Best literary hotspot

Published on 18/11/2008 18:35

TAKING things literally

JURA Scotland's most inspirational island, the Hebridean Isle of Jura, on the west coast, has a long and rich literary history.

George Orwell praised it for being "an extremely un-get-atable place" and wrote classic novel 1984 while on the island. Works by Alexander McCall Smith and Liz Lochhead have also been inspired by time spent there. Jura Malt Whisky and the Scottish Book Trust now offer authors the chance to enjoy similar solitude and draw inspiration from the island's mystery and heritage as part of the Jura Malt Whisky Writer Retreat. Award-winning novelists and acclaimed writers including Will Self and Janice Galloway have taken part in the retreat, and this year an emerging writer, Swetha Prakash, is reaping the benefits.

ALLOWAY

No trip down literary lane is complete without a visit to the birthplace of our national poet, Robert Burns. The thatched cottage in Alloway where Burns was born, on 25 January 1759, forms the heart of the Burns National Heritage Park, where you can be transported back in time while following in the footsteps of Tam O'Shanter in the "auld haunted kirk" and across auld Brig O'Doon. With extracts from his poetry and artefacts from his life, it's a journey through the life and times of Scotland's best-loved bard. The Alloway experience is soon to be transformed into the National Trust for Scotland's Robert Burn's Birthplace Museum, scheduled to open in 2010.

WIGTOWN Scotland's national book town in the south-west of the country has over a quarter of a million books to choose from, and attracts authors and visitors from all over the world. This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Wigtown Book Festival, which saw 150 writers and performers at ten venues in the area, including AL Kennedy, Bernard MacLaverty and Brian Keenan.

EDINBURGH The first Unesco City of Literature and 2006 City of Literature, Edinburgh has played host to and inspired a wide range of novelists and poets. Sir Walter Scott was born in the Old Town, while the true story of Greyfriar's Bobby is set in the kirkyard where Muriel Sparks's famous character Miss Jean Brodie marched her well-bred students. More recently, Edinburgh has had literary connections through modern-day authors JK Rowling, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin.

KINCARDINESHIRE Rural Kincardineshire provided Lewis Grassic Gibbon with a perfect backdrop for one of the most important novels of the 20th century, Sunset Song. The novel was published in 1932 and is the first part of the trilogy A Scots Quair, which also included Cloude Howe and Grey Granite. Aberdeenshire has also provided inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lord Byron's Lochnagar and the area is associated with Shakespeare's Scottish Play Macbeth.