Get your notebook out and talk to a tree, let a book inspire your walking, and a story to listen to, all here.

An in person workshop weekend at Birnam in Perthshire, a book festival event at a historic library... Read on!

All my latest news here, including a listen to my essay about rivers and their company whilst writing.

 

All my latest news, events, and a long read about Isle Erraid, Robert Louis Stevenson and my pilgrimage are at the link below.

My debut as a film director 😉 and other news  including reviews of The Other Side of Stone and forthcoming events.

My latest fiction, ‘The Other Side of Stone’ is officially launched next week on Wednesday 31^st March with a Zoom event hosted by the Aberfeldy Watermill Bookshop. You are cordially invited to join me and Patrick Jamieson from Taproot Press for chat about the book and to raise a toast. You will find the link here for 7 PM (don't be surprised when it says that it is Mike somebody's meeting - it is the right link!). The book can be ordered from your local independent bookshop or directly from the publishers.

For International Women's Day on 8th March 'Books From Scotland' featured my background story of the book, why it took twenty years from first words to publication and the suffragette history that I was surprised by in Highland Perthshire when I first started writing it.

I'll be in conversation with nature writer Jim Crumley for a Moniack Mhor event to celebrate books in the Highland book prize longlist this year. Jim's candidate book is his fourth in the seasonal tetralogy 'The Nature of Summer' and will help us dream of warm toes, flowers, and long sunny evenings. All can attend virtually. 11 AM Thursday 18 February. Register here.

My new work of fiction, The Other Side of Stone, spans three centuries in an intimate study of lives connected to a Perthshire woollen mill. It is now available for pre-order from Taproot Press. Learn more here.

Following characters as diverse as a 19th century stone mason and rural suffragette, each story is interwoven to create a haunting tale that explores the struggle for women’s rights, and the long-term impact of industrialisation upon rural Scotland with a backdrop of Perthshire’s woollen industry.