'A Wilder Vein' is launched

'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 Andrew Greig. It was wonderful to hear 'live' versions of the pieces I'd enjoyed on the page, and witness the diversity and the synergy between them.

I'm now looking forward to the feature on BBC Radio 4's Excess Baggage this Saturday at 10am when John McCarthy will be in conversation with contributors Andrew Greig and Sara Maitland. Local media are also making something of it here and there's a lovely review from Cameron McNeish here which also appears in TGO magazine.

The Aberfeldy Watermill

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 and a engaging a wider public with words in all sorts of ways - including creative writing workshops.

Neill Denny, chairman of the judges, said: "Tucked away in Aberfeldy, on the edge of the Scottish Highlands, the Watermill is a truly outstanding local bookshop. They have built up a shop people travel many miles to visit. Combining a bookshop, art gallery and coffee shop, the Watermill won for a number of reasons: authoritative bookselling, profitable and expanding trading, energetic local PR and marketing, helpful staff and exciting displays. This is a superb, successful store that offers a definitive model of how bookshops can thrive." Read more.

Hurrah, hurrah!

Northwords Now

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 Floating Stones documenting the launch of her ceramic 'stones' into 111 lochans around the Highlands, published in beautiful art-book style by my own dear neighbours, The Watermill of Aberfeldy. I was delighted when my story And the sky was full of crows was published by NN in 2006. It has since found a second home in my collection The Searching Glance which is reviewed in Issue 9, and includes the kind words: '...Linda Cracknell has the gift of making you see a whole picture with just the exact right handful of words'.