James Robertson was born in 1958 and grew up in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. A poet, editor, novelist and publisher, he is an active and prolific writer, enjoying stints at Hugh MacDiarmid‘s cottage, Brownsbank, near Biggar, Lanarkshire, and as the first Writer-in-Residence at the Scottish Parliament.He set up Kettillonia, a small pamphlet press in 1999, and was general editor of Itchy Coo, the successful Scots children’s book imprint at publishers Black and White.His novel Joseph Knight won the Saltire Society Book of the Year in 2003 and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year award, and in 2010 his Scottish epic And the Land Lay Still won Robertson a second Saltire Society award.James Robertson translates classic children’s novels, such as Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr Fox as The Sleekit Mr Tod and George’s Marvellous Medicine as Geordie’s Mingin Medicine.

Mairi Hedderwick

Mairi Hedderwick was born in Gourock in 1939 and moved to the Isle of Coll at the age of seventeen when she took a job as a mother’s help. She left the island a few years later to attend the Edinburgh College of Art. After her studies, she remained in Edinburgh for a short time, working as a primary-school teacher before returning to Coll in the early 1960s. For a time, she, her husband and her young family lived there in a house with no electricity or running water, their nearest neighbours two miles away.

In 2003 she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Stirling for her outstanding contribution to writing and illustration in Scotland, especially for children.

Mairi is the author and illustrator of the popular children’s series, Katie Morag, which she loosely based around her own experiences of island life, and which is currently being animated for children’s television. She also writes and illustrates travel books for adults and illustrates Jane Duncan’s Janet Reachfar children’s books published by Birlinn. Mairi Hedderwick’s range of beautifully illustrated diaries and stationery, featuring her exquisite watercolours of the Hebridean islands, is also published by Birlinn.Mairi Hedderwick was born in Gourock in 1939 and moved to the Isle of Coll at the age of seventeen when she took a job as a mother’s help. She left the island a few years later to attend the Edinburgh College of Art. After her studies, she remained in Edinburgh for a short time, working as a primary-school teacher before returning to Coll in the early 1960s. For a time, she, her husband and her young family lived there in a house with no electricity or running water, their nearest neighbours two miles away.

In 2003 she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Stirling for her outstanding contribution to writing and illustration in Scotland, especially for children.

Mairi is the author and illustrator of the popular children’s series, Katie Morag, which she loosely based around her own experiences of island life, and which is currently being animated for children’s television. She also writes and illustrates travel books for adults and illustrates Jane Duncan’s Janet Reachfar children’s books published by Birlinn. Mairi Hedderwick’s range of beautifully illustrated diaries and stationery, featuring her exquisite watercolours of the Hebridean islands, is also published by Birlinn.