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Author Archives: Stephen Shellard
Between the Echoes: place – home – Lewis
A Memoir by Angus Macmillan We live in an age of change. That is obvious to us all and becomes more so with every passing day as one gets older. Indeed, the world in which one first became conscious can … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comment
Tagged Books, history, literature, outer-hebredies, Poetry, scots-gaelic, subsistance, writing
2 Comments
Get over it! Move on!
The furore—indeed, near hysteria—that I detect in public debate over Jason Arday is striking. It now seems clear that the Cambridge Professor was rather creative in constructing the CV he presented at his interview. Yet the outrage expressed in subsequent … Continue reading
Transported
Observations from a meeting advocating the reopening of rail links in Dumfries and Galloway. Anyone who lives in Dumfries and Galloway will be aware that a railway line once spanned the region, snaking its way from Dumfries to Portpatrick, with … Continue reading
Friday Portraits
A Sitter’s View of the Matter In September of last year I had to run an errand which took me into the studio of artist Hugh Bryden. I found him surrounded by the output of his work. Canvases, linocut prints, … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway
Tagged art exhibition, contemporary Scottish art, Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Friday Portraits, Gracefield Arts Centre, Gracefield Studios, Hugh Bryden, Jackson Browne, portrait painting, Sandy Robb, sitting for a portrait, The Crown, Tom Lindsay
3 Comments
Water, Water Every Where, Nor any drop to drink
I may not have been paying much attention in my school English literature lessons, but these lines from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, seemed suddenly to resonate with a number of themes which have been capturing my recent extracurricular … Continue reading
Reflections from the Kirkcudbright Book Festival, 2026
Poets Fixing the World, A Graphic Novelist, A Pioneering Musician with Roots in the Scottish Folk Tradition; and a Path of Slime Just the other day, I was talking with a friend about the challenges of appreciating poetry. I think … Continue reading
Posted in Comment, Dumfries and Galloway
Tagged Books, Graphic Novels, Kirkcudbright Book Festival, Martyn Bennett, poems, Poetry, Politics and Art, Scottish Culture, writing
1 Comment
A Glimpse Through the Concrete Window
Art, Science and the Long View of our Carbon Future You may have noticed the recent news that China’s emissions of CO2 have “been flat or falling for 18 months”. [1] Good news surely? I was prompted to suggest to … Continue reading
Unclubbable
Political Parties. Why we need more of them—But not too many! There was a time when, despite my coming of age journey in the 1960s through the First Newry cubs, boy scouts and senior scouts, I considered myself an unquenchable … Continue reading
From Moral Ambition to Moral Yearning
A Reflection on the Dangers of Moral Certainty Name the four US presidents who have been assassinated! That’s a challenge which one might expect in a pub quiz. Team members, such as myself, who have been roped in at the … Continue reading
Carruchan 
Deiseil – Dancing in Time: Reclaiming a Lost Rhythm
An Event at the Kirkcudbright Fringe, September 2026 That’s deiseil, pronounced jay-shal, Scots Gaelic for “ready!” So! Are you ready? A strange boy is weavingA course of grace and havocOn a yellow skateboardThrough midday sidewalk traffic Why on earth should … Continue reading →