Books News: Scottish Book Trust launches Scotland's Stories of Home

SCOTLAND'S STORIES OF HOME – NEW WRITING CAMPAIGN FROM THE SCOTTISH BOOK TRUST
This week, the Scottish Book Trust launches a new initiative designed to get aspiring authors from Scotland writing about what 'home' means to them. The initiative, launched on Monday, will run until 30 June. Writers or aspiring writers wishing to take part will write a piece of no longer than 1000 words, and submit it to the Scottish Book Trust via their website. Entries will be accepted in the form of stories, poems, song lyrics, short plays or sketches, letters, or even diary entries. The best submissions will be published in a collection later in the year. There is also an initiative aimed at school children and their teachers, on the same theme, with winning entries to be collected in an e-book.

Speaking exclusively to The Skinny, Claire Stewart, Reader Development Co-ordinator at the Scottish Book Trust, said: "This, our sixth story project, is about people’s ideas of home and what it means – it’s obviously quite an emotional and complex idea and the variety of takes on the theme has been pretty remarkable – and we’re only at the beginning."

There are already some examples of stories on the topic: "On our website you can read Peter Lomax’s story about his time in Antarctica, and Margherita Still’s story about her Edinburgh home being flooded," she adds. "Everyone has their own very personal ideas about what home looks and feels like and the stories make fantastic reading." Find out more about the campaign at the Scottish Book Trust website.

ON TOUR: KEVIN P. GILDAY
Glasgow-based spoken word performer and poet Kevin P. Gilday, host of the regular Subcity Radio show Rhyming Optional, is taking his acclaimed Fringe show from 2013, Notes From A Quarter-Life Crisis, out on the road this month, visiting cities around Scotland for a series of free / pay-what-you-want performances. He describes the show as "a one-man spoken word show exploring the inevitable breakdown that occurs in the tumultuous psyche of the twentysomething." The show is "pitched somewhere between performance poetry, stand up comedy and a dramatic monologue," and "lays bare the daily indiscretions and misadventures of the young adult."

Gilday will visit Edinburgh's The Forest Cafe (5 Apr), with support from local poets Kevin Cadwallender, Rachel McCrum and 2014 Scottish Slam Champion Miko Berry; Ayr's The Basement Coffee House (6 Apr), with Jim Monaghan, Mark McG and Francis Lopez; Stirling's Barnton Street Music (7 Apr) with Chris Rennison, Chido Sibanda, Karen Stirling and Craig Cunningham; Dundee's Drouthy's (8 Apr) with Milton Balgoni, Andy Jackson and Mark Thomson; St. Andrews' Zest Cafe (9 Apr) with 2013 Scottish Slam Champion Carly Brown and Claudia Daventry; and finishing up at Aberdeen's Cellar 35 (10 Apr) with Richie Brown, George Kay and Bernard Briggs. All shows start at 7.30pm. Full details of each event can be found here.