A Kick Up The Arts with Nicola Meighan

Send us Fan Mail I’m back in my Stirling local, the Golden Lion , for a whistle-stop tour of this year’s programme for Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival , which launched a couple of days ago, and which runs from September 18th to 20th. After Thursday’s big announcements, and a conversation I chaired with the always-entertaining JD Kirk , I sat down with this year’s Bloody Scotla...

Send us Fan Mail The last 30-odd years of Scottish culture would look, and sound, wildly different - and woefully less thrilling - without musician and songwriter Emma Pollock - co-founder of the Delgados , and the Chemikal Underground label (whose bands included Arab Strap , Mogwai , bis ) - and Chem19 Studios, which has welcomed Deacon Blue , Calvin Harris and Franz Ferdinand over the years. Emm...

Send us Fan Mail This episode, recorded live, is dedicated to one of Scotland’s most brilliant, singular, and quietly radical voices… One hundred years ago today, Agnes Owens was born, and it was such a joy to be part of her centenary celebrations at Milngavie Town Hall last weekend, reflecting on the writer’s wit and wonder with literary dream team Dani Garivelli , Kirstin Innes , Heather Parry a...

Send us Fan Mail If you're a fan of Dundee burger impresario Bob Servant , Leith -set sibling thriller Guilt , and true-life Brinks-Mat heist drama The Gold - you are in for a treat... My guest on this episode is screenwriter and author Neil Forsyth , who created all of those titles and so much more... The Broughty Ferry native has just launched a brilliant new series, Legends, which stars St...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I'm chatting with David MacGregor , aka Broken Chanter, about his terrific new album... The follow-up to 2024's Chorus of Doubt , it's a rallying cry for empathy, and a call-to-arms, to hold on to each other... it's inspired by the art of Arpita Singh , it's out now on legendary Scottish indie label Chemikal Underground, and it's call...

Send us Fan Mail If you missed my sold-out conversation with Del Amitri's Justin Currie at the Edinburgh Fringe a few months back - or even if you were in our lovely audience at The Stand and fancy listening again - well, it's right here... I've spoken to Justin various times over the years - about his songwriting, about Del Amitri, and more recently about his best-selling book, The...

Send us Fan Mail We’re back in Glasgow’s magical Alasdair Gray Archive on this episode, for a chat with two brilliant Scottish writers, and literary leading lights - Rory Watson and Alan Bissett … Rory is a poet, academic and editor - and a former Professor of English at Stirling University, whose celebrated work includes books exploring Hugh MacDiarmid , Norman MacCaig , Scottish Literature, and...

Send us Fan Mail A few weeks ago, I was delighted to host the press launch of this year's Glasgow Film Festival , with new Head of Programme Paul Gallagher and Programme Manager Chris Kumar , at the GFT. We sat down afterwards to chat about some of the brilliant movies they're screening, and some of the myriad reasons that GFF remains a world-class festival, while also being deeply roote...

Send us Fan Mail Well, since the Spring is very nearly upon us, we’re celebrating the forthcoming season of Scottish lunchtime theatre phenomenon - A Play, A Pie, and A Pint . Founded by the hugely missed David MacLennan in 2004, PPP - as it’s fondly known - is the most prolific producer of new writing in theatre in the UK, bringing us 30-odd brand new plays every single year…  The premise is ther...

Send us Fan Mail We’re celebrating the wonder of writer, artist, Glasgow icon and cultural polymath Alasdair Gray - not for the first time, I grant you… The annual Gray Day takes place at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on February 25th, and - among other things - it’ll be revelling in Alasdair’s masterpiece, Lanark, on the 45th anniversary of its publication… Alan Bissett will perform another excerpt of his o...

Send us Fan Mail My guest in this episode is an award-winning, best-selling writer and style icon - look, I’m just stating the facts here - whose terrific work includes crime fiction, comic books, theatre shows, and historical novels… Following titles like The Garnethill Trilogy, the Paddy Meehan and Alex Morrow series, Rizzio, Three Fires, Hellblazer and Conviction - the latter of which was celeb...

Send us Fan Mail I’m delighted to be joined by one of our best-loved, and most successful writers, who’s sold over 30 million copies of his best-selling Rebus novels - not to mention theatre, TV and radio spin-offs, all based in Edinburgh.  He’s also a broadcaster, a sometime rock ‘n’ roll star, and a Fifer with a fab taste in music - and a Knighthood to boot… He is of course Sir Ian Rankin , and...

Send us Fan Mail My special guest on this episode is a woman - an icon - whose brilliant debut album sounded like nothing else when it hurtled into our musical landscape 35 years ago - and there really is still nothing like it… The record’s The Same Sky , the artist is the mighty Horse , and since that record’s release in 1990, she’s raised the roof, and fired up our hearts, with records like God’...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I'm joined by an actor, writer, comedian and TV star, thanks to roles in Look Around You ; Fags, Mags & Bags ; Dept Q ; I Swear ; the new Irn Bru advert - and of course, Still Game ...  He's also a synthesizer and keytar maverick who’s played on-stage with Wilco - but we'll come to that..  Sanjeev’s starring in a new adults-only panto this month...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode - recorded live at the wonderful Stand in Glasgow - I’m joined by a legendary musician, singer and songwriter who’s been associated with so many bands and artists that if I listed them all, we’d be here till next week…  They include, however, The Pretty Flowers - with BMX Bandits’ Duglas T Stewart , The Soup Dragons’ Sean Dickson , and The Vaselines’ Frances McKee...

Send us Fan Mail This episode was recorded live at Glasgow’s Civic House a few weeks back, as part of the brilliant Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival … I was joined by three of Scotland’s most vital songwriters and musicians, for an evening of live music and conversation that reflected on the ways in which music and creativity can have an impact on mental health - for better, and worse - both o...

Send us Fan Mail This week I'm hearing from two terrific writers whose latest books are perfect for cosy reading over the next few weeks - and beyond...  Jenny Colgan is a best-selling author. whose latest - The Secret Christmas Library - follows accidental book detective Mirren, and Jamie, who's desperately trying to do his best on a crumbling family estate in the Highlands... It's...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I’m delighted to be joined by actor, artist, comedian and Still Game favourite Gavin Mitchell who - among other things - is known and loved as Boabby the Barman… His work includes early roles on stage and behind the scenes at The Citz in Glasgow, via Velvet Soup , Monarch of the Glen , Bill Forsyth’s Being Human , Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut - and various dramas...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I’m joined by  the brilliant poet Hollie McNish , whose latest collection, Virgin , is out this week. We caught up last night in her dressing room, ahead of a sold-out gig at Glasgow’s Oran Mor , kicking off her Scottish book tour. Virgin is a blazing, bright, riled love letter to the best of us - which is most of us - in the face of man-made constructs, expectati...

Send us Fan Mail While I’ve got your ear, just a quick reminder that on the afternoon of Thursday the 9th of October I’ll be in conversation with writer and legend Denise Mina - that’s at The Stand in Glasgow, it’s at half two - and it’d be lovely to see you there. You can get tickets for the price of a coffee via akickupthearts.org … There are also events coming up with Emma Pollock , Irvine Wels...

Send us Fan Mail We’re back at Scotland’s Crime Writing Festival, Bloody Scotland , for this episode - which is a whistle-stop blether with three of the many, many excellent writers who’re in my home town of Stirling this weekend… Tariq Ashkanani’ s latest wide-screen Americana novel, The Midnight King, hones in on a best-selling writer, a father, a widower, and a friendly man who - guess what - i...

Send us Fan Mail Recorded live at The Stand, Glasgow... Scotland’s Crime Writing Festival, Bloody Scotland , kicks off tomorrow - that’s Friday September 12th, we’ll all be there and hopefully you will too…  Ian Rankin ’s the guest programmer, I’m chairing Ian and various actors who’ve played Rebus over the years at the Albert Halls tomorrow, and then I’m in conversation with Mark Billingham and L...

Send us Fan Mail This week, we’re looking back at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe , where we had a brilliant run of live guests including Barbara Dickson , Gordon Buchanan , Gavin Mitchell , Horse and Justin Currie - thank you so much for joining us, if you came along… I’ll post those chats, and others, in due course, but this week, we’re hearing from actor and broadcaster Grant Stott, who regalled u...

Send us Fan Mail This week, I’m at Edinburgh’s Voodoo Rooms , for a chat with the goddess - the countess - that is Fay Fife… The Rezillos and Revillos trailblazer - and the only person in the history of the universe to sing Top of the Pops on - yes - Top of the Pops… is playing at the Voodoo Rooms from August 12th to 17th- so we caught up for a coffee, to chat all about it… She’ll be raising the r...

Send us Fan Mail Recorded at the East Neuk Festival in Fife This week, I’m hearing from one of our most gorgeous, and inventive musicians, who’s a composer, harpist, singer, songwriter and - as it turns out - a pretty fierce conductor too. Esther Swift is at Edinburgh International Book Festival tonight (August 15th) - in a collaboration with Jackie Kay - so we talked about that, and Esther’s glor...