John Aberdein

John Aberdein


John Aberdein was born and educated in Aberdeen and now lives in Hoy. He worked fishing herring and scallops before teaching English and outdoor education, becoming the first person to kayak round mainland Scotland. Active in politics – he was a member of the Kirkland Five who campaigned for more democratic schools and a main organiser of Labour’s move to ditch nuclear power in 1985 and ‘86 – John  stood as a Labour candidate in the 1987 and 1992 general elections for the constituency of Orkney and Shetland. John’s debut novel Amande’s Bed won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award in 2005 and he was a runner-up in the inaugural Scotsman Orange Short Story Competition. His long-awaited second novel, Strip the Willow, has been shortlisted for the 2010 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Award, winning the Fiction category.

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Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela


Award-winning author Leila Aboulela writes with clarity and insight about religious identity, Islamic culture and her home town of Khartoum.

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Peter Aitchison

Peter Aitchison


Peter Aitchison A native of Eyemouth, Peter was a senior news editor with the BBC for twenty years and now works for the University of Glasgow.

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Carlos Alba

Carlos Alba


Following a 20 year career in journalism Carlos Alba now runs a public relations consultancy, providing communications advice and training to companies and organisations. He spent 10 years at the Sunday Times, including four as Scotland Editor, and has been political editor at the Daily Record and education correspondent at The Herald. He is the winner of five national journalism awards. In 2001 he co-authored with Ron Mackenna Keep the Faith: The Story of Celtic’s Historic Treble Winning Season 2000–2001 (Mainstream).

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Derek Alexander

Derek Alexander


Derek Alexander was brought up in Neilston, East Renfrewshire. He qualified from University of Edinburgh with an MA Honours degree in Archaeology and then an MPhil study on the ‘Later prehistoric and proto-historic settlement of west central Scotland’. He went on to work for the Centre for Field Archaeology at the University from 1991 to 2000, and then took up current post with the National Trust for Scotland. He is a long standing member of the Renfrewshire Local History Forum Archaeology Section.

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Charlie Allan

Charlie Allan


Charlie Allan was born in Stirling and was brought up on the farms of Aberdeenshire before going to Aberdeen University, where he graduated with a first in economics. He taught economics in Glasgow, Strathclyde and St Andrews Universities until 1974 when he gave up academic life to return to his family to farm at Little Ardo, Methlick in Aberdeenshire. This return coincided with the beginnings of a broadcasting career which included five years as a producer for BBC radio’s farming output in Scotland and stint for the BBC World Service. He went on to write a column for the Press and Journal every week for ten years and is now in the 19th year of his column Farmer’s Diary.

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John R. Allan

John R. Allan


John R. Allan was born in Udny, Aberdeenshire in 1906 and educated at the University of Aberdeen. He worked as a journalist in Glasgow but later returned to his native Aberdeenshire to farm at Methlick. He was the author of several books, most of them on agricultural subjects.

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David Alston

David Alston


David Alston was born and brought up in the Highlands and has lived in Cromarty for the past twenty years. He has studied at the universities of Aberdeen, Oxford, Leicester and Dundee, and has worked as a youth leader, school teacher, adult education organiser and museum curator. He is now an elected member of The Highland Council and a member of the board of NHS Highland.

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Scoular Anderson

Scoular Anderson


Scoular Anderson is one of the UK’s best-known illustrators. He has written over seventy books and his distinctive, witty illustrations have appeared in many titles including Birlinn’s And All That children’s history books.

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Gary Smailes Illustrated by Scoular Anderson

Gary Smailes Illustrated by Scoular Anderson


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Marjorie  O. Anderson

Marjorie O. Anderson


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David Ashton

David Ashton


All-round writer and performer David Ashton recreates the dark, dank streets of Victorian Edinburgh with startling clarity in his thrilling McLevy mystery series, as broadcast on Radio 4.
    

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