Pamphlets

Billy Kay’s pamphlet – titled after William Dunbar’s poetic tribute – celebrates Scotland’s and Scots’ engagement with wine and especially, in light of the Auld Alliance, claret. Billy looks at the key role Scots have had in developing the nature of and trade in wine throughout France, Spain and Portugal and further afield. The pamphlet draws on Billy’s extensive research into the subject and his travels and broadcasts worldwide on the topic.

Tom Pow’s pamphlet is a warm personal memoir of the poet and essayist Alistair Reid, published to mark the centenary of his birth. Tom spent time with Alastair Reid and his partner Leslie when they lived and farmed in the Dominican Republic. He writes: “The Ginger Farmer is a story about a man whose presence enhanced my sense of what it is to be fully alive. As a memoir, it is about partiality, but it is also about exhilaration.”

Unstoppable and yet constant, the Clyde is a mainstay of its city’s identity. This essay, researched by Louise and Jude Barber, explores – with provocation and pride – the river’s heritage and current stewardship. It challenges the privatisation of once shared natural resources ad suggests radical change to secure the Clyde’s future and that of its human and more-than-human neighbours and inhabitants.

Kirsty Gunn is a novelist and short-story writer who created and taught on the Creative Writing programmes at the University of Dundee. In this pamphlet, published in 2016, she considers the various thoughts and arguments about whether a ‘national literature’ exists. She concludes: “To write what we want to write – now. In these times. That’s where the formation of a National Literature begins.”

Scotland’s award-winning architect Malcolm Fraser offers a critique of the failings of the government’s Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for public buildings. How did things come to this pretty pass and who is to blame? And, more importantly, what can be done about this rotten system. This is a timely publication that lifts the lid on who has most to gain from major public projects and why the problem has to be solved, and how.

Alan Bissett and Jean Rafferty write in informed dialogue, assessing contemporary law as it pertains to freedom of speech. Taking the Leveson Inquiry as their starting point the writers discuss the state of freedom of speech across the world, local sectarianism, and the press’ ability comment on world events like no other medium can. Published in partnership with ScottishPen.

Catherine Brown’s pamphlet delves in to the history of Scottish food. Looking at Scotland’s sometimes fraught relationship with its food, Catherine shows us how by looking back we can find a way forward where people can choose food and drink which supports the dynamic characters making better out of good.

Architect Neil Gillespie OBE takes the Saltire Society’s 1941 publication Building Scotland as his starting point. This pamphlet is a provocative take on what’s wrong with so much of modern architecture: from its uniformity to its reliance on system-built prefabrication, from the threat globalisation imposes on all things local and distinct to the curse of the “starchitect”.

Writer and broadcaster Magnus Linklater looks at the traditional values said to define Scottishness; do they still hold true or, are myths repeated so often they are simply taken as the truth without any backup? Magnus looks at Scotland’s historical milestones and how they stand up to scrutiny.

Dr Richard Holloway asks Scotland’s people to work towards a modern secular society that balances the needs of the religious and the faithless to create a society of equality. Richard Holloway, FRSE is a Scottish writer, broadcaster and cleric. He was Bishop of Edinburgh from 1986 to 2000 and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 1992 to 2000.