Product Magazine
Elephants
By Ben Mitchell
Write here, write now
Free mentoring for new and emergent writers
The black bough
A short story of lust and longing in the Old Town, by Lisa Locascio
How I write
By Jean Findlay
Honey
A poem by Anna Viceconti
A show of beasts with wrath
A short story by Peter Burnett
Tea and smoke
By Regine Ebner
Become a Friend of Product
Support Scotland’s showcase for new work
On film
By Gerry Stewart
Tiny doors
By Anna Viceconti
Beast of all saints
It’s time for a new patron saint of Scotland, a fearless champion who could see off the doomsters and austerity bullies. Ron Ferguson knows the very man
Fish out of water
By Amaia Claire Martinez
Was it Shakespeare or Dorothy Parker
A poem by Ben Mitchell
Leaving the Castle
How would you feel on the first morning of an independent Scotland? Playwright David Greig responds.
No vacancies
Part 2. By Heather Pearson
Strange weather
By Anna Viceconti
+3.4
A poem by Dorothy Alexander
Salt
This poem by Claire Marsden comes with a trigger warning for self harm
frog girl goes to camp
by Anne Leigh Parrish
Dance this mess around
Neil Cooper on the unbearable lightness of being the B-52s – forty odd years hangin’ with the Deadbeat club.
Drunk on cinema
Alistair Braidwood enjoys getting lost in Seacrest, the fictional town of scheming cineastes in Kirsti Wishart’s latest book The Projectionist
Into the trees
Daniel White fuses photography and digital techniques to explore the lives of our forests
Little Big Stuff
Chris Dooks has created a hypnotic fusion of sonic art and photography
Word up
Writer Jenni Fagan discusses her new book Hex, witchcraft and the problem with magical realism
Valentine’s day is over
Is love past its sell-by date? Hannah McGill (part one) thinks she’s better off without it, while Tom McLean (part two) skips through a buttercup meadow hand in hand wi’ his gie bonnie lass.
Reflective Landscapes
Artist Tet Speirs photographs sunsets through glass to stunning effect.
Once upon a time
Alistair Braidwood admires a fresh look at how Simple Minds created their early innovations
Sending love to the universe
By Luca Serra
When Battling Rival Poets
A short story by Peter Burnett
The Jazz Messenger
A short story by Ken Irvine
The Only Certainties
A new poem by Ben Horrobin
Aces High Part 2
In the second instalment of our interview, author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímíde answers readers’ questions about institutional racism, structuring, sobriety and solitude
The Lost Squadron
A short story by D.B. MacInnes
Aces High
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímíde wrote one of the standout books of 2021. She fields readers’ questions on craft, dyslexia, diversity and how to find your confidence as a writer
Word up
Author Catherine Simpson’s remarkable work ranges across short stories, fiction and memoir. She discusses Alan Bennett, grabbing writing time and why details matter
The calling
A poem by Anna Viceconti
Let all the flowers bloom
Kirsti Wishart on why the platform Product provides for new writers matters, and how you can help
How I write
By Kirsti Wishart
Word up
The Broken Pane, Charlie Roy’s harrowing but uplifting debut examines loss, tragedy and our relationship with the past. Here she discusses creative process and how she grew from wistful scribbler to published author
Silk
A poem by Jesica Malen
The Tale of the Crail Crab, Tae a Fisherman He Speak Wi
A new poem by Lauren Clarke
Shine like stars
Bobby Gillespie’s sharp memoir vividly recounts the rise of a driven musical obsessive, writes Alistair Braidwood
To wither in denial
By John Gerard Fagan
No vacancies
Part One. By Heather Pearson
Flesh market
A poem by Raymond Moore
Car crash
A short story by Graham Lironi
On the water front
A poem by David Stakes
Help us meet our target
Invest in Scotland’ s new writing, photography, art and literature. Donate to Product
Stained glass
A poem by Kathryn de Leon
Moon shoes
A short story by Jack Somers
Blurred lines
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s latest multi-layered mystery combines great wit and invention, writes Alistair Braidwood
Author Interview
A uniquely talented writer of short stories, novels and poetry, Anne Leigh Parrish opens up about owls, Monet and the art of precision
Street fighting man
Andrei Semenev enjoys an expansive study of Russia’s courageous and complex opposition leader
Lust for life
Ayla Douglas on the captivating chaos of the hipster Wendy-verse
Enjoy this trip
From Rapper’s Delight to Fight The Power, Dylan Jones salvages the maligned 1980s in ten tracks, writes Alistair Braidwood
Going to Vancouver
A new poem by Ben Horrobin
True colours
The inspiring story of Preston’s rebirth highlights some telling lessons and limits of localism, writes James Foley
Take 5
James Metcalfe chooses his favourite records. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Comacat choose their favourite records. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Arlo Parks chooses the songs that influenced her
Allen Ginsberg
By Stuart A. Paterson
Take 5
Paul Research on his most loved records. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Robert Anderson chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Taming the the Selfish Giant
It’s time to protect books and those who create them, writes Jean Findlay
Cast the first stone
Shirley Jackson’s subversive horror story The Lottery remains as pertinent today as when it first appeared seventy years ago, writes Sibylla Kalid
Take 5
Callum Easter chooses his favourite records. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Dot Allison chooses her favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take Five
Oliver Kass chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take me to the river
Vashti Bunyan fled the 1960s music business to roam Britain on a horse and cart, leaving behind an album of such intense beauty that it became an international cult hit 30 years later. Sylvia Patterson welcomes back folk’s most talented absentee
Take Five
Keith Farquhar chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take five
Law Holt choose her favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Pretty Preachers Club choose their favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Dave MacLean of Django Django chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
The Tryst
By Hannah Sutherland
The Maids
@Dundee Rep. By Neil Cooper
A season in Hull
Invention, defiance and solidarity lit up Neu! Reekie!’s Where Are We Now? festival foray to the Hull City of Culture, writes Neil Cooper
Over the rainbow
Love Song to Lavender Menace, Royal Lyceum, then touring. Review by Neil Cooper
Mozart vs Machine
Sound Festival @ Lemon Tree, Aberdeen. November 11. Review by Neil Cooper
Take 5
Kirsten Adamson chooses her favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Shadow of Spheres
Photographer Yaz Norris explores the world of light and shadow.
Night on the moor
A short story by D.B. MacInnes
Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble & Invaders of the Heart @Bongo Club, Edinburgh
April 26. By Neil Cooper
Candy Opera
As Candy Opera release their debut album after 35 years in the wilderness, Neil Cooper talks about life in the 1980s with Liverpool’s great lost band
Take Five
Vic Galloway chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Take 5
Paul Vickers chooses his favourite songs. By Hugo Fluendy
Simply thrilled honey
From “Falling and Laughing” to “Dilemma” Alistair Braidwood delights in the music of Edwyn Collins
How I write
By puppeteer and children’s author Tania Czajka
Take 5
Andrew Loog Oldham chooses the songs that influenced him By Hugo Fluendy
Wanda vision
As Disney’s madcap subversion of the sitcom reaches its finale, Stephanie Provan salutes an all consuming epic
Lost Ghosts
Janeanne Gilchrist journeys into the deep with ethereal, otherworldly images captured beneath the waves
Wanda Vision
Stephanie Provan on Disney’s classy subversion of the sitcom
Buffalo stance
The End of the Game has been picked up by BBC World, injecting more irony into this fascinating portrait of an ageing hunter out to bag his final trophy, writes Hugo Fluendy
Hitting the target and missing the point
Under 7s learn best and enjoy better life chances when they’re free to play, writes Sue Palmer
Free, floating
Glasgow-based artist and filmmaker Rachel Nolan uses photography to abstract the mundane.
Outside in
A short story by Shirley Gillan
Take 5
Jill O’Sullivan chooses the songs that influenced her
Young enough to remember
By Kristoffer McKeown
Take five
Cloth guitarist Paul Swinton on the songs that influenced him
Decades
Joy Division were on the cusp of mainstream success forty years ago. Neil Cooper looks at how they conquered the world
Vinyl for food banks
Your old records gathering dust could help those most in need