‘Mind you, I miss the tree ootside ma windae. I miss its wrunkelt bark – like me, aa the lines o lang life scored intae oor skin. There’s nae trees here. Nane ava. They burn dried seaweed on the fire, heather tae, an ony bits o drift wid they gaither frae the shore.’

Warlds Apairt
Efter a Japanese tale,
The Auld Wumman an her Dumplin 

from Cat Wumman: Tales o’ Nine Lives
By Gerda Stevenson

Award-winning writer, actor and singer Gerda Stevenson has published her second collection of short stories, titled ‘Cat Wumman: Tales o’ Nine Lives’. The stories present contemporary Scottish life and are inspired by folk tales, ballads and the poetry of Coleridge and Hugh MacDiarmid. The collection is available from Luath Press.

You can read an excerpt from the collection on the Books from Scotland site.