Lets see if we can find a list of Scottish writers from A-Z

A

Thomas Aird, 19th century poet

J.M. Barrie

Author of Peter Pan

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could do for C and D!

Good idea Joanna

William Dalrymple

Eleanor Thorn

Next one F... (first or second name)

I find F a difficult letter for any alphabet games.

But ....

Catherine Forde

Next G

Galloway, Janice - authored 'The Trick Is to Keep Breathing'

Mollie Hunter.

She has written some beautiful children's fiction books including The Stronghold (about the conception and building of the first broch on the Orkney Islands) and A Stranger Came Ashore - set on Black Ness island where belief in selkies is strong.

Next I

Ian Rankin. Author of the Inspector Rebus books. Tartan noir, they call them. They're great.

But there's also Iain Banks aka Iain M. Banks. I've only ever read the sci fi he writes as Iain M. Not for the faint of heart, but imaginative and provocative.

Next: J

Kate Atkinson

Semi-cheating, as she was born in England. BUT she lives in Edinburgh and studied at Dundee.

I loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum and this summer read Case Histories and One Good Turn. Engaging and funny.

Next: L

Iain Banks wrote a book called A Song Of Stone which I really struggled to get through due to the unremitting darkness it portrayed in human nature.

J = Quintin Jardine, who has written many crime novels about Bob Skinner, an Edinburgh policeman.

Next K...

Yay! Quentin Jardine. Love his books.

But since I slipped in Kate Atkinson for K, can I go straight to the wonderful children's writer

John Lingard

for L?

Next: M (Should be lots of those!)

Do you mean Joan Lingard Mona? I have read and enjoyed several of her books.

M - Val McDermid, crime writer.

Next N...

I do indeed mean Joan. My head knew that, but obviously my fingers weren't quite in synch with the brain. (A common enough problem, I fear.)

Fair play Mona ... and talking of play, does anyone have an "N" for the next stage of this game?

Neil Munro - journalist, novelist, humorist, very well known and popular in his lifetime.

Next: O

Andrew O'Hagan, who has written fiction but also non-fiction including the book The Atlantic Ocean - Essays on Britain and America.

Next P

Stef Penney. She wrote The Tenderness of Wolves. I was amazed to learn the she's never been to Canada, did all her research in the British Library.

Next: Q

There aren't going to be many Qs, I think, whatever the game. The only one I can come up with here is Quentin Jardine, which we used for J.

If no one has any offers, I'll suggest John Buchan (The 39 Steps) for J instead, though I think there's more plenty of choice here. (I really do mean John this time!) And make Jardine the Q.

In which case someone could suggest an R.

What do you think?

Sounds good to me Mona.

And for R I will go for Harry Potter author J K Rowling who was actually born in Bristol, but moved to Edinburgh in 1993, and the genesis of Harry Potter was the writing she did in an Edinburgh cafe.

Next S.

That has to be the easiest so far Asha, Sir Walter Scott, born in Edinburgh and spent most of his life there. Must be very creative air there!

Read The Lady of the Lake, Ivanhoe and Rob Roy at school, had to actually, and much to my suprise at the time thoroughly enjoyed all of them.

S is a popular one Francine. Robert Louis Stevenson is another S I think a lot of people will know.

T - Nigel Tranter.

Next one "U"

U = Thomas Urquhart (perhaps somewhat old fashioned - seventeenth century)

Next V