Short courses

Summary

From Booker prize winning gritty Shuggie Bain to the verse-novel space epic Deep Wheel Orcadia that recently won the Arthur C. Clarke award for Science Fiction, Scottish Contemporary Fiction is in rude health.  

Join this course to explore a regularly refreshed reading list of three novels and several short stories to consider the variety, verve and vivid state of fiction in Scotland today. Consider the themes, styles and forms popular across Scottish story-telling of the last few years, and discuss what it has to say about contemporary Scotland and its literary culture today.  

This year’s reading will encompass: 

Novels 

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart 

Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan 

Rizzio by Denise Mina 

Along with recent short stories by Kirsty Logan, Andrew O'Hagan, Jackie Kay and others that will be provided online. 

Over a series of talks and collective close-readings, our expert tutor will explain: 

• The key features of recent Scottish fiction from the early 21st Century as illuminated by three novels and several short stories 
• How to closely analyse fiction both in terms of an intense look at short passages and overall examination of the plot, character development, form, structure and style 
• the broader social, political and cultural context of these texts. 

You will also have the chance to discuss and reflect on what you learn with other students and the tutor in seminars 

Choose this course if you want to learn: 

• more about several important Scottish fiction writers and their writing 
• how to closely analyse specific novels and stories to understand how certain effects were created and articulate what you find 
• more about how the social, political and cultural context can inform the text and its reception.