Linda Cracknell
Writer CV, Contact and Forthcoming Events.
For current news and forthcoming events see lindacracknell.blogspot.com
NEW!
Linda's second short story collection The Searching Glance is published by Salt on 1st March 2008. See www.saltpublishing.com/books/smf/9781844714414.htm
'The worlds inhabited by the characters in these stories are diverse - a hillwalker is unknowingly watched over as he lies dying on a Highland hill; a Glasgow party-goer searches years later for a woman who may have mistaken him for a monster; a mysterious prize is sought in the perpetual daylight of midsummer Orkney. Whether it is in a suburban garden or on the stark skyline of a Borders hill, the landscape and seasonal extremes provoke and unsettle.' 
'Linda Cracknell's attention to detail is impressive: she writes as a painter in oils might paint,using a palette rich in both colour and texture, and the people she brings to life seem at once both part of and alienated from the landscapes in which they move. These are quiet yet passionate stories, subtle and striking in their effect.'
James Robertson
Short Fiction
When artists master the art of the short-story, their miniatures may convey a reality as complicated as that of any novel. Linda Cracknell's collection 'Life Drawing' demonstrates her ability to capture moments of emotional intensity, then place them in relation to the characters' past, present and possible future . . . Life Drawing evokes different human existences, 
but all the stories reveal the author's sympathy with her characters and the lives they have chosen to live. Scottish Studies Review
Life Drawing was published in 2000 after the title story won the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday short story competition in 1998. In 2001 Life Drawing was short listed for the Saltire First Book of the Year Award. For more information, see www.nwp.co.uk/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?action=search&pageid=18
Non-fiction
In July 2007, Linda started a major project to write a collection of 'journey-essays' recounting walks which follow human resonances in wild landscapes. This is the result of a Creative Scotland Award (see www.creativescotland.org/home.aspx) supported by the National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council. See walkingandwriting.blogspot.com/
Writing for Radio
Linda has written stories, plays and abridged work for broadcast by BBC Radio, including a Jessie Kesson adaptation for Women's Hour in 2006. The Best Snow for Skiing, her play about poet Hugh MacDiarmid's wife, Valda Trevlyn Grieve, was broadcast by Radio Four in July 2005. It was inspired by Linda's position as writer-in-residence (2002-2005) at Brownsbank Cottage which was the last home of the poet and his wife, and has been photographed by Gerry Cambridge for his website at www.gerrycambridge.com/photography.html. The cottage is now preserved by the Biggar Museum Trust.
Workshops
Linda is also a creative writing teacher and workshop leader with various residencies in Scotland and further afield. In 2007, she worked on the Highland Constellation project (see www.darkskyscotland.org.uk/constellation/index.html). Other projects include mentoring African writers through the Lancaster University/British Council Crossing Borders scheme (see www.crossingborders-africanwriting.org/) and working in schools in Dumfries and Galloway as part of Arts Across the Curriculum (www.createdumfriesandgalloway.com/aac_project.html) .
Scottish PEN
Linda convenes the 'Writers in Exile' subcommittee for Scottish PEN (www.scottishpen.org/).
Agent: Jenny Brown Associates www.jennybrownassociates.com/home.html
You can contact Linda at linda@lcracknell.freeserve.co.uk