Comment & Debate

• Reimagining Flodden, 500 years on
  25 May 2013

  Signposts near the Border south of Coldstream point to the site, their crossed swords the tourist equivalent of a skull and crossbones.

• How writers make their way around the block
  18 May 2013

  Gore Vidal's writing routine was simple: "First coffee, then a bowel movement, then the Muse joins me." Not for him the agonies of staring at a blank page and wondering how to fill it.

• Dismal diagnosis can give a life impetus
  4 May 2013

  Reading Robert Peston's description of typing up his wife's last book, shortly after her death, the words blurred on the page.

• National festivals sing the praises of all things literary
  27 April 2013

  It's hard to think back to a time when book festivals were as unheard of as mobile phones or laptops.

• Sparkle of children's classic is lost in author's later work
  20 April 2013

  I read an old novel recently, which has left me wishing I had chosen something else.

• Review: Aye Write!
  15 April 2013

  Aye Write's opening weekend offered an excellent example of how the right combination of experts can make a session a success, and how the wrong combination can knock it askew.

• Another novel that shows Muriel Spark in her prime
  13 April 2013

  The Girls Of Slender Means, Muriel Spark's seventh novel, was published half a century ago to great acclaim and, like its predecessor, The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie, became a bestseller.

• Aye Write! highlights what makes the Mitchell Library special
  6 April 2013

  Put your ear to the ground and you might be able to hear the scampering of 100 feet as the Mitchell Library's staff rush up stairs and down corridors ahead of the doors opening on Friday night for the eighth Aye Write!