Scots Whay Hae!

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is a Bloody Scotland Prize Winners Special, with the first joint winner of the Debut novel prize and the McIlvanney Prize for Best Crime Book of the Year Frances Crawford and the winner of this year’s Pitch Perfect, Caroline Grebbell . First of all returning guest Frances reflects on an incredible year, and the critical, and popular reaction to her novel A Bad, B...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to Halina Rifai to hear all about Creative Balance, a research and advocacy arm of We Are Here Scotland CIC, and Part One of their research which centres on the wellbeing of racialised people working in Scotland’s creative industries. Halina, who is the Project Lead, details the research which is called ‘Finding The Radiance In Between: Reimagining...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to artist Dinos Chapman to talk about his forthcoming appearance at Glasgow’s Tramway for this year’s Sonica Festival, but the conversation touched upon so much more. Dinos spoke about the improvisational nature of his work, performances which have inspired him, the importance of humour and comedy - something he sees as inevitable, defying (or even...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali catches up with previous guest, writer Rodge Glass to talk about his latest book As One: Remaking Suede - which is published with New Modern. Rodge begins by giving a brief description of this biography of Suede, before explaining how he came to write it, detailing his own relationship with the band, and why the book concentrates on the most recent albums...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is all about the powerful and poignant feature documentary BEL which looks at the life and times of the late singer songwriter Beldina Odenyo who made magnificent music as Heir of the Cursed . Ali spoke to Beldina’s sister Leah McAleer as well as the film’s director Louise Lockwood and producer Sarah Howitt to hear how BEL the movie came about, how it developed,...

For the latest podcast Ali spoke to author and illustrator duo John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs who are better known as Metaphrog and who are behind number of award-winning graphic novels and comics. Their latest is Wilomina: The Land of Dreams and Nightmares which is out now, published with The two talk their initial experiences of comics and animation and other formative influences, how they met a...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer and journalist Gabriella Bennett to talk about her fascinating new book How To Build A City: Journeys Into The Urban Future , which is published with Headline . Gabriella begins by giving her description of the book, and explains how she came to write it. The two then talk about the mix of travel writing, urban planning, and personal refle...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Show Ali spoke to writer Alan Parks to hear all about his latest novel Deception , which is the second Joseph Gunner thriller, and which is published with Baskerville. First the two look back to the first time they spoke for the podcast in April 2021 and consider how the world has changed since then, before Alan gives a brief description of Jospeh Gunner, how he beca...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer and journalist Scott Rowley to talk about Stay Alive: The Life & Death of Stuart Adamson , his authorised biography of the late, great, Skids and Big Country musician. Scott explains how he came to be the one to write this book, the ‘authorised’ aspect and what that lends to it, his own background in music journalism, and his initial w...

For the latest podcast Ali caught up with returning guest Olga Wojtas to talk about the latest in her Miss Blaine’s Prefect series of novels, Miss Blaine’s Prefect and the Parcel of Rogues . Olga explains the unusual premise of the series, and exactly who Miss Blaine’s Prefect, aka Shona McMonagle, is, and how she came to find herself (spoiler alert - not really) travelling time. The two then disc...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is the fourth and final of our Edinburgh Fringe Festival Previews, where Ali talks to a few of the artists who will be appearing at the festival this year. First of all, writer and performer Andy Dickinson spoke about his Fringe show The Tale of the Original Jekyll and Hyde (Told by a Mad Hatter from Stockport) , to give it the full title. “Deacon Brodie isn’t th...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is the third of our Edinburgh Fringe Festival Previews, where Ali talks to a few of the artists who will be appearing at the festival this year. First of all, he spoke to writer and director Dante Passarelli about The Last Drop which is part of the São Paulo Showcase and which was nominated for Brazil’s 2024 Shell Award for Best Playwriting. In the play, “A coupl...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is the second of our Edinburgh Fringe Festival Previews, where Ali talks to a few of the artists who will be appearing at the festival this year. First of all, I spoke to writer and performer Kara Wilson about her one-woman show Helen Bradley: Painter and Storyteller . “This is the sixth painter play that Kara Wilson has written, where she portrays the artist at...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is the first of our Edinburgh Fringe Festival Previews, where Ali talks to a few of the artists who will be appearing at the festival this year. First of all, Ed Gamester talks about Mythos Ragnarök, where you can “join Loki, Thor and the Norse Gods in this five-star groundbreaking blend of mythological storytelling and high-octane wrestling.” Then Sadiq Ali take...

For the first of our Bloody Scotland podcasts - Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival - Ali spoke to the five shortlisted authors for this year’s Scottish Crime Debut of the Year. They include May Rinaldi - Liar Thief , Zoë Rankin - The Vanishing Place , Linda Duncan McLaughlin - Original Sins , Frances Crawford - A Bad, Bad Place , and Kirsty Lockwood - We Know What You Did . They each...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to returning guest, music journalist and writer Graeme Thomson to talk about his new book In Another World: The Four Seasons Of Talk Talk which is out now, published with New Modern . Graeme explains why he wanted to write about Talk Talk, the structure of the book, why he focuses on four featured albums, and what they mean to him, and the challenge...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast we spoke to John Crosbie , the son of one of Ali’s favourite writers, Agnes Owens whose centenary is being marked in a number of ways, including a handsome set of new editions of her work . Four are available now (see below) with another three coming later in the year - all published on the Polygon Books imprint of Birlinn . John starts by talking about Agnes...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer Colin Burnett to talk about his new novel Family Man , which is also The Third Book of Aldo , and it’s published with Tippermuir Books . Colin talks about all things Aldo, including the first two books A Working Class State of Mind and Who’s Aldo? , before telling us where the man finds himself at the beginning of this book, and gives an o...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer Martin MacIntyre to talk about his novel A Summer Like No Other which is published by Luath Press . Martin begins with a reading before he gives an overview to the novel, which is a translation from the original Gaelic version, Samhradh ‘78. The two then discuss the central characters, the key role the Gaelic language plays in terms of cha...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali caught up with previous guest, writer Andrew Meehan to talk about his new novel Hey Man , which is published with Muswell Press. Andrew gives the first of two readings before he gives an overview of the book, why he is drawn to the theme of friendship in all its forms, gives a brief outline of his central characters Ian and Tommy, and explains the novel’s...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to Zoe Alba Farrugia, who is the Head of Programme for this year’s Solas Festival , which is at Errol Park, 19th–21st June . Zoe gives some background and history to the festival, stressing that it is so much more than a music festival. She then talks about the different strands , which include Wellbeing & Spirituality , Literature, Poetry &...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to Professor Murray Pittock to talk about his latest book The Shortest History of Scotland , which is published with Old Street Publishing Ltd. “From Columba to The Corries, the Picts to Paisley, Doggerland to Devolution – here is the unmissable story of Scotland.” Murray tells us how he came to write this book, the challenges in deciding what to in...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali caught up with writer Chris Brookmyre to talk about Quite Ugly One Evening , the latest Jack Parlabane mystery which is published 30 years after his celebrated debut Quite Ugly One Morning , a novel which introduced us to both the writer and his notable creation. Chris talks about his fondness for Parlabane, why he keeps returning to him, and how Jack has...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to musician and composer Kenny Inglis . Kenny was a recent artist of the week on the Scots Whay Hae! Show (which is on CamGlen Radio every Sunday between 7-9pm, and available to catch up with after that ) but we thought he had so much more to say, and that this was the place to say it. Kenny spoke about his unusual road into making music, working in...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Ali spoke once again to Ann Campbell who is the Festival Director of the Dunoon Film Festival which this year runs between 8th - 10th May, and has the themes of ‘Film, Food & Fun’. Ann talks about those themes and how the programme relates to them before the two go through just some of the highlights of this year’s festival, which include The Orkney Dive...