Scots Whay Hae!

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to singer-songwriter and author James Yorkston to talk about his latest novel, Tommy The Bruce - which is published by Oldcastle Books. James gave a brief synopsis, before explaining why this was a story he wanted to tell, why the small-town setting is crucial, creating the central character of Tommy Bruce, the importance of understanding the motiva...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to musician Clare Stewart who is a founding member, and artistic director, of the vocal ensemble APOLLO5 to talk about their new album 'Anam'. 'Anam' means 'soul' in Gaelic, and Clare talks about the strong Celtic theme which underpins the album, which features new arrangements of folk songs, pagan texts, poetry, brand new co...

For the first Scots Whay Hae! Podcast of 2025 Ali caught up with writer and journalist Peter Mohan to talk about his book 'Cheers, Govanhill', in the appropriate setting of Queen's Park Cafe (which features numerous times). The two talk about the origins of the book and the blog which it's taken from, how it started, and how it developed, the history of the area, Peter's person...

For the latest SWH! podcast, and the last of our Best of 2024 pods for this year, Ali is joined once more by our longest serving contributor, Chris Ward, to talk all things film, or at least to talk about their films of the year. (Unfortunately fellow film pod regular Wesley Shearer couldn't do this year, but he let us know his films of the year as well). Chris and Ali each pick seven films to tal...

For our latest roundup of 2024 we look at the year in music, with Ali joined once again by musician and righteous supporter of Scottish music, Gefahrgeist's Fiona Liddell. As is now customary, they each pick 10 tracks to discuss which have left their mark over the last 12 months. As ever, they could easily have picked many, many, more examples from what was another incredible year for Scottish mus...

As is traditional, the first of our Best of 2024 podcasts is all about books, when once again Ali is joined by Publishing Scotland's Vikki Reilly to talk about the standouts of the year, and to give a heads up as to what's coming in 2025. The two talk fantastic fiction, non-fiction, plenty of prose, and even a little poetry. There's food, drink, crime, comedy, coming-of-age, drama, history, sci-fi...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to restauranteur and writer Carina Contini about her new book The Contini Cookbook, published by Birlinn Books. Carina runs a number of well-regarded establishments in Edinburgh with husband Victor, including Contini George Street, and the cookbook captures the ethos not only of what they do, but who the Contini Family are. Written over a period of...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali caught up with journalist, critic, and presenter Fergus Morgan to talk about the excellent podcast A History of Scottish Drama in Six Plays, which you can get in all the usual places. Scottish drama doesn't get the coverage it deserves, but Fergus's podcast goes some way to right that situation. He talks about why he chose these six plays, gives a brief e...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer and journalist Alan Taylor to talk about this latest book, Edinburgh: The Autobiography, which is published with Birlinn Books. Following on from 2016's Glasgow: The Autobiography, Alan talks about why the time was right for Edinburgh to get similar treatment (its publication coincides with the city's 900th anniversary), the format of the...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Ali spoke to Jenna Gordon, who is the editorial director for Verve Books, to talk about all things independent publishing, and much more. Jenna talks all about Verve Books, how it started, and how it's going, including what we can look forward to in terms of publications coming in the new year. She also breaks down her role of editorial director, and explains...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to returning guest, the crime writer Denzil Meyrick to hear all about the latest novel in the Inspector Frank Grasby series, The Christmas Stocking Murders. An appearance by Denzil on the podcast has quickly become a sign that Christmas is on the way, and it was great to catch up with him and hear about what Frank Grasby and friends, and enemies, ar...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to artist Pat Law to hear all about GAFFER: Impressions from a Loch Fyne Skiff, a multimedia exhibition created by the Law family about the boat 'Kirsty' which will be on at the Scottish Maritime Museum until the 2nd of February 2025. As well as Pat herself, the artists involved include Mhairi Law, an award-winning photographer specialising in rural...

For the latest podcast Ali spoke to TV comedy writer and author Lee Stuart Evans to talk about his new novel Pleasantly Disturbed, which is published with Scratching Shed Publishing Ltd. Lee gives a brief synopsis of the novel before talking about why he wanted to write it, and the central part music, and particularly Simple Minds, plays in the story he wanted to tell. The two then go deep on thei...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast, Ali spoke to Gill Higgins, who makes music as Curlew. Gill talks all things Evolution, her debut musical solo project, which includes 'Air', 'Earth', 'Fire', and 'Water'. She sets out what people can expect from the forthcoming live show at The Dream Machine in Glasgow, which promises to be "an ambient electronic soundscape launch at an immersive event with...

For the latest podcast Ali caught up with crime writer Michael J. Malone to talk about the latest in his Annie Jackson series of thrillers, The Torments - out now, published with Orenda Books. It's the sequel to The Murmurs, which was one of SWH!'s top five crime novels of last year, and Michael talks about the inspiration for that book before talking about The Torments and how it continues the st...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to Dr Nandini Manjunath and Himadri Madan to hear all about Theiyā Arts and their new interdisciplinary mixed-media performance/exhibition Maiden | Mother | Whore. Nandini and Himadri explain the themes and ideas behind the project, the number of organisations who they have collaborated with, how the show has developed, and the academcic as well as...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Ali spoke to Professor Rhona Brown to hear all about The Collected Works of Robert Fergusson: Reconstructing Textual and Cultural Legacies which is a two-year research project, which runs from October 2023 until October 2025. A key poet of the Scottish eighteenth century, Rhona explains exactly who Robert Fergusson (1750-74) was and why he is so important to...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to author and singer/songwriter Malachy Tallack about his new novel and album, both of which are called That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz. Malachy tells us which came first, and how they developed, before giving a brief synopsis of the novel. He talks about the two strands and explains why these were stories he wanted to tell, before discussing his cent...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to previous guest, the writer Graeme Macrae Burnet, to hear all about his latest novel A Case Of Matricide, which is the final book in the Georges Gorski trilogy (all published on the Contraband imprint of Saraband), which are described as "a series of novels set in the unremarkable French town of Saint-Louis", but to say there is so much more is th...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer Robert J. Harris to hear all about Redfalcon: Richard Hannay Returns his latest outing for John Buchan's hero, familiar to most from the novel, and numerous film adaptations of, The 39 Steps. Robert talks about how he came to write the Richard Hannay novels, how he approaches writing in another writer's style, adapting the cast of...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Ali spoke to filmmaker and writer Grant McPhee to talk about his book Postcards from Scotland: Scottish Independent Music 1983-1995 which is published by Omnibus Press. Grant talks about how the book came about and why these are the years he wanted to cover, his film Teenage Superstars which inspired it, how the structure is shaped by the interviews, his prev...

The latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast is another collaboration with Bloody Scotland - Scotland's International Crime Writing Festival - where Ali spoke to the five shortlisted authors for this year's McIlvanney Prize which is awarded for the best Scottish crime book of the year. They include D.V. Bishop (A Divine Fury), Chris Brookmyre (The Cracked Mirror), Val McDermid (Past Lying), Abir Muk...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to writer Jenny Lecoat about her new novel Beyond Summerland, which is published on the Polygon Books imprint of Birlinn Ltd. After offering a carefully considered description of the book - which is set on Jersey just after the Second World War - Jenny explained why she wanted to write about this time and place, her personal connections, and how occ...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Ali spoke to the Founding Artistic Director of Cryptic Cathie Boyd to hear all about this year's Sonica Festival, which runs at 16 venues across Glasgow between 19th-29th September. Cathie talks about the history of both Cryptic and the Sonica Festival before taking us through just some of the extensive programme, the wide variety of what's on offer,...

For the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast Ali spoke to creator and performer Claire Love Wilson and director and performance-maker Peter Lorenz to hear all about Morag, You’re a Long Time Deid which has just completed a full run at this year's Edinburgh Fringe, and is about to tour Scotland, Ireland, and England. Claire and Peter explain the inspiration behind the show, how the two met and then c...