… Hi Mairiuna! While checking my agenda this morning, I noticed a scribble indicating that today was Sir Walter Scott’s birthday! I said to myself that we could not let this day go by without honouring our favorite scottish writer . To celebrate his priceless legacy which had such a great impact on historical fiction and upon so many worldwide … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Holiday time and time reading too 😉 We’d like to wish you a very good summer, whether you go on holiday or not. Why not take advantage of this leisure time to read this or that old volume by one of your favourite authors that has been waiting for you since ages in a dark corner of … Continue reading →
I would like to begin this post with a few words about Lettres de Gourgounel (1979), one of the first books written by Kenneth White (his first book of prose) and also the first book I‘ve read by this author. The title of the original English edition is Letters from Gourgounel (1966) but it has been out of print for … Continue reading →
Scotiana readers who have followed us on our ‘blue road’, in Quebec, already know we are great admirers of Kenneth White. Now, we would like to share with you what we know about the well-known Scottish-French poet, academic and writer. Open on my desk are the last two books published by Kenneth White : La carte de Guido and Les … Continue reading →
During his journey to Quebec, about thirty years ago, which he relates so unforgettably in The Blue Road, Kenneth White stops at Sept-Îles, a turning point on his road to the most remote and wildest places of Labrador. He lingers some time there, making friends and sharing life with a few Amerindians he has met there. Several chapters of The … Continue reading →
A colder spell had set in. It had been a summery Autumn, but now suddenly there was a sharp Winter’s bite in the air. ‘November chill blaws lood wi’ angry sugh…’ Funny how a line of Robert Burns should come into my head. Maybe the ghost of some Scotsman who trekked up here before me? I was to come across … Continue reading →
After the road, the trees… After the trees, unknown territory… After that, nothing at all. (Louis Ferdinand Celine quoted by Kenneth White in The Blue Road) Hi everybody! I’m very happy to be back with you on our blue road… ages seem to have passed since I have told you about our marvellous whales watching zodiac cruise on the St … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! I have to tell you I had much pleasure reading your article about Robert Louis Stevenson, one of our favourite Scottish writers. Furthermore, it was great to see such a nice variety of beautiful book covers from the many different editions. As we are both on the lookout for new additions to our RLS bookshelf, we will be shortly be … Continue reading →
That night around midnight – there’s a big round Autumn moon sailing grandly over Montreal (Kenneth White – The Blue Road – Mainstream Publishing Company – Edinburgh – Ltd 1990) It is with great pleasure that I write these few words today about a marvellous journey which Scotiana team (Mairiuna, Jean-Claude and I, Janice) are delighted to embark upon. Flying … Continue reading →
In 2000, when we first visited Melrose Abbey, we did not know that the heart of Robert the Bruce, the famous Scottish King who defeated the English army at Bannockburn, on 24 June 1314, was buried there. Indeed, we didn’t know much about Scotland and its history for it was our first journey there, only seven days in June which … Continue reading →
Melrose Abbey is a religious, historical and architectural landmark in Scotland, one you must not miss when you visit the Scottish Borders, together with the three other very beautiful Border abbeys : Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Kelso. They are in ruins but we love them all, especially Melrose and Dryburgh where Sir Walter Scott is buried with other members of his … Continue reading →
Hey Mairiuna, hope you don’t mind if I talk again today about our favorite crime writer, Ian Rankin. I’m just kidding, as i know you will be thrilled to read about the subsequent books that were published after the “Rebus finale“. Upon the publishing of his final book featuring Detective Inspector John Rebus, Exit Music, Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin … Continue reading →
Ian Rankin’s Exit Music, published in December 2007, was to be the final instalment of a series of eighteen ( if we include Death Is Not The End, a novella that was further expanded in the novel Dead Souls) crime novels featuring the well known and charismatic Edinburgh’s Inspector John Rebus. Book reviews quoted Exit Music to be one the … Continue reading →
We are very pleased today to introduce on Scotiana our dear Scottish friends, Iain and Margaret 😉 In this Letter from Scotland, Iain will guide us to the St-Valentine relics that remain in Glasgow, a very timely and interesting subject to read on the eve of worldwide celebration of St-Valentine’s day. We could not have found a better guide so, … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! I just can’t wait to start creating the audios for the Rob Roy novel but before I get to that, I thought I would write this post in which I will introduce you to Edmund J Sullivan, the man behind the beautiful illustrations contained in Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus. Born in London in 1869, he studied art with … Continue reading →
