Northern Bibliosphere

Our second last episode of these Dispatches From Ullapool brings you a conversation with acclaimed novelist James Robertson, whose latest novel, News of The Dead, is longlisted for this year’s Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.  A former honorary president at the Ullapool Book Festival, he talks about the beauty of this event and his love for research and history.  If you have an...

Right everyone, we are only three episodes away from the end of this Ullapool Book Festival special reel of sneak peeks, but we have some amazing voices still left to be heard.  Next on is the multi-talented and newly appointed Edinburgh Makar, poet and playwright Hannah Lavery. She was at the festival presenting her latest collection of poems, Blood Salt Spring. We spoke to her about her wor...

Welcome back to you all dearest bibliophiles. We are back with some more juicy snippets from the latest amazing edition of the Ullapool Book Festival.  This time we sit down with the energetic Canadian writer and Giller Prize winner Ian Williams. He was at the festival presenting his latest poetry collection, Word Problems, as well as a collection of essays called Disorientation and his novel...

A mini-series in conversation with the finalists of the Highland Book Prize 2021 ahead of the awards ceremony on May 26. We are taken back to the 50s by Lewis-born poet and writer Donald S. Murray, and talk about the potential tragedy that was Operation Cauldron, which sets the background for the novel we will be talking about this week. Inside In A Veil of Mist, he explores the daily lives of res...

We went to the wonderful Ullapool Book Festival this year and we wanted to bring you a souvenir from it. So, here are seven special episodes all from the latest edition of the festival. In this episode we bring you a fascinating conversation with writer Jan Carson (@JanCarson7280) about her latest novel The Raptures and the state of things in Northern Ireland.  Find out more at www.jancarson....

We went to the wonderful Ullapool Book Festival this year and we wanted to bring you a souvenir from it. So, here are seven special episodes all from the latest edition of the festival. On our second episode of the series we chat to Graeme Macrae Burnet about his latest novel, Case Study.  Find out more at graememacraeburnet.com and ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk.  Do you have a book you lov...

We went to the wonderful Ullapool Book Festival this year and we wanted to bring you a souvenir from it. So, here are seven special episodes all from the latest edition of the festival.  First on is honorary president Chris Dolan, on what makes Ullapool Book Festival so special.  Find out more at ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk.  Do you have a book you love and would love to share with u...

A mini-series in conversation with the finalists of the Highland Book Prize 2021 ahead of the awards ceremony on May 26. This week we have the pleasure to sit down with Jen Hadfield and talk about her poetry in her latest collection The Stone Age, in which she explores the wild landscape of Shetland and most importantly the consciousness of all things (living and not).  You can find out more...

A mini-series in conversation with the finalists of the Highland Book Prize 2021 ahead of the awards ceremony on May 26. In this first episode we speak to David Alston, author of Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean. His work explores the links to the slave-trade in the region and how this part of history plays into modern Scotland and the Highlands. More inform...

Hello Bibliophiles of the North! Today's guest is the wonderful Merryn Glover, writer in residence in the Cairngorms with a past as a globe trotter!  We talk about her work and about latest novel, Of Stone and Sky, which was longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2021 and is the story of a disappearance but most importantly of a community and its members throughout the decades.  In it, s...

This week’s guest is the lovely Leonie Charlton, author of prose and poetry whose first published book, Marram: Memories of Sea and Spider Silk , has just been released in paperback and has been selected at Waterstones as Scottish book of the month for April.   It was originally published in 2020 and it’s a very profound, gentle and at the same time really intense and emotional journal. We tr...

Today’s guest is an engineer by trade and an author by passion: we were delighted to have Paul A. Lynn talking about creativity, engineering and history which all feature in his latest book: A Scotsman Returns: Thomas Telford in the Highlands and Islands. In his work, Lynn retraces a journey across the North of Scotland that Telford one of the most celebrated civil engineers of all time took toget...

Calling out to all of you passionate about one of the most fascinating periods of Scottish history (and, well, Outlander fans too) as we sit down and chat to Aberdeenshire-based writer and history enthusiast Maggie Craig, the author behind Damn’ Rebel Bitches: The Women of the ’45 . The book is celebrating its 25th anniversary and, together with its companion work, Bare Arsed Banditti: The Men of...

Hi everyone and Happy World Book Day! Welcome to this very special episode of Northern Bibliosphere, which is all about World Book Day! This year marks the 25th anniversary of the initiative and we wanted to explore what's happening in the North of Scotland through the eyes of the people advocating for and sharing the passion for books: our schools, libraries and independent bookshops.  We sp...

Welcome to the second episode of Northern Bibliosphere! Today our guest is former policeman and crime writer Neil Lancaster.  Neil moved to the Black Isle from England a few years ago after a career as a military policeman and as a detective for the Metropolitan Police, investigating serious crimes in the capital and beyond. In less than four years he has published three crime fiction works f...

Welcome to the very first episode of Northern Bibliosphere!  To start with a bang, our first guest is writer, drama and English teacher -  and puppetry enthusiast! - Barbara Henderson. She is the author of Scottish historical fiction and eco-fiction for children such as Fir For Luck, Punch, Wilderness Wars and The Siege of Caerlaverock as well as her first non-fiction book, Scottish by I...

COMING SOON! A literary journey across the North of Scotland. Highland News and Media reporter and bookworm Federica 'Freddie' Stefani explores the literary culture of the region by chatting to authors, visiting bookshops and showcasing literary events and projects. Got an author, book or literary project that you would like to hear from on our podcast? Drop us an email at northernbibliospher...