Launch of A-B-Tree

Added on 29 September 2016

My new pamphlet of poems, A-B-Tree, celebrating the Gaelic Tree Alphabet, will be launched in Culag Woods, Lochinver on Wednesday 5 October. The launch will be part of an event to bring poems into the woods in preparation for National Poetry Day on Thursday. We will leave a trail of poems behind us,...

No Throwaway Cups

Added on 29 September 2016

In my ‘day job’ I work for the Environmental Paper Network (EPN), a coalition of more than 140 civil society organisations that share a vision for a future where all paper is produced, used and disposed of ethically and sustainably. Given that paper accounts for more than 40% of world in...

Rolling in Royalties

Added on 24 September 2016

It’s been more than 10 years since my first book was published and I’m still somewhat mystified by the economics of book publishing. Even though thousands of books with my name on are out there, I’m not getting rich, that much is certain. I am quite frequently asked how lucrative b...

Poems and Persistence

Added on 17 September 2016

After a two year period of focusing almost exclusively on my next novel, I’m back to writing shorter stuff, and in particular taking regular days to pay attention to poetry. During August I looked at all the poems I have finished but have never been published. I chucked all the dead, withered ...

The question of croft houses

Added on 10 September 2016

Assynt Foundation is moving ahead with the plan to create new crofts, and it has been great to see how many expressions of interest have been sent in. When I last blogged about this, one of the comments I received was an encouragement to write more about houses on the crofts. The call for interest t...

New! Podcast!

Added on 03 September 2016

I received lots of comments by email and on Facebook from people who weren't able to come to my reading at the bookshop in Nairn, wishing they had been able to hear me. I guess it has been ages since I did a reading like that. To reach out to these people, I have done a virtual reading of at lea...