New Writing Scotland 30
6 October 2012
Do you know who published:
- Iain Banks in 1983, a year before The Wasp Factory
came out?
- Ian Rankin in 1985, a year before his first novel The
Flood, and two years before the first Rebus novel, Knots
and Crosses?
- Janice Galloway in 1988, a year before the publication of
The Trick is to Keep Breathing?
- Irvine Welsh in 1991, two years before the arrival of
Trainspotting?
And who can also lay claim to bringing out new work from writers
as diverse as Leila Aboulela, Lin Anderson, Anne Donovan, Valerie
Gillies, A L Kennedy, Norman MacCaig, Aonghas MacNeacail, James
Meek, Edwin Morgan, Janet Paisley, James Robertson, Suhayl Saadi,
Iain Crichton Smith and many, many others, written in all the
languages of Scotland - from standard (and not-so-standard)
English, through a dazzling variety of Scots, to Scottish
Gaelic?
It's all from the annual collection called New Writing
Scotland, published by ASLS. For the
last thirty years New Writing Scotland has played a
crucial part in the modern Scottish literary renaissance,
publishing work from writers either resident in Scotland or from
those who are Scots by birth, residence, or inclination: Scotland,
after all, as the poet Maurice Lindsay (1918-2009) once wrote, is
an attitude of mind.
"a testament to some of the freshest,
punchiest, most sparkling new writing" Janice Galloway
"New Writing Scotland plays a large role
in the writing life of Scotland" A L Kennedy
"New Writing Scotland gave me one of my
earliest breaks as a writer" Ian Rankin
Summer 2012 saw the arrival of New Writing Scotland 30:
A Little Touch of
Cliff in the Evening - the largest edition to date,
containing over 100 pieces from more than 80 contributors. Some
(such as Neal Ascherson, Alasdair Gray, Andrew Greig, Agnes Owens,
and others) are internationally renowned; for others this issue of
New Writing Scotland marks their first appearance in
print. Other anthologies have come and gone, but New Writing
Scotland keeps on publishing. It is nothing less than the
strong, steady and continuing pulse of Scotland's literary
heart.