Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora
"It's part of me, Scotland. I'm still immersed in it even though I am not there." -- Irvine Welsh (1958 - ), Scots novelist, short story writer, playwright, author of Trainspotting among many other works).
All my life I have been interested in the history of Scotland and the profound consequences of the Scottish diaspora throughout the world. Scotland and the Scots are appealing in so many ways -- the beauty of the land- and seascapes, the food and drink, the extraordinarily resourceful and creative people, the dramatic history from antiquity to the present, the great literature and history and philosophy and religion. The subjects are themselves enough to inspire writing, but there is great satisfaction in the fact that the Scots have lived up to the subjects on their own writ.
Over many years I have researched the history of Cumberland Valley, and I have often talked about the Scots, the Scots-Irish, and the settlement of this part of the New World by these willing and not-so-willing exiles. In recognition of the history and significance of the Scots to our area, I fly the Saltire and carry these books and cds. I am always on the lookout for more.
P.S. Due to listing limitations, I have moved Ian Rankin and Denise Mina, two fine writers of the Scots Noir movement, over to our International Mystery page.
Wild Geese: A Collection of Nan Shepherd's Writing
Wild Geese: A Collection of Nan Shepherd's Writing
Nan Shepherd (1893 - 1981) published three novels between 1928 and 1933: The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse and A Pass in the Grampians – as well as a collection of poems: In the Cairngorms.
Her reputation grew exponentially with the 1977 publication of The Living Mountain, now regarded as a classic of landscape writing.
However, much of her work (including a short story, Descent from the Cross) was never published outside local magazines and journals, and are reprinted here in Wild Geese for the first time in book form. Some of her poems in this volume also appear here for the first time; they were found by Charlotte Peacock while researching her Nan Shepherd biography, Into the Mountain.
There are also some extraordinary examples of Nan’s nature writing in exponentially, which can now be seen to contain the seeds of the writing which flowered in The Living Mountain.
Wild Geese will be enjoyed by every one of Nan Shepherd’s huge and growing readership, and will no doubt also provide a signpost to all her other works now available.