Beyond Borders

2022 is the Year of Stories, a year dedicated to Scotland's stories through the themes of Iconic Stories and Storytellers, New Stories, Scotland's People and Places, Local Tales and Legends and Inspired by Nature. Many of Scotland's stories often go beyond the expected: we look to the wider world for inspiration; we ask questions of language, identity, place and time. The selection of books in this issue carry on in that tradition, and we have books from all genres, from novels to poetry to short shories as well as nature writing, history and children's books. Get reading! Go beyond!

Never Did The Fire

Creative Response by Josie Giles

As part of the Year of Scotland’s Stories, we are running a series of Responses on BooksfromScotland, commissioning writers to respond to books from the publishing membership, engaging with work in different ways. For October, Josie Giles – author of Deep Wheel Orcadia – considers the art and power of translation in Never Did the Fire, and the accompanying translation diary which dives further into the process itself.  

Never Did the Fire and Catching Fire By Diamela Eltit and Daniel Hahn Published by Charco Press

What happens when a revolution breaks down? What happens to the bodies broken down by revolution? What is it like to live in the afterlife of revolution?

In Diamela Eltit’s Never Did the Fire, an unnamed woman in an unnamed place lives an unmistakeably specific life. She lies in bed without sleeping next to her unsleeping partner; she goes to work as a carer, washing and dressing people only a few years older than her; she remembers schisms, plots, and arguments over the technicalities of historical materialism. Each day unfolds like the last, as her body breaks down taking care of other bodies. A dictator is dead, and she is alive, but not living.

Never Did...

The Call of the Cormorant

Based on a true story, The Call of the Cormorant centres Karl Kjerúlf Einarsson – artist, adventurer, charlatan and swindler, forever in search of Atlantis. This ‘unreliable biography’ is a fantastical tale of island life and adventure, intersecting with his arrival in 1930s Berlin. You can read an extract below.

The Call of the Cormorant By Donald S Murray Published by Saraband Books ...

David Robinson Reviews: The Romantic

‘The fluidity and randomness of life – that great Boydian theme – are all here in abundance.’

Sadie, Call the Polis

‘I heard Lily going to the bathroom late at night, her feet making tiny squeaks that yanked me out of my dreams, fun little holidays in my own head, no passport or payment necessary.’

Nasim Asl Reviews: Orpheus Builds a Girl

‘As the story progresses, the characters’ mental states become more and more exposed and the lines between truth and fantasy become blurred, exposed, and blurred again.’

The Tongue She Speaks: A Q & A with Emma Grae

‘I also hope that readers see the battles Scots speakers face and the courage that it takes to create in the leid.’

The Banes O’ The Turas

‘An wi yon beamin glow ayont wirds, Hamish fer aye oor lad o pairts bides eternal. ‘

Scotland’s Transnational Heritage

“There is no one single national history. National histories are not fixed in any particular time or space. We can always intervene to produce and articulate new understandings of history.”

Puffins

My first tentative steps into wildlife photography came from visiting a local pond and taking photographs of waterfowl. It was here the momentum began that would combine my established love of wildlif …

Doras Gun Chlàimhean

I did not ever think That you would come home, my love, In a narrow, wooden coffin.

Unthinkable

You were really ready to commit for life. That test you found online had said you had the avoidant attachment style, but I guess somewhere along the road you changed your mind.

The Book…According to Debi Gliori

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, a story began to form. A story of a girl who didn’t just want to make soup and mend torn clothing and babysit. A girl who wanted to have adventures and slay monsters …

A Taste for Treason

Daredevil pilot, wartime fighter ace and ‘resting’ actor Major Christopher Draper told reporters on landing that the flight had been a publicity stunt, partly to get work for himself and partly to hig …

Walking the Antonine Wall

Having decided to walk the Antonine Wall from east to west, I was immediately faced with an important question. Where was I to set off?

Abdullah’s Bear Needs a Name! by Yasmin Hanif

‘”Why don’t you guess?” said Abba. “You’ll know in your heart when you’ve found the right one.”‘
Food, Whisky, Life by Ghillie BaŞan

‘Pastries filled with ground nuts, baked fruit or creamy, semolina mixtures, and bathed in honey or …
A Chaos of Light: New Writing Scotland

‘The attic lowed like a crystal haal, last I saa her – / dark-eyed and ready tae furgit me.’
The Fathers by John Niven

‘The pleasures of the unexamined life and all that. Dan had read somewhere that the lower classes – …
Mrs Burke & Mrs Hare by Michelle Sloan

‘If you rip these bodies from the place that’s been blessed as their final place of peace, where fam …
It’s Hotting Up! Summer Reading Suggestions

‘Carso sits on the very north edge of Britain, higher than the Highlands, where the swirling waters …