There are few more difficult aspects for an adult writer to get right than the voice of a child. Often they are given speech patterns...

One of the most welcome literary surprises of last year was Charles E. McGarry’s novel The Ghost Of Helen Addison. It introduced the...

If it’s true that the Devil has all the best tunes, He (and it’s almost always a He) tends to get all the best films, plays and books as...

It’s a well-worn argument, but the lack of Scottish history taught in schools has undoubtedly had a negative affect on the Scottish...

If ever a novel deserved a long life it is Kirstin Innes‘ Fishnet. A winner of The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize, and one of The...

I recently attended the Glasgow launch of Helen Taylor’s debut novel The Backstreets Of Purgatory. It was a fascinating and refreshingly...

From the 11th – 27th August in Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square Gardens (and George Street) once again becomes the place for book lovers to...

There are regularly heated discussions about the worth of prizes in art and culture. Recently announced, the Scottish Album of the Year...

Charley, Jon, Shane, Ali, & a hawk After our recent Dundee podcast Ali moves up the coast to Aberdeen to talk to Charley Buchan from...

Currently running at The National Museum of Scotland is Rip It Up: The Story Of Scottish Pop exhibition, on till the 25th November this...

The first book of Allan Massie’s I read was his historical novel Augustus (I think in the late ’80s) and it made a deep impression on me....

Back in March we included Dante’s excellent album I Wear Your Weight With Mine (below) in our monthly musical roundup. At the time we...

M.J. Nicholls’ previous novel The House Of Writers was, as the title suggests, a book on and about writers and writing, but it was so...

Perhaps more than any other medium fiction is able to transport you to other times and places – placing you in the company of strangers...

1977. The year the Sex Pistols released Never Mind The Bollocks, Elvis died, Star Wars broke box-office records, Bowie told us “We could...

In our recent podcast with Helen McClory the subject of literary fiction, and what makes it so special, arose. You can still hear the...

Let’s lay our cards on the table before we begin – Doug Johnstone is not only one of SWH!’s favourite writers, but among our favourite...

Back in 2011 I wrote a post for the much missed Dear Scotland website on Ron Butlin’s 1987 novel The Sound Of My Voice as part of the...

One of the finest crime fiction debuts of recent years was Claire MacLeary’s Cross Purpose (right). Published in 2017 on the Contraband...

There are often claims that ambition and risk are increasingly resisted and discouraged in contemporary fiction – sure things are what...