Scottish Authors

Robert Burns

1759 Born 25^th January at Alloway near Ayr

Father: William Burnes, a market gardener; Mother: Agnes Brown, a farmer’ s daughter

1765 Robert Burns and his brother Gilbert attend school at nearby Alloway Hill; later on the two are taught by their father

1773 Robert Burns falls in love with Nelly Kilpatrick and writes his first poem “My Handsome Nell”

1777 The Burns family moves to Lochlie, northeast of Ayr

1780 Robert Burns is installed as a freeman in St. David’s Lodge, Tarbolton. He goes to Irvine to learn the trade of flax-dressing, but fails in his plan.

Instead he is encouraged by Richard Brown, a young sailor, to have his poems published

1784 Robert Burns returns to Lochlie. After his father’s death the family moves to Mossgiel farm. Robert is not able to make the farm a success

but in contrast to this he enters his most prolific period as a poet

1785 Burns meets Jean Armour and after making her pregnant, he gives her a paper acknowledging her as his wife, yet her father repudiates the marriage.

Robert considers emigrating to Jamaica, but first he wants to complete the publication of his first volume of poems

1786 “Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” is published at Kilmarnock and proves to be a great success. Finally he abandons his thoughts of emigrating

and moves to Edinburgh

1787 The Edinburgh edition of “Poems” is published. It contains 22 poems not included in the Kilmarnock edition. Burns assumes editorship of the

“Scots Musical Museum”. At the end of the year he meets Mrs Agnes McLehose, the ‘Clarinda’ of his famous love letters.

Burns returns to Ayrshire and finally marries Jean Armour finally. He leaves Ellisland farm, and fails again. Thus he begins to work as Excise officer,

which involves travelling a lot while simultaneously running the farm. Against this background he writes “Tom O’ Shanter”

1791 Burns gives up the lease on the farm and moves to Dumfries. Now he writes only little poetry but composes lyrics for traditional Scots melodies

and records and repairs old folk songs, refusing all payment as he regards the work on the songs as his gift to the Scottish people.

1796 In April Burns is terminally ill. He dies on 21^st July at Dumfries, where he is buried with military honours on 25^th July

Works by Burns

The Letters of Robert Burns

The Complete Letters of Robert Burns

The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Burns

Poems and Songs by Robert Burns

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Sir Walter Scott

1771 Born 15^th August at College Wynd, Edinburgh

Father: Walter Scott; a well known writer and solicitor, descendant of an old Border family;

Mother: Anne Rutherford, daughter of Dr. John Rutherford, professor of medicine at Edinburgh University

1778 Scott begins his full-time education at Edinburgh High School, where he is introduced to the classics

1783 Scott enters Edinburgh University and studies Latin and Greek

1786 Apprenticed to his father’s firm of solicitors; later on he studies Civil and Scots Law, as he wants to become anadvocate rather than a solicitor

1792 Scott is called to the Scottish Bar as an advocate

1797 Scott becomes a member of the Edinburgh Light Dragoons, a troop of auxiliary cavalry established early in 1797 as fears of French invasion grew

Marries Charlotte Charpentier

1798 Appointed Deputy Sheriff of Selkirkshire

Works on a selection of traditional and modern (some being his own work) Border ballads

1802 The first two volumes of “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border” are published and become popular

1803 Publication of the third volume of “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border”

1806 Scott obtains the position of a clerk of the Court of Session

1814 “Waverley” is published and is very successful; further novels are published anonymously- no public acknowledgement of his work until 1827

1819 With the publication of “Ivanhoe”, Scott achieves the pinnacle of his sales

1820 Scott travels to London to receive the baronetcy from George IV

1822 George IV makes the first visit to Scotland by a reigning British monarch since 1650. Scott and General Stewart of Garth are instructed to organise the

pageantry. The visit proves to be a great success

1826 Scott is plunged into financial ruin with the crash of two firms in which he was a partner. Yet he refuses any help as he wants to pay his debts himself

1827 “Life of Napoleon Bonaparte” ( 9 volumes!) is published

1831 journey to Italy for health reasons; cerebral haemorrhage bringing paralysis

1832 Scott dies on 21^st September at Abbotsford

Works by Scott

Poetic Works

1802 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border

1805 Lay of the Last Minstrel

1808 Marmion

1810 Lady of the Lake

1812 Rockeby

1813 Lord of the Isles

Novels

1814 Waverley

1815 Guy Mannering( 2, 000 copies sold on the 1^st day)

1816 The Antiquary

The Black Dwarf

Old Mortality

1818 Rob Roy (10, 000 copies sold in two weeks)

Bryde of Lammermoor

The Heart of Midlothian

1819 Legend of Montrose

1820 Ivanhoe

The Monastery

The Abbot

1821 Kenilworth

1822 The Pirate

The Fortunes of Nigel

Peveril of the Peak

1823 Quentin Durward

1824 The Betrothed

The Talisman

Woodstock

1827 Chronicles of the Canongate

1828 The Fair Maid of Perth

1829 Anne of Geierstein

1831 Count Robert of Paris

Castle Dangerous

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Robert Louis Stevenson

1850 Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson is born on 13^th November in Edinburgh

Father: Thomas Stevenson, a lighthouse engineer

Mother: Margaret Isabella Balfour, a minister’s daughter

1866 Stevenson writes “ The Pentland Rising, a Page of History, 1666” which is published anonymously

1867 He starts to study engineering at Edinburgh University, yet the lessons bore him and he decides that he would rather become a writer

1869 Stevenson is elected to the Speculative society, an exclusive university debating club. Furthermore he starts a bohemian life,

questioning the values of the older generations

1872 Passes the preliminary examination for the Scottish Bar

1875 Final admission to Scottish Bar but he leaves for France to live the bohemian life he has longed for

1876 Stevenson meets Mrs Fanny van de Grift Osbourne, an American

1878 “An Inland Voyage”, Stevenson’s first book, is published.

1879 After publishing “Travels With A Donkey”, Stevenson leaves for America in order to see Mrs Osbourne. After she is divorced, the

two marry in San Francisco. Later on they return to Scotland

1880 Trying to entertain his stepson, Lloyd, Stevenson begins a story he calls “The Sea Cook”. The editor of the Young Folk magazine

decides to commission the story as a serial under the title “Treasure Island”

1883 “Treasure Island” is published in book form - an instant success, transforming the largely unknown Stevenson into a household name

1884 He settles in Bournemouth

1887 Thomas Stevenson dies and Robert Louis Stevenson visits Edinburgh for the last time. Accompanied by his family he sails for America

1885 “A Child’s Garden of Verses” is published and “ Kidnapped” is begun

1886 “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” is published, representing the product of a nightmare and six days of feverish work

1888 Cruise to the South Sea Islands

1889 The Stevensons settle on Samoa

1894 With no prior warning Stevenson collapses and dies of cerebral haemorrhage on 3 December

Works by Stevenson

1866 The Pentland Rising

1873 Roads

1878 An Inland Voyage

1879 Edinburgh, Picturesque Notes

Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes

1880 Deacon Brodie (with W. E. Henley)

1881 Virginibus Puerisque

1882 Familiar Studies of Men and Books

New Arabian Nights

1883 The Silverado Squatters

Treasure Island

1884 Admiral Guinea (with W.E. Henley )

Beau Austin (with W.E. Henley)

1885 Prince Otto

The Dynamiter (with Fanny Stevenson)

A Child’s Garden of Verses

Macaire (with W.E. Henley)

1886 The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Kidnapped

Some College Memories

1887 Memories and Portraits

Memoir of Fleming Jenkin

Thomas Stevenson, Civil Engineer

The Merry Men

Underwoods

1888 The Black Arrow

The Misadventures of John Nicholson

1889 The Master of Ballantrae

The Wrong Box (with Lloyd Osbourne)

1890 The South Seas

1891 Across the Plains

The Wrecker (with Lloyd Osbourne)

A Footnote to History

1893 Catriona

Island Nights’ Entertainment

1894 The Ebb Tide

1895 The Amateur Emigrant

1896 Weir of Hermiston

1897 St Ives

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

1859 Conan Doyle is born on May 22 in Edinburgh

1868 Conan Doyle is sent to Jesuit boarding school in England

1876 His father enters a nursing facility to receive treatment for his alcoholism.

Conan attends the University of Edinburgh Medical School where he meets Dr. Joseph Bell, the person who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes

1880 He serves as ship’s surgeon on the Greenland whaler Hope

1881 A Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery are awarded to Conan Doyle.

He leaves from Liverpool to serve as shipboard medical officer on the steamer Mayumba.

1882 Conan Doyle leaves for Portsmouth to establish his own medical practice.

1883 He joins the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society.

1885 On August 5^th he marries Louisa Hawkins.

1889 Mary, his first child, is born.

1891 He gives up his medical practice in favour of writing.

1892 His first son is born.

1893 Conan Doyle visits Reichenbach Falls. Louisa is diagnosed with tuberculosis.

His father dies. Conan takes his wife to Switzerland because of her health and joins the British Society for Psychical Research.

1897 He meets Jean Leckie.

1900 Serves in the Boer War.

1902 Conan Doyle is knighted for the publication of “The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct”

1904 He is made member of the Crimes Club.

1906 His wife dies at the age of forty-nine. Conan begins investigation of the George Edalji case.

1907 He marries Jean Leckie.

1909 His second son is born.

1910 He becomes involved in the Oscar Slater case and his third son is born.

1912 His second daughter is born. Doyle argues with George Bernard Shaw about the Titanic.

1916 He declares his belief in Spiritualism in the Light magazine.

1917 Conan Doyle speaks publicly about Spiritualism for the first time.

1918 His eldest son and his brother die.

1920 Doyle meets Houdini.

1921 Jean discovers that she has the ability to do automatic writing

1928 Doyle launches a five-month tour of Africa.

1930 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle dies on July 8. He is buried at the rose garden in Windlesham.

Works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Works featuring Sherlock Holmes:

A Study of Scarlet (1887)

The Sign of The Four (1890)

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)

Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1904)

The Valley of Fear (1915)

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

Other works:

The Mystery of the Sasassa Valley (1979, his first work)

The White Company (1891)

A Duet with an Occasional Chorus (1899)

The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct (1902)

The Crime of the Congo (1909)

The Lost World (1912)

The Land of Mist (1925)

History of Spiritualism (1926)

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George MacDonald

George MacDonald, Scottish novelist, poet, clergyman, and author of children's stories, was born at Huntley, West Aberdeenshire, the son of George MacDonald and Helen MacKay.

He attended country schools, and went to Aberdeen University in 1840-41 and 1844-45, taking prizes in chemistry and natural philosophy.

After three years of tutoring in London he studied for the Congregationalist ministry at Independent College, Highbury and was made priest at Arundel in 1850. Because of the lack of dogmatic material in his sermons he was accused of heresy and found it necessary to resign after three frustrating years. Returning to England from a trip to Algiers he resolved to be a professional author.

His poem Within and Without appeared in 1855; Poems in 1857; Phantastes in 1858. However, his first real success came with his novels of Scottish country life, David Elginbrod (1862), Alec Forbes (1865), and Robert Falconer (1868).

In this year he received the degree of L.L.D and attracted the notice of Lady Byron, who befriended him and later left him a legacy.

An American lecture tour in 1872 followed and he won many friends.

Although his Scottish novels and his charming children's books such as At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie were successful, MacDonald's financial returns from his works had not been sufficient to provide for the needs of his wife and family, and in 1877 he was pensioned at the request of Queen Victoria.

He was obliged to care for his weak health during all his long life. When his daughter had to be taken to Italy for her health in 1877 -- a trip which ended in her death -- MacDonald found the climate so beneficial to himself that he spent the greater part of each year from 1881 to 1902 at Bordighera. Here the MacDonald family led a merry life, and readings and amateur theatres were frequent in his house.

Mrs. MacDonald died the year after their golden wedding anniversary, in 1902. Macdonald died at Ashtead in England in 1905 after a long illness. His remains were cremated and taken for burial to Bordighera, where his wife had been buried as well.

The MacDonalds had six sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Greville MacDonald, later became a writer. He is the author of the biography of his father.

George MacDonald’s best known books are :

The Diary of an Old Soul
Lilith
The Princess and Curdie
The Light Princess
Phantastes, A Faerie Romance
At the Back of the North Wind
Donal Grant
David Elginbrod
Sir Gibbie

You can find more information on the author and his writings on the following websites :

http://www.knowledgerush.com/ - the complete biography

www.ccel.org/m/macdonald/northwind/northwind.html - books and summaries

http://www.johannesen.com/ - special editions and online ordering

http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/ - general info

http://www.search.biography.com/

This summary of At the Back of the North Wind is taken from http://www.personal.umich.edu/ :

Young Diamond is a poor boy whose bed is in a hay loft above the stable of his closest companion, a horse also named Diamond. At night a spirit in the figure of a tall, beautiful lady whisks him away into castles and distant landscapes, and tells him strange things that awe him and push his understanding to their limits. His lessons from this ethereal lady, who calls herself the North Wind, together with the strength of his own character, contribute to his growth in wisdom even as he gets older and life becomes more difficult. His health fails for a time, during which North Wind takes him to her home, "behind" her, which is a beautiful country that he never wished to leave, although getting there was cold and frightening. His parents are overjoyed at his recovery, and though they become poorer still, Diamond's fortitude and generosity brighten his whole family. A new baby sister becomes an object for Diamond's love and care, and he learns to drive horses when his father is ill.

Eventually his good nature begins to return benefits to him and his family, as a wealthy Mr. Raymond is touched by Diamond's concern for a poor girl and sees that she is cared for when sick. Mr. Raymond begins to extend his own generosity to Diamond's family, which ultimately rescues them from poverty. Meanwhile Diamond is having visions which he wonders are true, and he discusses the possibility with the poor girl Nanny. He begins to think that since Nanny's dreams are different from his own, that there may be more to life, death, and even the North Wind than his own limited experience suggests. North Wind herself, meanwhile, has become more distant from Diamond as Mr. Raymond relieves their poverty and their lives become easier. She begins to test Diamond's faith. He asks her whether she is real, and how he can know. He finds her too vague, and yet is finally taught by her the virtue of hope despite his unsurety. At the same time (ch.36) we learn who North Wind really is, which (for those who had not guessed it before) explains the nature of the lessons and experiences she has been giving to Diamond. Meanwhile the narrator has met Diamond for the first time and is getting to know him, and is inspired by the young boy's character and wisdom. But the boy's health begins to fail him again, and this time he does not recover; and Diamond goes at last to the back of the North Wind.

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Kenneth Grahame

Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh as the son of a lawyer from an old Scottish family. In the early years he lived with his family in the Western Highlands.

When he was five his mother died of scarlet fever, and the children were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in the village of Cookham Dene, the chief setting of The Wind in the Willows.

Grahame was educated at St. Edward's School, Oxford, and in 1879 he entered the Bank of England.

At that time he began writing light non-fiction pieces in his spare time and contributed to journals.

In 1893 his stories about a group of orphaned children were published as The Pagan Papers.

In 1895 The Golden Age, a collection of sketches from his published works, came out. It was followed by Dream Days in 1898, which included Grahame's most famous short story, 'The Reluctant Dragon'. All the Dragon wants is to be left alone, but the villagers want it dead. Thanks to a wise child, the Dragon manages to trick the Establishment and stay alive.

Grahame was appointed as the secretary at the Bank and in 1899 he married Elspeth Thomson; this turned out to be a disastrous marriage, during which Grahame wrote parts of The Wind in the Willows (originally in a letter form to his young son Alistair), which appeared in 1908. After the publication Grahame retired from his work; his son Alistair committed suicide while an undergraduate at Oxford.

Grahame stopped writing after WWI. He died in Pangbourne, Berkshire, on July 6, 1932.

In 1993 William Horwood attempted a sequel to the Willows, called The Willows in the Winter . It received mixed critiques, although he managed to reproduce Grahame's phraseology and rhythms rather well. The second sequel, Toad Triumphant, appeared in 1996. The trilogy ended with The Willows and Beyond (1998).

The best known books by Kenneth Grahame are :

The Golden Age 1859

The Dream Days 1898

The Wind in the Willows 1908

You can find the complete biography and more information about Grahame at

http://www.online-literature.com/

The Wind in the Willows tells the story of Toad, obsessed with motorcars but an extremely poor driver, and his friends Rat, Mole and Badger. Their lives center around the river, which is also where Mole, the homebody, meets the Rat, who is always infected with wanderlust.

Together they explore the surrounding country and accept the wealthy Toad’s offer of a trip with a gypsy wagon. They get thrown off the road by a passing motorcar, which sends Toad into a raving desire for these things. He starts buying and crashing them one after another, so Rat and Mole attempt to find the wise Badger, who lives reclusively in the Wild Forest, and ask for advice. Snow has fallen by the time they find him, and they spend the winter in the Wild Wood, plotting on how to "make a sensible Toad out of him" again.

In the spring they catch him in his huge house, Toad Hall, and try talking sense into him. Of course Toad won’t listen and sneaks away through his bedroom window while his friends debate on his case downstairs. He steals and crashes a final car before he is caught and thrown into prison. While he escapes with the help of all his cunning and has several adventures on his own the seemingly abandoned Toad Hall is invaded by the Ferrets from the Wild Wood. The returning Toad has to enter his own house through a waterlogged passage, and finally must unite forces with his friends to regain Toad Hall from the Ferrets.

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Jonathan Aycliffe (Daniel Easterman)

1949 born in Belfast, of Scottish heritage

He studied English, Persian, Arabic , and Islamic Studies at the universities

of Dublin, Edinburgh and Cambridge. He lectured at the universities of Fez

in Morocco and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Lives in the North of England with his wife.

He is the author of several successful full-length ghost stories, often drawing on his Scottish/Celtic background.

He also writes under the name Daniel Easterman.

His real name is Denis MacEoin

The Last Assassin 1985

The Matrix 1994

The Talisman 1999

Midnight Comes at Noon 2001

Maroc 2002

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Jack Whyte

Jack Whyte was born and raised in Scotland, and educated in England and France.

He migrated to Canada from the UK, in 1967, as a teacher of high school English, but he only taught for a year before starting to work as a professional singer, musician, actor and entertainer.

In the early 1970s, Whyte researched, wrote, directed and appeared in a one-man show based on the life and times of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet.

He toured Canada with the presentation, which he had written to appeal to non-Scots, de-mystifying the poet and his works and making them understandable and enjoyable to North Americans. The success of the show led him into writing for CBC National television, and eventually to a career in advertising, acting as Head Writer and Creative Director of several agencies before working as Corporate Communications Director for a number of public and private companies. He is now married, with five adult children, and lives in British Columbia, Canada.

His interest in 5^th-century history and the 460-year Roman military occupation of Britain springs from his early Classical education in Scotland during the 1950s, and he has pursued his fascination with those times and combined it with the Arthurian legend.

In 1978 this gave rise to a historical fantasy cycle centered around the mystery of the Sword in the Stone. Whyte set out to establish King Arthur securely in a realistic and feasible historical context and to tell the story of Britain from its very beginning combining actual history, myth and fantasy

The Camulod Chronicles consist of the following volumes :

The Skystone

The Singing Sword

The Eagles Brood

The Saxon Shore

The Sorcerer

Uther

You can find more about the author and his works, as well as the full biography, at www.camulod.com

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Ian Rankin

1960 Born in Cardenden in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland.

He attended local comprehensive school before going to the University of Edinburgh where he studied English Literature (MA). Then he started studying toward a PhD in the Modern Scottish Novel.

1986 Married and moved to London where he was working as a secretary at the National Folktale Centre

1988 as elected a Hawthorndean Fellow

1991/92 won the Chandler-Fulbright Award, a prestigious crime prize

1994 and 1996 won the Short Story Dagger Award

1997 won the Golden Dagger Award for Black and Blue

The Flood (1986)

Watchman (1991)

Death is not the End (2000)

His most popular novels have been the Inspector Rebus series:

Knots and Crosses(1997)

Hide and Seek (1991)

Tooth and Nail ( 1992)

Strip Jack (1992)

The Black Book (1993)

Mortal Causes (1994)

Let it Bleed (1996)

Black and Blue (1997)

The Hanging Garden (1998)

Dead Souls (1999)

Rebus: The Early Years (1999)

Set in Darkness (2000)

The Falls (2001)

Rebus: The St Leonard’s Years (2001)

Resurrection Men (2002)

A Question of Blood (2003)

"GLC worksheet on Rankin´s Inspector Rebus"

Anthologies

Fresh Blood (1997)

The Cutting Edge (1998)

Beggar’s Banquet (2002)

Written as Jack Harvey

Witch Hunt (1993)

Bleeding Hearts (1994)

Blood Hunt (1995)

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Joanne Kathleen Rowling

1965 Born in Gloucestershire

1971 At the age of six, she writes her first story about a rabbit who contracts measles. The family moves from Yate to Winterbourne near Bristol where Rowling,

nine, with her young sister Di plays with a gang of children in her street, including a brother and a sister named Potter. Ian Potter plays a lot of tricks.

1974 Rowling writes a story about seven cursed diamond

1976 starts at Wyedean, a comprehensive - not private - school

1982 becomes head girl at Wyedean Comprehensive

1982 goes to the University of Exeter to study French and Classics

1985 spends one year in Paris as teaching assistant as part of degree

1987 graduates, then works briefly as research assistant for Amnesty International. Writes during lunch hours in pubs and cafes

1988 secretarial work in Manchester

1991 goes off to teach English in Portugal

1992 marries a Portuguese television journalist

1993 gives birth to a daughter

Christmas 1993 gets divorced and returns to Britain with baby (Jessica). Heads for Edinburgh where her sister Di lives.

1995 finishes writing and types the manuscript and sends it to two agents and one publisher.

1996 works as French teacher while waiting to hear about the manuscript

1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is published in Britain

1998 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is published in Britain

1999 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published in Britain and is Nr 1 on the best-seller list

New York Times has Harry Potter books in the top three positions on its best-seller list.

Warner Bros buys the film rights to the first two books

2000 World-wide sale of the first three books stands at 30 million in 35 languages

Book four: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is published.

2003 Book five: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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