Confidence by Denise Mina reviewed by local councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes. The multi-award winning Denise Mina has been heralded as crime writing royalty by Val McDermid and legions of readers, and with Confidence, she certainly keeps the title intact. Lisa Lee, a young, urban explorer and vlogger disappears from North Berwick after posting a video from an...
Read MoreBlack is the Colour by Seamus Connolly reviewed by local councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes. In Black is the Colour, we meet lawyer Cal Lynch as he returns to Scotland, three decades after fleeing as a child in the wake of the brutal murder of his father by a gangster on the streets of Glasgow. Cal is back...
Read MoreRenfrewshire-based Poet, Lorna Callery-Sithole is releasing her second poetry collection, Colour Theory, published by Dreich, having won the Dreich Full Collection Award earlier this year. Colour Theory begins with Fierce, the last poem in Callery-Sithole’s debut collection Pigeon with Warburtons, (Speculative Books, 2019), which documents her eldest daughter’s first experience of racism at the...
Read MoreAward-winning author, Kerry Hudson, will look to inspire people across Renfrewshire as part of her tenure as Artist in Residence at the Paisley Book Festival. Kerry, whose first novel won the Scottish First Book Award in 2012, will use the power of written and spoken word to make literature and a love for writing...
Read MoreElderslie-born author Tracy Patrick launches a collection of poems from World War One penned by Renfrewshire soldiers next month at Abbey Books in Paisley. Titled Braw Lads Are Marching Awa, Brian Hannan from Abbey Books caught up with her to find out more… Can you tell me why you came to do this book? The book...
Read MoreHex by Jenni Fagan reviewed by local councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes. Hex is visceral and poignant, depicting the final night of the life of Geillis Duncan. Convicted of witchcraft during the infamous North Berwick Witch Trials, it remains one of the darkest times in Scottish history, the echoes of which are felt here in Renfrewshire....
Read MoreDuck Feet by Ely Percy reviewed by local councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes First released in February of last year, Ely Percy’s Saltire Society Scotland Scottish Book of the Year, Duck Feet, is the coming-of-age story of local teenager Kirsty Campbell as she navigates her way through her time at Renfrew Grammar. Having been a teenage girl just...
Read MoreBe guid tae yer Mammy by Emma Grae, reviewed by Keira Brown, Renfrewshire Writers Forum Coordinator. From journalist and fiction writer, Emma Grae, comes this moral tale of legacy, family values, relationships and secrets that are intrinsic to many families. Be guid tae yer Mammy, published by Unbound, is a life-affirming tale set in Glasgow, and...
Read MoreA toddler grandson has been the inspiration behind a new children’s book launched this week. Former newspaper editor, Norman Macdonald used to make up bedtime stories about his grandparents’ dog, called Princey that he would tell his children when they were young. And after his daughter, Layna became a mum almost two years ago,...
Read MoreShuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, reviewed by Keira Brown, co-producer of the Paisley Book Festival. Shuggie Bain, the Booker Prize-winning novel from Douglas Stuart, is a well-crafted joy of a read that embeds characters in your mind that prove almost impossible to shake. All the while, managing to convey the energy of areas of Glasgow...
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