The Scottish author of the popular Katie Morag children's books has spoken positively about independence.
Mairi Hedderwick, who writes and illustrates the series set on the fictional island of Struay, was asked her view during an interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs.
Presenter Kirsty Young said: "There is plenty talk right now about Scotland going off on its own. Where do you stand on the referendum?
She replied: "Of course I think it would be a good thing.
"Either way, it will have been a good thing because I think it's brought a lot of soul searching.
"I'm not interested in the economics and the politics of it, it's the culture of it that really would make me very happy if we could become independent."
The Katie Morag books featuring the eponymous red-haired little girl and her family have been translated into several languages and adapted for television.
The stories were inspired by Ms Hedderwick's experiences on the isle of Coll in the Inner Hebrides where the 74-year-old brought up her family before returning to live on the mainland.
She said that she found many of the books she read to her children were "so boring" and after many years as an illustrator was persuaded to write the first Katie Morag book, published in 1984.
"I knew that storytelling was a shared activity at the end of the day, that the adults can enjoy as well," she said.
"So if you look in the Katie Morag books you will see lots of little adult jokes."
Katie Morag titles have been used in schools to introduce pupils to certain themes but the illustrations led on one occasion to a ban from two public libraries.
Ms Hedderwick, who grew up in Gourock, Inverclyde, and attended school in Kilmacolm before studying art in Edinburgh, said: "The breastfeeding scene in the Tiresome Ted story - the editor was very uncomfortable with that and said 'I'm going to have to remove that'. I stuck out for it.
"There were, I'm afraid, two libraries in Glasgow that refused to have the book."
Asked what reading material she would have on her desert island, the author opted for a book of maps.
She said: "I want a book made from all the Ordnance Survey maps of the highlands and islands of Scotland, because I will go through all the walks I've done all my life and then all the other ones I'm going to do when I come back."
Her one luxury would be a hot bath, and among the songs she chose for her island soundtrack were Frank Sinatra's My Blue Heaven, a song she associates with her father who she lost just before she turned 12, and Dire Straits' Telegraph Road.
"It will remind me that I'm quite happy on this desert island," she told Ms Young.
Desert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15am today and repeated on Friday at 9am.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article