Editorial by Jennie
Working in the back of a secondhand bookshop situated next to an art college can be fun. Luke Fletcher's 'Three Men in a Book Boat' is now hanging from the skylight above my computer, placed there at great personal peril by Peter Likarish and Andy Gloege, the two MSc Creative Writing students who have been assisting with textualities.net over the last year.
On one of my escapes into the front shop of Main Point Books, I was delighted to encounter Iain Orr, biodiplomat extraordinaire. His particular pigeon is islands and among many strategies to promote knowledge of island communities, he is involved in a project to create a World Atlas of Island Diversity.
The other customer at the time happened to be David Walton, who was attending the International Antarctic Conference in Edinburgh and had curated its magnificent exhibition of Antarctic art and photographs. It turned out, they knew each other. An immensely stimulating conversation ensued. Both men crackled like jumping jacks when I mentioned that a theme of the next issue of the print version of Textualities is science and intuition.
Before you could say DNA, David had promised an article and Iain, an albatross alphabet. Not being one to count cats out of bags, I gave my adrenaline a good talking to. Suffice to say, leads are being followed and there will be more of cats and bags in the not too distant future.
Left: Three Men in a Book Boat
Magic Afoot had a truly magical launch. I was able to relax and enjoy it, largely because Anita Govan removed all potential stress by taking on the job of MC so splendidly. Thanks to everyone who came along. Please buy a copy if you havenŐt already, and tell your friends, librarians, anyone who can read.