One of Scottish literature’s most versatile and acclaimed writers will be appearing at Shetland Arts’ Wordplay 2006 Book Festival – in so many guises that he must surely break the record for the festival’s most multi tasked guest in its five-year history!

As a Booker 2006 long-listed writer, James Robertson will be reading from his outstanding new novel, The Testament of Gideon Mack. As one half of the revolutionary Scots language children’s imprint Itchy Coo, he will be reading for children from the incredible Scots translation of Roald Dahls’s The Twits – The Eejits; it will be an amazing treat for Roald Dahl fans of all ages. As the inspirational driving force of the Kettillonia pamphlet series, he will be reading alongside poets Donald Murray, published by Ketillonia, and Malachy Tallack, whose new pamphlet In Prague is published by Shetland’s North Idea.

“We are proud to be welcoming James Robertson to Shetland and Wordplay,” says Shetland Arts Literature Development Officer, Alex Cluness. “We have tried to bring him here many times, and at long last we have managed to find a gap in his immensely busy timetable. We are proud to bring him here because he is one of the guiding lights for literature in Scotland, a fantastic writer in his own right, and an unceasing advocate of new writing, new reading directions and Scottish writing for children.”

James Robertson was born in Kent in 1958, but grew up in Bridge of Allan in Stirlingshire. He studied history at Edinburgh University, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. His first book of short stories, Close, was published in 1991 by Black & White Publishing. In 1993 he was appointed writer-in-residence at Brownsbank Cottage, the former home of the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, near Biggar in Lanarkshire. During his two-year stay there he published a second book of stories, The Ragged Man’s Complaint (1993) and a collection of poems, Sound-Shadow (1995). He also edited the collection of contemporary short stories in Scots, A Tongue in Yer Heid (1994) and two books by the 19th century geologist and folklorist Hugh Miller. Scottish Ghost Stories appeared in 1996, as did a Dictionary of Scottish Quotations which he co-compiled with Angela Cran. In 1999 he set up the pamphlet imprint Kettillonia, publishing poetry and short fiction by various authors. His own poetry, including I Dream of Alfred Hitchcock(1999), Fae the Flouers o Evil: Baudelaire in Scots (2001) and Stirling Sonnets (2001), has appeared under the Kettillonia imprint. He produced a new edition of the Selected Poems of Robert Fergusson in 2000 to mark the 250th anniversary of the poet's birth. He is general editor of the Scots language educational imprint Itchy Coo, for which he wrote A Scots Parliament (2002). His first novel, The Fanatic, was published by Fourth Estate in 2000. His second, Joseph Knight, won both the Saltire and Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Awards for 2003–04. In November 2004 he held the first Writer-in-Residence post at the Scottish Parliament.
From this three-day residency came the book Voyage of Intent: Sonnets and Essays from the Scottish Parliament (Luath/Scottish Book Trust, 2005). His latest novel The Testament of Gideon Mack has been long-listed for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. He lives in Angus.

Shetland Arts Wordplay 2006 festival will take place 8-10 September, in the Clickimin Leisure Complex, Lerwick. The festival is supported by BP and Sullom Voe Terminals, Brudolff Hotels, Kettillonia, Hi-Arts, Salt Publishing, Scottish Book Trust and Live Literature Scotland, Smyril Line, Scottish Arts Council, Shetland Times Limited, The Lemon Tree, Shetland Museum and Archives, Shetland Forwirds, Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council Charitable Trust, Shetland Film Club, Atlantic Airways and John Leask and Son.

For more information contact Alex Cluness of Shetland Arts on 01595 694001.