tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-327328732011-12-28T16:50:16.594ZI am a self-employed writer and teacher of creative writing. Specialities are short fiction and radio drama.Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.comBlogger1051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-67441365965013145632011-12-06T11:57:00.013Z2011-12-07T11:24:46.397Z

My latest radio play ‘The Lamp’ goes out on BBC Radio Four on 14th December, and has special status as ‘Play Of The Week’ which means that it will also be available as a podcast from Friday 16th for seven days.It was recorded on location at Perthshire’s charming Library of Innerpeffray at the beginning of November, and I’m only now shuffling the paperwork around, deciding what to keep, what to

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-4255685566532637542011-11-30T15:01:00.004Z2011-11-30T15:37:30.549Z

Saturday 3rd December sees the launch of '26Treasures', another quirky partnership project from the 26 Writers' collective, this time with the National Museum of Scotland. (see last post for another 26 challenge!) Sister projects are also going on in Wales and Northern Ireland.The launch will bring together for Treasure Chatter most of the 26 writers who have been randomly matched with 26 museum

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-18782274092634794922011-11-22T15:20:00.004Z2011-11-22T21:55:25.352Z

I've always been intrigued by the fragments of stories that you come across as scribbles on paper - a shopping list for a party; an unfinished love letter; a message passed surreptitiously from hand to hand during a boring meeting. So when I saw on the '26' writers' website that Andy Hayes was proposing to distribute 26 of the handwritten scraps he's collected over two years from the streets of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-47674364949860982402011-10-28T17:45:00.008Z2011-10-31T21:16:32.990Z

Two weeks and two festivals. The first was the Biggar Little Festival where I returned to Brownsbank Cottage, last home to Christopher Grieve (poet Hugh MacDiarmid) and his wife Valda Trevlyn. I was writer in residence there for three years from 2002 -5 and despite an absence of six years, I felt immediately at home in its two tiny rooms with condensation clouded windows and the idiosyncratic

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-23750962514798900122011-07-19T10:28:00.006Z2011-07-19T11:53:00.015Z

I was all in a warm glow about the short story's radiance on the radio after having one of my stories broadcast in June (see my last post), and not least because it was chosen for Pick of the Week. So, I was dismayed to discover this week that the new BBC Radio Four controller Gwyneth Williams, has decided to reduce the story reading slot to ONE a week (it used to be every weekday). I know how

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-13492720155661906132011-05-28T18:08:00.005Z2011-05-28T18:56:32.814Z

Britain's' most northerly 'Lido', the sea-water Trinkie pool near Wick, established in a fit of healthiness in the 1930s, is the setting for my story 'The Horizon Pool', read on BBC Radio Four's Afternoon Reading on Thursday June 9th.Commissioned as part of a themed series of stories about outdoor swimming, two very different Lido stories by Michelle Roberts and Stella Duffy (both great treats)

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-54550879364850013592011-05-21T15:03:00.007Z2011-05-21T15:30:02.118Z

I've been lucky enough to spend two consecutive weeks recently in houses dedicated to words and writing: Tŷ Newydd in Wales and Moniack Mhor in the Scottish Highlands. Each is distinct in feel, position and location, Tŷ Newydd, once home to Lloyd George, a white house gracing a lawn looking out over Cardigan Bay; and Moniack Mhor a croft house clinging onto a gusty hilltop in Invernessshire. But

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-16937786726257643372011-05-08T12:03:00.004Z2011-05-08T12:23:06.058Z

An essay of mine about walking barefoot through a Kenyan village with activist and writer, Philo Ikonya is featured in Algebra, Tramway’s exciting new digital literary journal. Walked in 2009 as part of my walking and writing project, I'm thrilled to see the piece appear here for the first time.Developed in partnership with Storm ID, Algebra is edited by writer Beatrice Colin, and the first issue

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-84239537100266903512011-03-07T21:51:00.014Z2011-03-08T19:16:22.088Z

I've written before about Scotland's oldest public lending library at Innerpeffray in Perthshire, but it's timely to mention it again for several reasons. Firstly, it reopened to the public last week for the visiting season, and so, with the scent of Spring drawing us all out of darkened rooms again, I'd like to highlight it as a wonderful destination for a day out - snowdrops, the river Earn, a

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-33247171987530733222010-12-13T13:53:00.009Z2010-12-13T14:09:35.425Z

There's a lovely piece on Radio Scotland's 'Book Cafe' today (and an audio slideshow on the website) featuring James Robertson re-visiting Brownsbank Cottage near Biggar, last home to poet Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Grieve). The two room cottage was preserved after his wife, Valda's death in 1989, and has functioned as a living memorial through a writing fellowship for the last 17 years. James

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-84004142821489486502010-12-10T09:57:00.006Z2010-12-10T11:21:28.552Z

The Scottish Writers' Centre recently asked me to run a workshop on creative non-fiction writing (CNF). It was an interesting thing to do as I consider myself quite new to the genre and still discovering what it means. I had to think about it quite hard.In the US, there’s a Journal dedicated to CNF, and you can now do a Masters in it in Britain. But arguably it’s nothing new. It’s writing about

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-41920410861260848982010-11-04T10:29:00.005Z2010-11-04T10:59:58.004Z

Last year a small group of us who are members of Scottish PEN -- and therefore either writers, or professionally engaged with literature -- set up a new online magazine. For each issue (now two a year) we propose a theme, and invite submissions from Scottish PEN members, and from people living in Scotland who are either writers in exile, or who are non-native English speakers trying out writing

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-90492228015186318032010-10-28T11:12:00.006Z2010-10-30T18:21:17.360Z

Hurrah! It's back, according to this article in the Telegraph - 'the timelessly simple delight of handwriting: of pen in hand, ink on paper and skin on surface as thoughts and images transfer from the imaginative to the material'. I have to write by hand. My typing is appalling and by the time I'm dealing with a keyboard and screen, I'm editing as I go; the intuitive, sensuous, fluent part of the

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-29674995480894021112010-10-11T18:01:00.005Z2010-10-11T19:16:07.495Z

I was very honoured today to read and be interviewed at the inaugural 'Inveralmond International Book Festival'. It was put on at Inveralmond Community High School by a third year class who writer, Mary Paulson-Ellis, and myself have been working with over the last three weeks, as part of Scottish Book Trust's 'Writers in Schools' programme.Over the six sessions in Michael Stephenson's English

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-66957709906478236532010-10-01T20:08:00.006Z2010-10-02T08:42:45.207Z

September Sun crackled on Gleneagles' greens last Sunday. Pipes played on the lawn. Golfers wore dark glasses and smiles.And in the Barony Room, contenders for Big Tree Country awards arrived for tea and cakes and to celebrate achievements such as the establishment of orchards, paths, greenhouses, and habitats for wildlife, all within Perthshire.I was presenting the awards and was struck, as I

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-12994628404863627472010-09-23T17:26:00.004Z2010-09-23T17:39:52.677Z

I start a new project tomorrow in Inveralmond Community High School, Livingstone. Working with writer Mary Paulson-Ellis and teacher, Michael Stephenson, we'll be helping a third year group to develop stories through prompts which we hope will emulate our own creative processes and also emphasise the 'play' aspects of writing.Michael is also currently the Scottish Book Trust's on-line teacher in

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-61918500160871887772010-08-12T20:36:00.002Z2010-08-12T20:39:02.178Z

I can't quite believe this but it says on Salt's website....Top 10 BestsellersJohn Siddique, RecitalRichard Marggraf Turley, Wan-Hu’s Flying ChairJasmine Donahaye, Self-Portrait as RuthElizabeth Baines, Too Many MagpiesVanessa Gebbie (ed.), Short CircuitAndrew Philip, The Ambulance BoxBrian Henry, Wings Without BirdsShaindel Beers, A Brief History of TimeWena Poon, Lions in WinterLinda Cracknell,

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-34847295401872602912010-07-30T18:02:00.002Z2010-07-30T18:05:21.882Z

My bottle has now been cast adrift in the Minch, with six others. Read more on Pat Law's website here.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-28003180272300079332010-07-09T12:14:00.007Z2010-07-09T13:00:35.524Z

I'm participating in a one of Pat Law's intriguing projects. 'Mailboat' is about communication by wind and current. It has an uncertain timescale and is named after the message-bearing bottles cast into the sea as a cry for help by St Kildans in the late 19th century. Each writer or poet contributes a postcard-sized message to go in a bottle which Pat matches with something visual, and an

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-90906437754838711022010-07-02T10:30:00.005Z2010-07-07T08:35:35.987Z

I'm very delighted to have a new story published in issue 46 of 'Mslexia', just out. The theme this time was 'Into the Deep' and the selector was Christina Patterson - a writer and columnist at The Independent, former director of the Poetry Society, and literary programmer at the Southbank Centre, who writes on politics, culture, books, travel and the arts. She descibes my story thus:‘Breathing

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-82688980776693992582010-05-26T15:37:00.004Z2010-05-26T15:45:35.323Z

Last week I was working on 'The Written World'. This is a project run jointly by the Abriachan Forest Trust and Moniack Mhor writers' centre, which lie two miles apart on a hilltop above Loch Ness. children from Inverness-shire schools who visited for the day used their powers of observation, spades, nets, and pens and paper, in an exploration of the biodiversity of the Forest.Suzanne Barr

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-5029639300210169712010-05-11T19:25:00.008Z2010-05-11T19:44:54.562Z

I very rarely write poems but I was reminded yesterday of a lovely project I was involved in a few years ago to write poems about various garden 'beasties' as part of a Scottish Natural Heritage activity pack for parents of pre-school children. The poems, factual but fun, about worms, bees, frogs, etc were attractively presented on colour postcards with information about the species on the back.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-81132691972056861742010-04-29T16:06:00.003Z2010-04-29T16:09:17.832Z

The article that appeared in Forbes yesterday by Alan Rinzler was a great reminder. As he says: 'Self-confidence is the single most essential ingredient an author needs to succeed, since good writing is never quick or easy.'Confidence is so easily lost or at least threatened, that we do need these reminders of how to keep generating it even when we seem to be up against a wall.Many of his

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-30552858293168587352010-03-08T18:48:00.008Z2010-03-08T22:15:49.387Z

If you love books, paper, maps, words, making things, I have two recommendations.Firstly, visit Innerpeffray Library, Scotland's oldest free public lending library, which still houses its fascinating book collection, made available to all-comers from the late 17th century. It's a beautiful place tucked away near Crieff in Perthshire, with a chapel and school-house, built beside a Roman road

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-25898141898484452092010-03-04T12:08:00.002Z2010-03-04T12:23:11.185Z

Delighted to have received mint-green issue 2 of Gutter magazine, with my story 'Turning Soft' inside. It's very much an August story and quite strange to re-read it today with snow piled up to my ears! Gutter issue 2 packs in bags of writing goodies including personal favourites Ron Butlin and Sophie Cooke. The launch is this Saturday at Aye Write Festival, Glasgow.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-76280375945817537462010-02-14T14:49:00.010Z2010-02-14T16:54:00.781Z

The third edition of Scottish PEN's writing magazine is now online. The magazine's distinctive feature is to present the work of refugees and asylum seekers, who may not be professional writers, alongside that of members of Scottish PEN, who are. This is an important opportunity to hear these often unheard voices.The theme of 'the warming world' elicited fewer submissisons than previous issues

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-16322812062876350502010-02-13T15:40:00.010Z2010-02-14T20:02:17.950Z

This humble cottage, Brownsbank, thirty miles south of Edinburgh was the home of poet Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Grieve) from 1951 until his death in 1978, and his wife, Valda Trevlyn Grieve, until hers in 1989. During their occupation the cottage became a literary pilgrimage - visited by Ginsberg and Yevtushenko, amongst others. Afterwards it was preserved by the Biggar Museums Trust and a

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-73487787919833157522010-01-27T16:51:00.005Z2010-01-27T17:14:31.541Z

It's a while since I've written any new short fiction, so I'm very chuffed that a recent story, Turning Soft, is about to be published in the second issue of exciting new magazine of fiction and poetry, Gutter, and to see what good company I'm in here.Launch in Glasgow during Aye Write on March 6th.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-13587489897021050922009-12-16T18:31:00.004Z2009-12-16T18:38:59.566Z

I'm getting excited now about hearing my radio play The Three Knots 'live' on the radio next week. It always seems different with the continuity announcements etc, and knowing that one or two other people might be listening simultaneously.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-28388556071444799742009-11-30T20:39:00.009Z2009-12-02T21:22:53.853Z

Last week I talked about my fiction to over 350 people. Many of them had read several of my short stories in advance. This would have been humbling in any circumstances but as the audience were 16-18 year-olds in Zurich, and as my stories can be pretty obscure even for native speakers, this audience seemed quite extraordinary.As I’ve been writing much more non-fiction and drama recently, it was

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-46357294091670636032009-11-26T10:47:00.009Z2009-11-26T18:01:19.817Z

Great news from Two Ravens Press that A Wilder Vein is meeting with enthusiasm from book-buyers in its first month on the shelves. A few good/interesting reviews and coverage through its contributing writers appearing on Radio Four's Excess Baggage, Sara Maitland's piece in the Observer last Sunday, and the Guardian Travel section this coming Saturday, are helping to spread news of the title.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-47313953017423869022009-11-04T18:32:00.008Z2009-11-05T16:46:25.964Z

'A Wilder Vein' was launched last week - twice! First we were at the Aberfeldy Watermill (pictured above left to right with Norma Gray and Ruth Tauber of the Watermill; contributors Andrew Greig, Alison Grant, Kenny Taylor, Mandy Haggith, and me). Then we were in Edinburgh as part of the Radical and Independent Book Fair where the readers were Judith Thurley, Jane Alexander, Ken Wilkie and

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-57507907581686376372009-10-28T19:41:00.007Z2009-10-28T21:50:56.790Z

I spent two days at the end of last week at the BBC in Glasgow to sit in on the recording of my new play 'The Three Knots'. It was great fun to return to that world after several years away. I heard the words I had hounded down and harnessed through numerous drafts springing into new life, was awed that they could mobilise five actors, a Director, three audio staff, an administrator and a whole

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-21221233270667428352009-10-12T16:31:00.003Z2009-10-12T16:39:58.543Z

Delighted that my short story collection, The Searching Glance is issued in a new paperback edition from Salt Publishing on 15th November, and available immediately direct from their website, at the great price of £7.99.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-88149129954917585302009-09-24T16:22:00.008Z2009-09-25T12:16:52.453Z

I'm also running a 'walking and writing' workshop earlier that day in the beautiful setting of Innerpeffray Library.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-90234139596958080432009-09-17T12:44:00.007Z2009-09-24T14:01:59.148Z

This week I started my new role as a Royal Literary Fund 'Fellow' at Stirling University. With over 100 institutions involved across Britain, this scheme has employed many creative writers over the last ten years in providing one-to-one support to students engaged in writing as part of their studies. Although not part of 'the institution' exactly, I am given a lovely home in the Department of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-67411923935921504452009-08-16T18:41:00.000Z2009-08-16T18:42:41.863Z

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-72460146037856309032009-08-07T14:21:00.005Z2009-08-07T14:48:15.596Z

Here's my very simple contribution to Joanne Kaar's fleet of paper boats, but I had a lot of fun doing it and dug into some family history that I find quite inspiring (see below). My boat is made from paper that has on one side a chart of the north coast of Scotland of 1846 and on the other side a 19th century map of the Braunton area - each end of the journey the Pirate must have taken from

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-8278747549949800552009-08-04T19:31:00.000Z2009-08-04T19:33:15.210Z

The Scottish branch of international writers’ organization, PEN, invite residents of Scotland who are refugees, asylum seekers, and others whose first language is not English to submit work for the on-line showcase of new writing we have recently started. The first edition was on the theme of ‘Home’.The writing this time should be inspired by the theme of 'Heroes and Heroines’ and will go live in

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-46491580897268636362009-08-04T09:25:00.005Z2009-08-04T12:59:58.003Z

see the other blog

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-53857571909593452992009-08-01T11:19:00.006Z2009-08-01T14:12:13.162Z

You have until 10th August to contribute a paper boat to Joanne Kaar's exhibition and fund raising project relating to Mary Ann's cottage museum in Caithness and William Young, Mary Ann's father who sailed on the Westland from Glasgow to New Zealand in 1879. The forthcoming exhibition in Thurso is going to be superb - full of her quirky links from the story to paper, baking and methods of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-16642480284244545202009-06-25T05:31:00.008Z2009-08-01T14:00:45.652Z

SALT, publisher of my most recent short story collection, The Searching Glance, have been in financial difficulties. Close to the brink, they are clawing their way back through the 'Just One Book' campaign. Readers of short literary fiction and poetry are invited to show their support for small independent publishers of these non-commercial genres by buying one book from Salt's titles. The impact

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-87238993423779490562009-06-11T17:49:00.006Z2009-07-09T14:13:01.015Z

Scottish PEN has invited poetry and prose from refugees, asylum seekers, and those whose first language is not English to appear alongside the work of a few professional writers who are members of Scottish PEN in an on-line showcase to mark Refugee Week. The writing, inspired by the theme of 'Home', will be posted on both the Scottish Refugee Council and Scottish PEN websites from 15th June 2009.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-86247026014706756862009-04-15T06:43:00.007Z2009-04-15T07:25:30.575Z

I've just finished a project at Pinkie Primary School, Musselburgh, with children's writer Lari Don, funded by the Scottish Book Trust. We had a great time with a P5 class, writing imaginative stories. The class invented a character who would appear in all their stories, one Abigail Bond, story-investigator (see photo). She had some handy character features such as a photographic memory and made

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-40617084956525400052009-02-23T16:58:00.012Z2009-02-23T18:56:02.525Z

The village of Kogelo in western Kenya would now like to update the name of its secondary school to take account of recent world events. From the bus travelling west out of Nairobi into the streets of steamy Kisumu on Lake Victoria, we heard, along with the distinctive 'tuk tuk' of the Paiggio auto rickshaws, the streets drumming with the words 'Obama' and 'Kogelo'. My friend Philo, probably

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-72052956885817284952009-02-20T19:48:00.004Z2009-02-25T12:07:11.427Z

Philo Ikonya, President of Kenyan PEN, was arrested and beaten by police earlier this week after taking part in a peaceful demonstration outside parliament in Nairobi in protest against hyperinflation and the rising prices of maize flour at a time of impending famine in Kenya.I have now heard that she has been released, appeared in court yesterday and was released on bail along with the two

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-68626596066193642842009-02-18T20:34:00.006Z2009-02-20T19:57:54.033Z

Reports have been reaching me today that friend, writer and PEN colleague, Philo Ikonya, has been arrested outside the Kenyan Parliament during a peaceful protest about the price of maize and the connected corruption scandal. She remains unreleased and without charges. Having just returned from a trip to Kenya in which I spent a great deal of time with Philo, I have witnessed her passion for

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-42506469092670146782008-10-13T09:36:00.007Z2010-03-08T20:00:12.175Z

"...that jewel inlaid in the fields of Perthshire,the reading-room at Innerpeffray - "from Robert Crawford's poem 'The Digital Library, St Andrews', written for National Poetry Day 2007Jewel-like and well hidden, this library near Crieff, where I was on Saturday, enchants both with its location on a bend in the River Earn with a Roman road marching past, and by its incredible collection of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-90143958448835208842008-10-09T10:17:00.003Z2008-10-09T10:29:26.321Z

see here for my contribution!

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-36076747705529420602008-10-07T18:25:00.008Z2010-03-08T20:01:15.873Z

Last week was Wigtown Book Festival, and here's the windswept main street with craft bookbinder Rachel Hazell suitably tousled by her workshop with local school pupils. I love the area, its soft green fertility, old stones, mud flats and the backdrop of the southern uplands. It was a time of gusts through sunshine, setting the leaves dancing just above the surface of roads and paths.I've been to

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-21138244005257789012008-09-22T16:10:00.006Z2008-09-22T17:06:14.222Z

No sooner has one bookshop done something great, than another one does. My own local Aberfeldy Watermill , bathed today in September sunshine, has just won Independent Bookshop of the Year Award. It's very well deserved for their expert mix of good books, coffee and art. In a short time they've become a major local resource with an extraordinary commitment to getting children involved with books

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-76244288233801531532008-09-22T09:28:00.005Z2008-09-22T09:48:55.606Z

Atkinson Pryce in Biggar on the A702 thirty miles south of Edinburgh is a gem of an independent bookshop. It's easy to drive past but don't! Last Thursday they were celebrating their expansion into a second room, with the help of this amazing book-cake (it tasted good too). I was writer in residence for three years in Biggar at Brownsbank Cottage, last home to Hugh MacDiarmid and Valda Trevlyn

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-30875369425417145892008-09-08T20:37:00.005Z2008-09-15T11:32:47.761Z

eh?What would Neil Gunn have to say about the title of his novel about the early days of the herring industry on the coast of Caithness being adopted for rumps and sirloins in Wick?'They forgot all about the ship; they forgot everything except the herrings, the little silver fish, the swift flashing ones, hundreds and thousands of them,the silver darlings.' page 26, The Silver Darlings, Faber and

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-37804710576549851542008-08-23T16:57:00.006Z2008-08-23T17:31:43.525Z

This exhibition by Canadian Artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller is a must-see at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. Drawing us through portholes into imagined worlds, the installations intrigue, suggesting stories through movement, sound, silence. In 'Opera for a Small Room' a man's voice repeatedly comes back to a woman he saw walking down the road with her shoes in her hand, while

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-29079155638830417572008-08-20T18:41:00.006Z2008-08-20T19:17:24.382Z

I always learn something from listening to writers talk. A startling new gem of wisdom, a reinforcement of my existing assumptions, or the articulation of something I half know and half don't know (perhaps the best of all). That's what makes a few days at the Edinburgh International Book Festival such a treat. My stars this time were the single author events where there was time for in-depth

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-73903753488003434952008-08-11T12:51:00.004Z2008-08-11T12:59:41.381Z

Not only are we revelling now in a fortnight of words, paper, and real live writers talking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, there is also a Book Fringe! The small, friendly, Word Power Books, have put together a fabulous programme of events and with their usual panache bring in from the margins the radical, the international and the literary. View the progamme here.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-3549804077094665382008-07-30T21:21:00.007Z2008-11-20T09:39:20.564Z

Issue 9 of Northwords Now, the free literary magazine of the North, has arrived, and as usual it's brimming with new writing, reviews, features. It's made available in ever-increasing areas of Scotland - and inviting contributions 'from any corner of the planet'. This edition has an interview with Australian poet Les Murray on his recent visit to Ullapool, and a feature on Lotte Glob's new book

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-87371608308030851942008-06-19T13:54:00.008Z2008-06-20T12:08:59.738Z

Last night every seat was full at the National Library of Scotland for an event some of us at Scottish PEN helped organise for Refugee Week. Iraqi exile Saadi Yousef (above), a major poet and translator of the Arab world who now lives in London, read musical words in English and Arabic. And Valerie Gillies in her final performance as Edinburgh's 'Makar' (poet Laureate) read from the work of four

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-61772993503067571122008-05-28T16:26:00.008Z2008-06-27T20:21:49.020Z

MOUNTAIN STORY COMMEMORATES 100 YEARS OF S.O.S.My short story about a mountain rescue, ‘The Weight of The Earth and the Lightness of the Human Heart’ is broadcast on Friday 4th July as part of a week of BBC Radio 4 stories themed, ‘S.O.S. – Save Our Souls’, to commemorate 100 years of the international distress signal. The story was recently published in my second short story collection ‘The

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-75776668716667872352008-05-16T14:41:00.003Z2008-05-29T17:01:56.313Z

Delighted to find a five star review on Amazon.co.uk. It doesn't even appear to be written by my Mum. I hadn't realised that anyone took the trouble to write such well considered and beautifully written reviews for this outlet - but there it is, thanks to Emily MacArthur.It's also rather a thrill to find The Searching Glance rubbing names with books by Anne Enwright, Roddy Doyle and Jhumpa Lahiri

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-40528478954387907032008-03-31T10:08:00.004Z2008-03-31T10:22:23.278Z

A visit to Cornwall in Springtime and the fabulous independent Morrab Library for a reading from The Searching Glance and a talk. The Cornishman newspaper gave the event a lovely write-up. In particular I liked the reference to William Trevor's definition of the short story - "I think it is the art of the glimpse. If the novel is like an intricate Renaissance painting, the short story is an

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-68613874746266337242008-03-26T18:18:00.008Z2008-03-31T10:23:43.927Z

This is what James Robertson had to say about the book: 'Linda Cracknell's attention to detail is impressive: she writes as a painter in oils might paint, using a palette rich in both colour and texture, and the people she brings to life seem at once both part of and alienated from the landscapes in which they move. These are quiet yet passionate stories, subtle and striking in their effect.'

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-59274759982235593332008-02-26T22:15:00.007Z2008-03-05T18:10:13.973Z

My book of short stories is in your bookshop any day now (or if it's not, please ask them to stock it!). I will have everything crossed for Salt Publishing on the 8th March when they hear the results of the 'Nielsen Innovation of the Year' of the Independent Publishing Awards for which they are shortlisted.It's a brave act to publish short stories in the current climate - they are notoriously

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-64001016731725711642008-01-28T17:12:00.001Z2008-01-28T17:50:19.959Z

In July 2007, I met Kenyan journalist and activist Philo Ikonya when we were both delegates to the International PEN congress in Dakar, Senegal. I was lucky enough to capture her radiance in dress and physical presence in this photo which was then used in posters for her campaign at the end of 2007 when she stood for parliament to try and bring women into the political life of the country. She

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-82756848700847661042008-01-03T17:26:00.000Z2008-01-03T17:53:01.639Z

In 2006 I worked with Langholm Academy and its associated primary schools as part of a national research project 'Arts Across the Curriculum'. I was one of the artists who planned with and worked alongside teachers in the classroom to help bring a creative approach to the mainstream curriculum. It is gratifying to see the experience of this project, which was managed by CREATE, gathered into a

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-31090820581090792592008-01-03T16:44:00.001Z2008-02-26T12:57:44.781Z

In Spring 2007 I was part of a tour of schools for the Highland Constellation Project . On our journey, we collected seven stars. Their pattern has become a new constellation - the Jumping Fish or Iasg a’ Leum (below) designed by Ullapool pupil, Alexander Stewart, in celebration of Highland Year of Culture 2007. Our journey involved star-gazing and stravaiging, describing pathways between beacons

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-8764891249155091272007-11-05T09:04:00.000Z2007-11-20T10:37:43.912Z

Inverness highlights Iraqi writers in an evening of words and music‘Endangered Speeches’, an evening of readings and music at Hootenanny’s, unites Inverness with cities all over the world that are marking ‘Day of the Imprisoned Writer’. On Sunday 11th November at 7.30pm a line up of writers representing both the Highlands, and writers in exile from their home countries, will read to highlight the

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-89712482295598314982007-10-30T14:21:00.000Z2007-10-30T14:41:21.349Z

Cotton laundry tape on the step of the old laundry at Kilmory, used by the Bullough family and guests when in residence five miles away at their Edwardian sporting lodge, Kinloch Castle, on the Isle of Rum. The Bullough family made their fortune in the Lancashire cotton industry. This is part of my Creative Scotland Award project.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-12331923635683595472007-08-27T14:15:00.000Z2007-08-27T14:53:04.517Z

In July 2001 I spent four days in Dundee on a BBC workshop, learning what was involved in writing radio drama. I remember the moment when actors from Dundee Rep. took my first attempt at a scene and brought it to life with the force of their voices, their imaginations, and their ability to inhabit the characters I had suggested. I have never looked back - loving the medium of radio and the

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-68425029287251003742007-08-19T08:54:00.000Z2007-08-19T08:56:04.436Z

toilet reading?or closet-writing?god forbid writer's block!

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-40896695512767210982007-07-23T21:17:00.000Z2007-08-02T08:43:03.567Z

In 1966, Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes attended the International PEN Congress as an observer and commented on: "the improbable spectacle of 500 writers - conservatives, anarchists, communists, liberals, socialists - meeting, not to underline their differences or to enunciate their dogmas, but to....bear witness to the existence of a community of the spirit while accepting the diversity of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-32695958654924433222007-07-22T16:25:00.000Z2007-07-22T16:50:58.029Z

Four years ago I began an email correspondence with a young Ugandan writer called Monica Arac de Nyeko as part of Crossing Borders, a collaboration between the British Council and Lancaster University to link African and UK writers. She told me that she had a 'crazy plan' to submit a story to the Caine Prize, sometimes referred to as the 'African Booker'. 'Great,' I offered nervously, 'But don't

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-70912381642813306032007-07-01T18:52:00.000Z2007-07-22T16:22:06.649Z

Cassiopeia followed me to Paris, glittering the windows of an estate agent. A curious association of a vain queen with property. After Paris, to Dakar. Not for a motor rally, but to represent Scottish PEN at the International PEN Congress from 4th July where a worldwide gathering of writers will debate issues of freedom of expression, the oppression of languages and writers, and the particular

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-75539301971608974692007-06-16T12:44:00.001Z2008-09-30T22:14:53.920Z

Cassiopeiaoh dear oh dearstill peering down at life on Earthall bright and superiorCassiopeiaher beauty was clearbut she’s chained up there for braggingand no-one’s gone to free herCassiopeiashe didn’t shed a tearwhen she tied her daughter to a rockfor the sea monster’s high teaCassiopeiadangerous to be nearplotted Perseus’s murderand he her daughter’s freerCassiopeiawe can always see herdangling

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-88451828037977221032007-06-12T16:34:00.001Z2008-09-30T22:15:17.288Z

The vain queen of Greek mythology was punished for bragging about her unrivalled beauty by being sent as a constellation to dangle around the pole star . She probably gets pretty tired of going round and round on her throne, sometimes upright, sometimes upside down. The children we've been working with in the Charleston group of schools in Inverness had some fun putting pictures and words to her

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-71908744067103696622007-06-08T10:15:00.001Z2007-06-08T15:14:27.784Z

So now we have all seven stars in the new constellation and the competition is on. What does the shape represent? What is it's name? How did it end up in the 'hall of fame' of the night sky? and what does its story teach us?

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-25094302657914476672007-06-08T10:09:00.001Z2007-06-08T13:46:22.145Z

Gaelic poet Sorley Maclean was Head Teacher at Plockton High School between 1956 and 1972. To commemorate this, Plockton High School students chose a star 49 light years from earth, Alderamin, and sent to it this message with a sample of their lives:From Plockton to AlderaminWe give youthe kiss of sun on a summer’s morningthe feel of sand between toesa wisp of white cloud on a bright horizonWe

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-8350958605228299462007-06-08T09:42:00.001Z2007-06-08T13:45:59.616Z

Children at Kyleakin Primary School celebrated a colourful local character through a 'star story'. Saucy Mary was a Norwegian Princess who reputedly married into the Mackinnon clan and became resident at Castle Moil. She was infamous for running a chain between Kyleakin and Kyle to extract tolls from passing boats.The children's version of the story had her doing this to pay for her precious

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-32072069753497909872007-06-08T09:21:00.000Z2007-06-08T13:45:02.540Z

Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyleakin Primary Schools, on either side of the water now spanned by the Skye Bridge, chose a joint star last week, 'Aldhibain', to feature in the Highland Constellation. Because of its light years from earth, it was chosen to highlight important and tragic events of 1919.The Iolaire (Eagle) ship, carrying men returning to the Western Isles after the war, left the harbour at

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1976360766286856552007-05-27T20:06:00.001Z2008-09-30T22:15:45.743Z

I have learnt that 'starn' is the Scots word for both star and the pupil of the eye. Interestingly this means that the expression 'starry-eyed' or 'stars in your eyes' is literally true.starn [starn, S. stern]star, pupil of eye, sternshot starn [$ot starn, S. -stern]a meteor

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-69433454553188285892007-05-27T12:34:00.001Z2007-06-08T09:21:04.238Z

Children at Broadford Primary School get instruction from Rachel Hazell on our visit there last week. Portree and Broadford jointly chose Kochab as their star for good historical reasons as expressed by one young writer in the acrostic poem below. Kochab, you areOur star. You seeCrofters throwing sticks and stones and moreHelping us to fight bravelyAt theBattle of the Braes.

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-64195060605512165742007-05-27T12:14:00.000Z2007-05-27T12:40:23.313Z

P5 Children at Portree Primary School gave me the ideas for this story about a very famous Skye creature banished to the heavens:How Skye was Saved from the MidgiesThe swarm of midgies dive-bombed Sam for the third time that morning. They stuck in his beard and stung his eyes where they had crowded in behind his glasses. He threw the letters he was about to post through the door of Number 5 into

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-20164688500415527422007-05-27T12:04:00.000Z2007-05-27T12:40:51.262Z

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-72529939881885005342007-05-13T10:11:00.000Z2007-05-27T12:41:25.417Z

Brora schoolchildren wrote ten-word haikus this week. They have chosen Vega - the 'jewel in the harp' and a very bright star close to earth - to form part of the new Highland constellation. They made origami 10-point stars on which to dangle their wishes. Here's a few:An earth wishEndangered animals live again.New plants grow.Trees keep standing.A summer wishsunshine every daywalking along the

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-42865570828003218122007-05-13T09:50:00.000Z2007-05-27T12:41:48.573Z

Many of the fantastic images of nebulae, stellar scenery and planets that we have been showing children in schools as part of the Highland Constellation Project, have been taken from the Hubble Telescope. Rather elderly and troubled, but still orbiting the earth at 17 years of age, I couldn't resist the wordplay suggested by a visit to Cawdor primary school. Here's the result:Birthday message to

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-5992849559534558102007-04-26T18:29:00.000Z2007-04-26T19:11:32.515Z

It won't make you rich, but might make make you fat, according to a reviewer I met at the awards for The List's Eating and Drinking Guide 2007, who had eaten in thirteen of Glasgow's Indian restaurants in 2 months. Having done a couple of reviews myself (not enough to get fat) I'd recommend it as a writing exercise. Try describing the food, ambiance and service all in two hundred words without

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-16956763006752401212007-04-13T08:16:00.000Z2007-04-13T09:22:20.245Z

The shortlist of five for the £15,000 National Short Story Prize was announced on the Today programme this morning and I was delighted to find Jonathon Falla and Jackie Kay on it - perhaps supporting the notion of the short story form being particularly alive and well in Scottish literature. I’ll look forward to hearing all the stories on Radio Four next week.I’ll also keep hoping that

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-70774002993899522212007-03-12T11:15:00.000Z2007-04-04T11:29:14.848Z

I am thrilled to be a recipient of a Creative Scotland Award 2007. These Awards are supported by the National Lottery through the Scottish Arts Council and ten are given annually to individual artists who live and work in Scotland. They provide a unique opportunity to experiment and realise imaginative ideas in a major project.My project will be a series of 'journey-essays' which link walking and

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-16372533277976222572007-03-05T12:54:00.001Z2008-09-30T22:16:27.707Z

This Spring and Summer I will be working with eight Highland schools and community groups to to catalyse stories about history, culture and stars, and to help identify a “new constellation” for 2007. The project, which involves the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, and the Highland Council Exhibitions Unit, combines literature, science and visual art. I will be working with a fine bookbinder Rachel

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-20493650614255943992007-02-20T12:57:00.000Z2007-02-20T15:58:03.318Z

On Saturday I was delighted to collect a runners' up prize at the Fort William Mountain Festival for 'The Family Mountain' a piece I wrote about a climb up Pico Duarte in 2001.The Family MountainFirst light cracks open a new world as we abandon the swelter of Santo Domingo for the Cordillera Central. The car windows seep cool mountain air onto our skin, reminding us of Scotland. Morag exchanges

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-37760240303428529662007-02-14T12:22:00.000Z2007-02-14T12:45:22.913Z

I wrote this story for the children at the International School of Tanganyika who I visited last week and who were full of curiosity, just as writers should be. ‘Why have you got such a big bag?’ a boy in the first class asked the visiting author.She was a little surprised. She usually got questions like, ‘Where do your ideas come from?’ or ‘How many books have you written?’ Was her bag really so

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-78229967122627496132007-01-24T08:16:00.000Z2007-01-26T07:40:32.587Z

On the ‘John o’ Groats’ tip of Zanzibar island, we take the un-European way. At sunrise, we walk away from the hotels and tourist shops that encrust certain bays and promontories, into a world of baobab trees and cassava plots, mangrove swamps and coral rag that have always been there and still exist, almost secretly to us, in the spaces between.Looking for paths worn into earth by bare feet, or

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-21446207528573483972006-12-13T21:31:00.001Z2008-03-31T08:03:40.494Z

Angel Face‘So where did you get this?’ Alec picked up a head from where it lay on Tom’s workshop floor amongst coils of chain, steel brackets, a redundant ring gear and a starter motor.‘Skip. Behind Makro’s,’ said Tom, wiping white paint down his boiler suit leg.Alec cupped the head in his hands. It had beigey-orange flesh tones and a cleanly machined amputation at the neck. ‘Wanted someone to

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-21842263167399052352006-12-09T21:14:00.000Z2006-12-09T21:27:12.056Z

Here I am being prepared for an event to celebrate the end of our class story-writing project about a school field trip which strands 29 children on an island. We each came as a character from the story and I was cast as teacher Ms Chess (aka 'The Duchess') who has been stranded for several days on a separate island with no water and little to eat. I only survived because the children were good

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-52871952759563697942006-12-04T15:47:00.000Z2006-12-10T09:07:40.773Z

OK, it’s not much to do with creative writing, except it did remind me of the bit in The Rainbow, when Tom Branwen gets swept to his death on his way back from the pub. The roaring in the ears, water sluicing from the hills in biblical proportions. The Upper Tay valley has been a pretty exciting place for the last twenty-four hours. The Loch has extended several miles downstream, hurried along by

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1165149160484775572006-12-03T12:25:00.000Z2006-12-03T15:35:18.992Z

AdventAfter I’d settled into the hotel room, unpacking my spongebag, hanging up suits and blouses in the wardrobe, and plugging in the laptop ready for the inevitable evening working, I took the advent calendar Malcolm had given me out of a large envelope. I re-opened the three windows which had been squashed flat, and stood it on the desk.We don’t make a fuss about Christmas, usually both work

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1164732946451531572006-11-28T16:14:00.000Z2006-11-28T17:17:03.650Z

Story – Storovel – NovelMargaret Atwood’s new book Moral Disorder is described as ‘A collection of ten stories that is almost a novel, or a novel broken up into ten stories’. At a recent reading in Edinburgh as part of her month-long Muriel Spark Fellowship, she spoke of it as a way of writing a novel without writing a novel or a way of writing stories without starting completely afresh each time

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1163864002631083272006-11-18T12:22:00.001Z2008-03-31T08:05:34.218Z

Night’s High Noon - a new short story comissioned by BBC Radio for the 'Mcguffin' afternoon readingsIt’s already eleven p.m. and the contest has only twenty-four hours to go, when I see her appear through the white wall of haar. She’s beyond the russet seaweed that crusted in the sun today before the screen dropped to mask the Hoy Hills, patrolling the silver strip of shallows. I watch her

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1163188629497779462006-11-10T19:52:00.000Z2006-11-10T20:07:51.780Z

Jessie Kesson short story adapatation for BBC Radio FourUntil Such Times is a poignant story told from the point of view of a young girl who longs for the return of her 'Aunt Ailsa' as she is boarded, temporarily, with her Grandmother and Invalid Aunt. With autobiographical elements from a life which saw Kesson grow up illegitimate and institutionalised, only to become a remarkable writer of

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32732873.post-1162057371980750952006-10-28T17:40:00.000Z2006-11-04T21:24:51.770Z

The McGuffin on Radio FourHitchcock built some of his most suspenseful films around what he called ‘The McGuffin’ which was, in effect, nothing. McGuffin-like stories have been commissioned this week for Radio Four's Afternoon Readings, including one from me: 'Night's High Noon', this Thursday 9th November, 3.30pm. It's midsummer on Orkney, and a strange contest is underway to find a mythical

Linda Cracknellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15297389660800808299noreply@blogger.com0