The Spirit of Jura

by John Burnside, Scottish Book Trust

Sixty years ago, the beautiful island of Jura provided George Orwell the solitude and inspiration he needed to write his political masterpiece, "Nineteen Eighty-Four". In 2006, the Scottish Book Trust established their Jura Malt Whisky Writers' Retreat Programme to give writers the same peace and space, and it is now recognised as one of the best creative opportunities available. In 2007, authors Will Self, Janice Galloway and Philip Gourevitch took a month out, writing and living in the beautiful Distillery Lodge, to work on specially commissioned stories, published here for the first time. Poems, essays and artworks from other writers and artists, including Liz Lochhead and Kathleen Jamie, who have enjoyed a stay on Jura are also included in tribute to Jura's awe-inspiring landscape and the creativity it stimulates.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/new?bo...#

128 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2009

About the author

John Burnside was a Scottish writer. He was the author of nine collections of poetry and five works of fiction. Burnside achieved wide critical acclaim, winning the Whitbread Poetry Award in 2000 for The Asylum Dance which was also shortlisted for the Forward and T.S. Eliot prizes. He left Scotland in 1965, returning to settle there in 1995. In the intervening period he worked as a factory hand, a labourer, a gardener and, for ten years, as a computer systems designer. Laterly, he lived in Fife with his wife and children and taught Creative Writing, Literature and Ecology courses at the University of St. Andrews.

[Author photo © Norman McBeath]

Reviews

[Kirsty]

Loved the Liz Lochhead poems and the John Burnside story.

[Andy Sheppard]

A delightful book about a wonderful island

[Katherine Simmons]

Interesting set of stories and poetry focusing on Jura, its history and the effect such an isolated place can have. Nice review of the whiskies at the back too.