Angus Dunn
Angus Dunn’s Cromness Craic
Those who have visited the Black Isle may notice something more than a passing resemblance between Cromarty and Cromness, where Writing in the Sand unfolds. That correspondence becomes strangely unanchored in the way an ancient cottage in the old Vennels doubles as an entry point to parallel universes and in the propensity of certain residents to shape-shifting and dolphin driven crime.
Dunn has assembled an extraordinary cast of characters, chief among whom is the town’s resident eccentric, Jimmy Bervie, whose second name derives from a fish box (‘Return to Kinlochbervie’), and who spends a lot of time reading patterns in the sand to divine the future.
Growing up in the Highlands as part of a large ‘incomer’ family, Angus Dunn made an early connection between his acute sense of place and his certainty that he would one day be a writer. Under the mistaken impression that it would have something directly to do with creative writing, he took a degree in English Literature at Aberdeen University. Back in the Highlands, he became known as a poet and as editor of the literary magazine, Northwords. To trade a joiner, his writing time was one day a week, on Sundays. Writing in the Sand began life as a series of humorous cameos for the Virtual Cromarty website but soon asserted itself as a novel. Hear all about it in the sound file below.
©Jennie Renton
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