New

A new year, a new start, a new adventure. Yet, as ever, some things remain the same - good books and good reading! We kick off the new year with recommendations for books that will fire the imagination, take you somewhere new, and make you think about the world we live in - from fiction, poetry and memoir to childrens' books, essays and reimagining classics, let's see in the new year in style.

What We’re Looking Forward to in 2021

Heading into the new year, BooksfromScotland asked various Scottish publishers what they were looking forward to publishing and reading this year. Here we share their recommendations.

Allan Cameron, Vagabond Voices

For a start I should catch up on Gabriela Cabezón Cámara’s The Adventures of China Iron (Charco Press) which was shortlisted for the Booker. I like the sound of Tania Skarynkina’s collection of essays from Byelorussia, A Large Czeslaw Milosz with a Dash of Elvis Presley (Scotland Street Press) and the new edition of Douglas Watt’s The Price of Scotland (Luath Press), which takes another look at the Darien Scheme. Perhaps most compelling for me is...

Festivals for the Future

David F Ross is a brilliant novelist, growing his fanbase with every release. When he is not writing, he is an architect – director of Keppie Design – and a facilitator of projects for design students at the City of Glasgow College. Last year, he oversaw the the students designing what book festival spaces might look like in the future, and here, we present the students ideas. Exciting food for thought!

There’s Only One Danny Garvey By David F. Ross Published by Orenda Books

The Outliers Book Festival: A Design for the Future

In the latter part of2020, this most unusual of years, I was invited to mentor design students from City of Glasgow College for an interesting project. Through collaborative practice, the BA Design Practice Degree -4th year (hon) students were to explore the possibilities for the creation of a new literary festival for...

The Book . . . According to Jenni Fagan

‘Luckenbooth is a love letter to Edinburgh.’

News and How to Use It

‘At the very moment when the UK government recognised journalists as essential workers, the industry itself looked more fragile than ever.’

Intensive Care

‘Covid was transforming, reorientating society in ways both good and bad, as if all the old hierarchies were being pushed aside and new possibilities were emerging.’

David Robinson Reviews: George Orwell in 2021

‘Fictionalised literary biography is a hard art to master. It demands almost the same amount of research as a biography, but also the ability to show how characters change through time and to reanimat …

The Snow and the Works on the Northern Line

‘I probably file mannerisms and conversational tics away without even being particularly conscious of it.’

Lazy Susan

‘Loved it. Noo we’re gittin separate trains back tay oor separate lives.’

Imagined Spaces

‘Yes, North can simply be a cardinal point. But for me it’s also a concept that can stir imagination and creativity.’

Cat Step

‘There was one thing I could have done differently.’

Favourite Gaelic Poems

‘”Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig”’

Ka, the Ring and the Raven

‘Ka was struck by the elegance of the choughs’ flight, and slightly embarrassed by the efforts he needed to make just to keep up.’

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