Fantastic evening at the Loving Alasdair book launch!

Fantastic evening at the Loving Alasdair book launch!

Loving Alasdair book launch Oran Mor

We had a great time underneath the Alasdair Gray ceiling at Òran Mór on Tuesday at the launch of the second title in the VOICES memoirs imprint. May Hooper read excerpts from her fascinating account of her long and close friendship with Glasgow writer and artist, Alasdair Gray.

May Hooper

Find out more about Loving Alasdair: the 39 years of my life with Alasdair Gray.

Loving Alasdair cover
Loving Alasdair

 

 

 

 

New Scottish History colouring book

New Scottish History colouring book coming very soon! Colour in the beautiful illustrations and read about the history of Scotland in Scots. A fun and quirky colouring book for children or adults – Scottish History: A Colouring Book.

Scottish_History_a_colouring_book

Come on a trip back in time through the colourful and surprising history of Scotland. From Skara Brae to Shipbuilding on the Clyde, the Romans to the Clearances, Saint Columba to the Herring lasses, colour in the drawings and read the Scots. The drawings are ideal for children or adults to colour. This is a Scottish History colouring book with the added bonus of a wee bit o Scots.

Find out more about the book, with sample pages and a recording of the Scots being spoken.

New Imprint from Lexus Books – VOICES

New Imprint from Lexus Books – VOICES

New Imprint from Lexus Books – VOICES
To This Northern Shore

VOICES brings you lives of remarkable people. What lies at the heart is not the glitz of celebrity but the vastness of human experience. Made into words.

The first title under our new imprint – To This Northern Shore.

From a small Scottish seaside town a man looks back on his life, from a boyhood in Algiers, through provincial France and Paris to Brighton, London and Oxford.

It is a story about embracing life fully and also reflecting on it, told with verve and lucidity, in clear and often elegiac language that will entertain, move and inspire.

Here are some reactions from readers:

An excellent storyteller.

The author’s sense of humour shines through.

The piece called “What’s in a name?” made me
laugh out loud on the train.

“Imagination has seized power” caught me up in the excitement of Paris 68. This is history made
compellingly readable.

The way in which the various themes, characters, locations and concerns continue to weave their
way through different sections is a delight.

 

New colouring book of Inverness

Inbhir_Nis_Colouring_Book

We have a new colouring book of Inverness – colour in the beautiful illustrations and read about the city in Scottish Gaelic – a fun and quirky Inverness colouring book for children – Inbhir Nis: A Colouring Book.

Join Eilidh and Angus the dog as they go exploring the city and its surroundings. From Inverness Cathedral to Glen Affric, Ness Islands to Clava Cairns, the Botanic Gardens to Chanonry Point, you can read about their adventures in Gaelic as well as English. The drawings are ideal for children or adults to colour. This is an Inverness colouring book with the added bonus of Gaelic.

Find out more about the book, with sample pages and a recording of the Gaelic being spoken.

Homeschooling help for languages

Mess on the Floor

Are you out of your comfort zone with the current homeschooling situation? It’s probably a long time since you were sitting in a classroom learning a language! Help your child learn and have fun at the same time – we have resources for all levels, from colouring books which introduce language awareness to more advanced books for the intermediate or advanced learner. Our books are used by teachers in the classroom, but are also ideal for the home learner. We have books for learning French, Spanish and German, as well as a great range of books for Scottish Gaelic.

Find out more on our Homeschooling page …

Will the Scottish Gaelic language survive?

The perspective from a language services provider as a response to the recent publication of The Gaelic Crisis in the Vernacular Community

Here, prompted by the recent flurry of comments and worry about Gaelic’s recently predicted lack of longevity, are the thoughts of a language services provider, translator and lexicographer.

1. Gaelic should be made compulsory at Primary School level in all of Scotland.

2. Gaelic classes should also continue through at least the first two years of secondary schooling.

3. The home of the Gaelic language is to be seen as the whole of Scotland.

4. The inhabitants of the Western Isles, where the 10-year demise is forecast, are, insofar as they are non-speakers, to commit to Gaelic language courses for at least 1 year.

5. Incomers to the Western Isles, where the 10-year period of decline is forecast, are, insofar as they intend to take up residence there, to commit to the study of Gaelic.

6. The target to be set for Gaelic language learners is, at least initially, to be some degree of familiarity with the language and not complete fluency in the language. The fact that people will want to continue to communicate in two languages is not to be seen as a bad thing but as a positive development.

7. It should be acknowledged that the creation of a learner base is a long-term undertaking and that long-term here means extending over at least two generations.

8. From this learner base there will emerge some who are fluent speakers, some who are able to read the language and some who have a greater or lesser degree of familiarity with the language.

9. It should be acknowledged that the implementation of these provisions cannot be left to voluntary take-up. This is the same basis that applies to the teaching of certain other subjects.

10. General aspirations are to be backed up by totally practical, everyday and inescapable applications.

Peter Terrell

Lexus Ltd

14th July 2020