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.

 

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