Reassured by the lack of stuffed crocodiles and alembics, FIONA ALLEN become a volunteer subject for the Parapsychology Unit of Edinburgh University. The elusive tug of intuition had already shaped important events in her life. …

More…I have a strange feeling about this

Big Word co-ordinator JENNY LINDSAY talks about gender politics, observational rants and how the theft of her keyboard helped her get into performing her own poetry. …

More…Mischief Maker

In this audacious novel, CHRISTOPHER RUSH dares to take on the voice of the world’s most famous playwright. Shakespeare is on his deathbed and decides to put his affairs into order and draw up his will. So begins his valediction to the world. …

More…Will

New fiction from TIM WEST. In this surreal comedy, an elephant dreams of writing a sitcom about a brothel, but is trapped in a soul-destroying job in advertising. One day, however, he extracts a terrible revenge. …

More…Two in the Front, Two in the Back

Sir Francis Bacon wrote his utopian novel, New Atlantis, to show how his scientific method of observation and experimentation could be successfully incorporated into society to its great improvement. However, HANNAH ADCOCK argues that fiction and fact can make uncomfortable bedfellows. …

More…Truth Telling

SELINA HOSSAIN is one of Bangladesh’s most respected, prolific and vocal writers. She combines a profound and critical social awareness with a sincere interest in the lives of ordinary men and women. In this short story she challenges patriarchal, traditional values. …

More…The World of Love and Labour

Restoring faith in the art of Scottish literary biography, DAVID ROBB’s Auld Campaigner: A Life of Alexander Scott is a revealing study of the man, his work and his invaluable contribution to the academic study of Scottish Literature. …

More…Auld Campaigner

JENNIFER MCCARTNEY describes how she made the surprisingly swift transition from creative writing student to published author. Her first novel, Afloat, is both joyfully idyllic and strangely dystopian. …

More…Afloat

Michael Lister gives a retrospect on MURIEL SPARK, a writer of genius, pioneering novelist and short story writer. …

More…Writing Young

NABARUN BHATTACHARYA is an award-winning Indian writer and poet with a gift for literary metaphor and deadpan wit. In this short story he follows the life and supposed death of a self-serving writer of the most inferior species. …

More…An Indian Writer in Japan

ROSEMARY ADDISON reads Consider the Animals, the collected essays of Pippa Stuart, delicately wrought cameos imbued with the enchantment of nature and travel. …

More…Consider the Histories

Two new poems from ANITA GOVAN, who is constantly experimenting with new moods in performances of her work. …

More…Fruits of the Imagination

Edinburgh-based BASHABI FRASER is one of those busy people who make things happen. A writer and academic, she devotes much energy to raising awareness in Scotland of the Indian arts. …

More…The Other Auld Alliance

The Forest is an eclectic arts space and café in Bristo Place, Edinburgh. In this audio interview Forest café manager, RYAN VAN WINKLE introduces their latest publishing project The Golden Hour, named after the weekly Forest readings. …

More…Golden Hour

JANE GOLDMAN, general editor with Susan Sellers of the CUP edition of The Writings of Virginia Woolf, reads Alison Light’s Mrs Woolf and the Servants and discusses a new perspective on life below stairs. …

More…The Hidden Heart