CLEAVE: NEW WRITING BY WOMEN IN SCOTLAND
Sharon Blackie (editor)
A compilation of short fiction, non-fiction and poetry by women – both established writers and newcomers – who live in or otherwise ‘belong to’ Scotland. This unique collection of new work reflects the diversity of voices who are writing about what it is to be a woman in contemporary Scotland – and the diversity of their experiences. The writing in Cleave also reflects the diversity of language and dialect from around the country – from the Northern and Western Isles through the Highlands, eastwards to Aberdeen, and all across the central belt to Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond.
Praise for Cleave:
'A book that stands out from the pack ... an excellent anthology with a sense of direction and common purpose ... an impressive collection of accomplished and thoughtful work.' The Herald
'...achieves a written record of modern Scottish literary form... Cleave showcases some formidable talent.' The Scotsman
About the Editor
Sharon Blackie’s roots are in the north-east of England and in Edinburgh, though she has travelled all over the world and lived in France, Ireland and America. She is now firmly attached to a lochside croft in the north-west Highlands of Scotland, where she lives with her husband, David Knowles, and a growing collection of livestock. Originally trained as a neuroscientist, she has worked in a variety of corporate consultancy roles, practiced as a psychologist, after completing an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, she set up Two Ravens Press with her husband, David Knowles, in 2006. In 2008 she was selected as a 'woman of achievement' to attend the prestigious Woman of the Year lunch in London. She is also a member of the board for HI-Arts, the arts and cultural development agency for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Her first novel was The Long Delirious Burning Blue. Sharon is currently the recipient of a Scottish Arts Council Writer's Bursary to work on her second novel, The Bee Dancer. Sharon has had work published in magazines as diverse as Waterlog and Country Smallholding. She is co-editor of Riptide: New Writing from the Highlands and Islands (Two Ravens Press, 2007) and is translator from the French of renowned Franco-American author Raymond Federman's memoir of and tribute to his friend, Samuel Beckett: The Sam Book (Two Ravens Press, 2008).
Introduction to Cleave
The production of a volume of collected writings by women always has the potential to be seen as a political statement, but that isn’t the purpose of publishing Cleave. The inspiration for this anthology was quite simple: to show and to celebrate the diversity of voices of women writers who live in or in some other way ‘belong to’ Scotland, in 2008.
That there is diversity here should be apparent to the reader. There is for sure a diversity of origin – there are contributors to Cleave who were born in Scotland and who have lived here all their lives; contributors who were born in Scotland and have since moved away; contributors who are incomers, either from the rest of the UK or very much farther afield, and contributors who have lived here just for portions of their lives, but who have been influenced by that time in some deep and lasting way. Susan Sellers’ essay therefore seemed to ask the perfect closing question for this book: ‘Scottish? What’s That?’
There is also, intentionally, a diversity of form. I wanted to include work that represented a variety of genres: short stories, poems, essays, non-fiction. The one thing I asked of all contributors was that what they offered up for Cleave should in some way reflect the experience of being a woman in contemporary Scotland.
Every contributor to Cleave has provided a ‘biography’ which is included in the text, just before their work. I asked for more than just a series of biographical facts – rather, that it should say something about their relationship to Scotland, something about being a woman writer in contemporary Scotland. (Unless, of course, this was the specific subject of their contribution.) Here, too, the diversity of approaches will be apparent, and I chose not to try to impose conformity. But in encouraging this level of personal expression it was always my hope that Cleave would not only provide enjoyment to its readers, but also would serve as some kind of record: a record of what it is to be a woman in Scotland in 2008.
Sharon Blackie
Ullapool, January 2008
Table of Contents
Kirsty Gunn and Meaghan Delahunt
Train Notes 2007 Edinburgh–Leuchars–Dundee
Pamela Beasant
A Glaswegian in Orkney
North Ronaldsay
When you leave
Wish I had…
Celaen Chapman
Excision/ As Long as I Can Stay Here
Alison Craig
Dream Waker
Yesterday’s Man
Alison Flett
Two Sides
Jackie Kay
Highland Girl
Sylvia Hays
Night Walk
Caesarian
Erica Munro
‘What Kept You?’
Gerda Stevenson
Co-op Funeral Parlour
First Love
Agnes Owens
Oh Brother
Dilys Rose
The Island Folk/Das Inselvolk
Sheila Templeton
Last Train To Ayr, Saturday 24th March 2007
Tasting Stars
Anne Macleod
Walking the Parapets
Dorothy Baird
Home Truths
Motherland
What Does it Mean to be a Woman Living in Scotland?
Smothering Words
Anne Morrison
Breaking Stones
Elizabeth Reeder
Passage Migrant
Cynthia Rogerson
The Long Missing
Janet Paisley
Refuge
scotland
Alison Napier
Stac Jenny
Laureen Johnson
Grey
Elvis’s jacket
Joy Hendry
The Invisible Women of Scotland
Survivor
Mrs MacGrundy
Mandy Haggith
Being Forty
Paper Daughter
carry carry life finish
Lesley McDowell
Aschenputtel
Patricia Ace
Talisman
Scottish Woman
Laura Marney
This Side of Heaven
Yvonne Gray
St Magnus Festival Poet
Yggdrasil
Linda Cracknell
Cailliche
Sharon Blackie
Here
Listen
Margaret Elphinstone
On the Run
Meg Bateman
A’ Bheatha na Rìomhachas Suarach
Life in her Glad-Rags
Morag MacInnes
The Direction of One’s Gaze
Balancing Equations
Pauline Prior-Pitt
Deep
“CRUMBS!”
Gone
The Uncovering
Trapped
Regi Claire
Invisible Partners
Sheena Blackhall
Damaged Goods
The Gas Mask
Curriculum for Excellence
Susan Sellers
Scottish? What’s That?
