dumfries Campus, and he is now a Lecturer at Lancaster University. He still lives in Dumfries.