Written entirely on the notes app of his phone, John Gerard Fagan’s debut memoir attempts to answer the question with humor, wit, and total honesty. Toweringly ambitious, virtually flawlessly realized, a masterpiece and, without a doubt, my book of the year' Daily Mail

The novel was enjoyed by everyone in the group - which is no mean feat as there are usually lots of different opinions around the room and few books gain a unanimous accolade! It was not politics that was the cause of this huge shift in public opinion and political intention: if it had been, the politicians in favour of a ‘yes’ vote [in the 1997 referendum on devolution] would not have waited so nervously for the outcome, fearful of a repeat of the inconclusive vote of 1979. Something more profound was the cause of the enormous shift in Scottish sentiment that brought about the devolved parliament between 1979 and 1997 and that cause, I want to suggest, was the transformation in Scotland’s national self-perception brought about by a profound reorientation in the value of its culture. Between 1979 and 1997 Scotland underwent a cultural revolution and it was that cultural revolution, rather than the decisions of the political parties, that was the effective cause of the political outcome in the 1997 referendum. ( Craig 2014, 5) As one of Scotland’s most celebrated writers, Fagan deserves to make this list twice, and her novella Hex is one of the most impactful modern Scottish books you’re likely to read. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial. it had much earlier declared cultural devolution, both in the radical voices of new Scottish writing – from James Kelman to Matthew Fitt, from Janice Galloway to Ali Smith – and in the rewriting of Scottish cultural history that produced, in the 1980s and 1990s, a new sense of the richness and the autonomy of Scotland’s past cultural achievements. ( Craig 2003, 39)The idea behind this was to give the appearance of doing something, which would avoid the need for real action for as long as the commission was deliberating. According to Wilson, the commission was designed to spend years taking minutes, but in public it gave the appearance that the government was taking the issue seriously. It was hoped that, by the time the commission reported, the SNP would have gone away. ( Finlay 2004, 322) 7 Robertson, of course, cleverly has some of these stories crossing one another, with people bumping into each other and then not meeting again for many years, or meeting in ways you might not suspect. But, while their individual stories are certainly interesting and do show up the complicated nature of politics in Scotland, we are asked to sympathise with a variety of disparate characters and, inevitably, the most interesting ones tend to be the less than pleasant ones, namely the violent thug and the foot fetish Tory. Did Robertson intend this? I suspect not, though this may just be my perverse nature and other readers may come to love the characters Robertson wants us to love. Nevertheless, it is fascinating account of Scottish history in the second half of the twentieth century, even if not entirely successful. Publishing history Here is a situation: a country that is not fully a country, a nation that does not quite believe itself to be a nation, exists within, and as a small and distant part of, a greater state. The greater state was once a very great state, with its own empire. It is no longer great, but its leaders and many of its people like to believe it is. For the people of the less-than country, the not-quite nation, there are competing, conflicting loyalties. They are confused. ( Robertson 2010, 534)

The evening of discussion and debate will include playwright Peter Arnott, campaigner and activist Amal Azzudin, Lyceum Artistic Director David Greig, National Theatre of Scotland Dramaturg Rosie Kellagher, acclaimed journalist and writer Joyce McMillan, and author James Robertson, with music from award-winning folk artist Mairi Campbell and extracts of Peter Arnott’s stage adaptation in development, from a recent reading commissioned by National Theatre of Scotland.Scottish International promoted itself as a magazine for the development of a radical critique of culture and society, experiment being very much at the heart of it. Just as Bob Tait was giving up the magazine he wrote that ‘basically I’ve seen this magazine as a kind of exploration vehicle, getting as far as possible into the depths, some of them murky, of the society and culture within viewing range.’ [… ] In tracing these magazines and debates, we can discern a fierce reaction to insularity at the start of the 1960s, but as we move through to Scottish International there’s still a very sceptical vision of cultural nationalism and the pitfalls of being too entrenched within certain forms of national identity. There’s a passionate focus on Scotland but also a deep suspicion of complacent ways of thinking about identity. ( Recording, Workshop 1) Dizzying . . . subtle and profound . . . And The Land Lay Still reads like an alternative history of Scotland told by its everyday people instead of its movers and shakers . . . eminently readable ( Independent on Sunday) The story follows Astrid, who recently returned home from art school on Mars, and Darling, who is fleeing another life and searching for a place to hide. Showing no regret for his actions, however uncharacteristic, Eric is taken in a taxi to a remote hotel in the Scottish highlands; a place that never sees any guests and the snow never stops falling.

When Glaswegian ex-con Sammy awakens in an alley, disoriented and confused, he struggles to remember the events that happened during his two-day drinking binge. After fighting with some soldiers, Sammy finds himself in a jail cell, badly beaten and completely blind. Scottish literature is some of the best in the world and it’s shaped many incredible writers. If you like reading dark, interesting, and thrilling, then you’ll love these Scottish books.In contrast, Alex Thomson offered a sceptical view of national literary history and its critical methods, so often employed to justify the canon (and discipline) in ways which tend to inhibit critical enquiry: Powerful and moving. A brilliant and multifaceted saga of Scottish life in the second half of the twentieth century ( Sunday Times) This is the culturalist case at its strongest (perhaps slightly needled by revisionist commentary from critics including Alex Thomson and myself), and it features strongly in And the Land Lay Still. One passing irony is that ‘cultural revolution’ should figure as the inspiration of a reformist political project ‘of a strikingly conservative character’, in the words of Vernon Bogdanor, whose core purpose is to ‘renegotiate the terms of the Union so as to make them more palatable to Scottish opinion in the conditions of the late twentieth century’ ( Bogdanor 2001, 119). But this is to view devolution from the centre, as an exercise in containment – even appeasement – rather than peripheral empowerment. Devolution looks very different viewed from Whitehall as compared to the literary pubs of Edinburgh, one key reason Scottish writers and cultural activists have been able to narrate the process in their own image, on terms that arguably inflate their political influence beyond the urban cognoscenti. 4 How Treasure Island was born out of Robert Louis Stevenson trying to amuse his stepson on a wet summer holiday in Braemar If contesting an integrated British historical narrative was key to these Whitehall debates of the 1970s, the question of Scotland’s ‘distinct values and way of life’ were being explored with great energy by writers and scholars. Here the problem was blank space, rather than competing stories. During our first workshop, Cairns Craig argued that the explosion of Scottish historical writing over the past few decades represents the ‘filling-in of what was a kind of emptiness in the Scottish past’. For Craig the energies which led to Holyrood originate in the recovery of national historical memory, with magazines such as Radical Scotland and Cencrastus playing a key role:

Janice Galloway’s debut novel was first published in 1989. It’s a painful tale of the struggles of mental health and the difficulties of surviving trauma. Don has two sons, the sweet-mannered CND activist and teacher Billy, and Charlie, a wayward gangster-soldier from bad-boy central casting, who is probably the novel's least convincing character. Charlie's relationship with feisty journalist Ellen, her brutal rape, pregnancy, and most of all, her and rebound partner Robin's reaction to all of this, didn't quite ring true for me. Perhaps paradoxically, I completely believed in the drunken spy, called James Bond. An embittered servant of the British state, Bond takes his revenge on his patronising superiors by bringing down a disgraced Tory MP, David Eddlestane, one of the party's last representatives in Scotland. Eddlestane is so well observed as to become an integral part of the book, not just the plot-device he might have been in less capable hands. Rather than revel in the sleaze of his demise, Robertson brilliantly wrongfoots us by letting Eddlestane emerge as one of the novel's most sympathetic characters, with a marvellous, dignified telephone confrontation with the man who ruined him.And the Land Lay Still - covers major transformations that have taken place in Scottish society over the past 60 years Without any knowledge of the language or his new home whatsoever, Fagan’s experiences in the seven years he lives in this small Japanese fishing village are humorous and offer countless moments of learning. Written by Scottish author Martin MacInnes, In Ascension is a literary sci-fi epic that has the potential to change the way you think and feel about the world around you, about what we are, where we came from, and where we might go. Our story today, then, is about our stories: their history and future, influences and influence. We cast the spotlight not only on Scotland’s tales but on their tellers – the folklorists and the fabulists, short story writers and the seanachaidhean – those who have delicately spun their colourful yarns from the threads that connect us all.