Scots, ten years on

bookwitch

Jan 15

Some of you did see me coming and exited swiftly(ish). But that's OK. I mean, it's not, but it's a free country, and if I saw fit to move to Scotland ten years ago, I dare say others are allowed to move to England, or even further afield.

I refer - of course - to my retort to Herald Scotland's panicky article about who was left now that Julia Donaldson had left the country. And yes, seeing as I was close to moving in the opposite direction, I didn't exactly want to see any of the other nine authors disappearing too.

'Nine?' you say. Precisely. I started counting and came up with 'a few' more Scottish children's authors. Some of them pretty major, too, so the Herald wasn't looking too carefully. (Won't list them again, as it's easy to get too listy, but read my post from January 15th 2014. Such a long time ago.) It was back in the day when authors regularly commented on here, and I was particularly taken by Kathering Langrisk who took three comments to get her own name right. ☺️ (With me it's usually my address I can't always manage. Crescent, Avenue, Gardens, Terrace.)

I ruled against listing adult crime writers, and if I stick to this, I still have well over twenty more authors than I did in 2014. And I've not exactly gone out of my way to find every last one, although for my lunches I did scour every possible literary lady I could come up with. Among them were ones who 'followed me' to Scotland, like Che Golden, Lee Weatherly and Philip Caveney. Much appreciated.

Geographically closest to me are Alex Nye and Moira Mcpartlin. Distance is not a problem though, and I have enjoyed getting to know Barbara Henderson and Lindsay Littleson. Artists Kate Leiper and Ross Collins are people I admire greatly. Sarah Broadley, Sheila Averbuch, Vikki Gemmell and Lynne Rickards make for good company at parties. And many more, from launches, events, awards.

Moving to England is one thing, but anyone who moves to Vienna is likely to find me on their doorstep at some point.

I have still to get my cinnamon bun act together. But one of these days. Slowly learning who likes coffee, or who must have tea. And if it should be Earl Grey, or absolutely not Earl Grey. And I had no idea how popular Prosecco would turn out to be. Not much call for Irn Bru.

Covid - and Brexit - have changed lives. But there is still plenty of hope for the future of children's books in Scotland.