Background to The History of Scottish Literature
Why did Janice Galloway鈥檚 mother burn her daughter鈥檚 first childhood attempt to write a novel?Listen in to episode 1 and find out
Scottish literature has been at the core of our national identity for over 700 years, and this groundbreaking series will show why it has been crucial to our sense of who we are as a people. Growing up in the Burns tradition in Ayrshire and being given Sunset Song as a school prize when he was 15 gave Billy Kay a passion for the subject which he continued in his studies in Scottish Literature at Edinburgh University. Now, in the company of distinguished academics and writers such as Alasdair Gray, Liz Lochhead, James Robertson, Kathleen Jamie William McIlvanney, Janice Galloway, Alexander McCall Smith, and Val McDermid, Billy traces the story of a Scottish art form with a global reputation - from its origins in Welsh epics, Norse sagas and the Celtic myths of the Gaelic West to the gritty urban environment of Alan Bissett鈥檚 Boy Racers, Irvine Welsh鈥檚 Trainspotting and Louise Welsh鈥檚 The Cutting Room.
