Explore the best of R.B. Cunninghame Graham’s Scottish Sketches, a vivid body of work that captures Scotland’s landscapes, people, traditions, and social life in rich literary detail.
Continue reading →Uncover the intrigue of a mysterious ring discovery leading to Cromarty’s ancient Pictish stone, blending Pictish symbolism, local legends, and Highland history in the Black Isle region.
Continue reading →Journey through Orkney’s timeless landscapes and folklore with George Mackay Brown, Orkney’s beloved poet and storyteller whose works capture the islands’ Norse heritage, Viking echoes, and mystical spirit.
Continue reading →January… February…what about sitting by the fireside with a good book when it’s freezing cold outside and the wind is howling ;-). Add to that a cup of tea, coffee or chocolate and you’ll begin to like winter! Unless, of course, you prefer to go out and face the elements. I must admit that when travelling in Scotland, even in … Continue reading →
Kenneth White n’est plus… The great Scottish-French poet and visionary thinker passed away peacefully, at the age of 87, on the night of 11 August 2023, in Gwenved, the house he had lived in with his wife Marie-Claude for fourty years, in the Côtes d’Armor, Brittany. All our thoughts are with his lifelong companion to whom he had been married … Continue reading →
”Kenneth White is an absolutely genial and visionary Scottish-French author, an inspired and inspiring poet, essayist, traveller and philosopher who created the concept of ‘geopoetics’* and the International Institute of Geopoetics* in 1989. I first heard about Kenneth White years ago at Bordeaux Montaigne University when I began a late and short cursus of English studies. Then I didn’t know … Continue reading →
Born on 17 October 1921, in Stromness, Orkney, George Mackay Brown, “The Bard of Orkney” would be a hundred years old today. We would like to join his many fans all over the world to celebrate this anniversary and pay homage to the great Scottish poet. As one of the leading Scottish poets and authors of the 20th century GMB … Continue reading →
As soon as I received the last issue of The Scots Magazine (August 2021) I browsed through its pages to read the two articles devoted to Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) for his 250th birthday anniversary, on 15 August 2021. “How you can mark 250 years of Sir Walter Scott” … I read on the magazine’s cover. Personally, as I had … Continue reading →
On April 16th 2021, I decided (at last) to fulfill the promise we made a few years ago to Sir Walter Scott during one of our unforgettable visits at Abbotsford in the Scottish Borders…
Continue reading →Dear readers, Ages seem to have passed since my last post on Scotiana and our wonderful trip to Scotland in winter. In the meantime, there has been the outbreak of that infamous covid 19 pandemy and I sincerely hope that you, your friends and family are doing well in such hard times. In France, like many people all over the … Continue reading →
22 May 2019 Today is the 160th birth anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but not everybody knows that the father of Sherlock Holmes was born in Edinburgh. A beautiful bronze statue of the detective stands in Picardy Place at the top of Edinburgh’s Leith Walk just opposite the birthplace (demolished c. 1970) of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is a literary … Continue reading →
“One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.” (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) Did you notice, on this lovely picture, the emblems of Glasgow ? This is the tree that never grew. This is the bird … Continue reading →
Hugh Miller was born in 1802, in Cromarty. It is a lovely little town, a former royal burgh, situated at the end of the so-called “Black Isle” which, contrary to what the name suggests and also, on a quite different register, contrary to Herge’s description of the place in his volume of Tintin entitled The Black Isle, is not an … Continue reading →
Dear readers, I’m very happy to be back on the keyboard to share with you new pictures, new stories, new books about our beloved Scotland. Time flies. January is already ending though, in the south west of France, we’re still waiting for the arrival of winter. The skye is as blue today as in a summer day and I … Continue reading →
Its no secret about how we all, here at Scotiana.com, feel about Ian Rankin’s books featuring John Rebus adventures on the crime scenes of Edinburgh, but for those who may not know it…we LOVE Rebus! To discover his complex character is simply fascinating and now, with his announced retirement and transitionning into a consultant detective makes it even more challenging. … Continue reading →
