There are plenty of ‘Books Of The Year’ lists around this time competing for your time and attention, but we like to think that Scots Whay Hae!’s selection is one for the more discerning book lover with something for everyone. It’s a good old-fashioned Top Ten which this year features dystopian sci-fi, historical fiction, northern noir, coming-of-age, unconventional travelogue, environmental thrills, the birth and death of love, psychological mystery, politics, pop music, per

A Scottish novel where pals who have known each other from school fight, drink, and take drugs together, with a central character who seems smarter than the rest? You may think you’ve heard this one before, but Graeme Armstrong‘s The Young Team is so much more than Trainspotting revisited. This is a novel which stands on its own, and announces the arrival of one of the most thrilling and impressive voices in some time, arguably since fellow Airdrieonan David Keenan burst on t

There are regularly heated discussions about the worth of prizes in art and culture. Recently announced, the Scottish Album of the Year longlist provoked debate about the worthiness not only of those on the list, but of the nature of the award itself as a very long, (and very strong), list of eligible albums was whittled down further to twenty by a chosen group of critics, journos, and others (of which I should declare that SWH! was one). The arguments for are that the chosen