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...

For the latest podcast Ali met up with Helen McClory (below) at Edinburgh’s Fruitmarket Gallery to talk about her life as a writer to...

One of Scots Whay Hae!’s Best Books of 2017 was Helen McClory’s novel Flesh Of The Peach, which should have reached a much wider...

Two of the most challenging types of writing are crime and comedy. For the first you have to avoid repeating well-worn clichés while...

For the latest podcast, Ali spoke to Aye Write! Book Festival programmer, Bob Bloody Scotland and the Pitlochry Winter Words Festival,...

For 10 days in March (15th – 25th) Glasgow’s Book Festival Aye Write! is the only show in town for lovers of fact, fiction, food, poetry,...

Alan Taylor’s Appointment In Arezzo: A Friendship With Muriel Spark, an account of his relationship with Spark in her later life. A...

Rachel McCormack at Glasgow’s Iberica restaurant to talk about her recent book, the excellent Chasing The Dram: Finding The Spirit Of...