Art and poetry hand in glove

Added on 12 July 2018

‘Collaboration’, says Michael Longley, the Irish poet, ‘is the opposite of loneliness.’ He sits with his back to the window, on the sill of which a metal trout, with pennies for scales, swims beneath a fragment of a poem stencilled on the glass: ‘I am the trout ...

Events in August

Added on 12 July 2018

I'll be reading from The Walrus Mutterer at Blackwell's Edinburgh Festival fringe event on Thursday 9 August 2018 at 6pm. Come along for a signed copy, or just to find out about the story of Pytheas and his amazing Iron Age journey to these parts. I'll also be doing an event in Glasgow ...

On foreign shores

Added on 04 June 2018

Wally the wandering walrus has been wending his way back north after my book launch and celebrations. Meanwhile, I have been trickling southwards in our sailing boat, called Each Mara, which is Gaelic for walrus. We have finally washed up on the shores of Rathlin Island, just off the coast of Northe...

Readings this month

Added on 05 May 2018

I'll be reading from The Walrus Mutterer and signing copies on Thursday 10 May, 6pm, at Waterstones Inverness, (see here) and at the Ullapool Book Festival on Friday 11 May at 11.30am (tickets here). If you can't get along to either of these but would like a signed copy, you can get one here...

Is Wally coming to my reading?

Added on 05 May 2018

There hasn't been a walrus seen in these waters for more than 64 years, but since my new novel, The Walrus Mutterer, came out, a walrus has been splashing about and cruising our coastline, behaving increasingly as if he has read the book and is giving it his seal (sorry!) of approval! They say f...

The harbour

Added on 09 April 2018

Lochinver harbour’s pontoons are exposed to northerly gales, so most of us take our boats out of the water for the winter. They lie on cradles on the hard standing behind the fish market, as if in hibernation. Now, as the geese fly over, they are awakening. Ladders are up, paint brushes are ou...