A Tongue in yer Heid: A Selection of the Best Contemporary Short Stories in Scots

by James Robertson (Editor), Kate Armstrong (Contributor), Sheena Blackhall (Contributor)

In this collection of 28 stories you will find Scots in a great variety depicting life, and a great variety of life depicted in Scots.

From the traditional story-telling of Stanley Robertson, to the unflinching urban brutality of Irvine Welsh's A Soft Touch; from the fine portraits of rural life by David Toulmin and Sheena Blackhall to the fierce urgency of Matthew Fitt's Stervin or Janet Paisley's Vices; from Billy Kay's moving reconstruction of a 1920s mining disaster to the surreal humour of Brent Hodgson's interview with King Lear - Scots is here in all its forms, in dialects ranging from Shetland to the Borders and from Ayrshire to Leith.

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 1994

About the author

James Robertson (born 1958) is a Scottish writer who grew up in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. He is the author of several short story and poetry collections, and has published four novels: The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, and And the Land Lay Still. Joseph Knight was named both the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year and the Saltire Society Book of the Year in 2003/04. The Testament of Gideon Mack was long-listed for the 2006 Man Booker Prize. And the Land Lay Still was awarded the Saltire Society Book of the Year Award in 2010. Robertson has also established an independent publishing imprint called Kettillonia, which produces occasional pamphlets and books of poetry and short prose, and he is a co-founder and the general editor of the Scots language imprint Itchy Coo, which produces books in Scots for children and young people. He lives in rural Angus.