Happy birthday The Portobello Bookshop - 4 years old! Thank you for a great birthday party. We couldn’t ask for a better local bookshop. Fraser Ross Assoc Mairi Kidd Bellfield Brewery

It's been a joy of 4 years since the book 'STRONG BRAVE TRUE - Great Scots Who Changed the World and How You Can Too!' was published. Written by Mairi Kidd & illustrated by me, it's still going strong, I'm off to Faclan An Lanntair in Lewis this weekend. lanntair.com/events/event/s…

Book news! I am looking forward to be able to talk about this now, I'm no good at keeping things under my hat.

This is really disappointing news. A major city without a flagship book festival is not something to be proud of. All those cancelled events which had already been programmed? A huge loss for writers, their publishers and the audiences.

I was accused of religious hate once; person interpreted a snake illustration I published as spelling out a blasphemy in their language/script. Not even an unfortunate coincidence, just nonsense, snake a bit like the word IF the word had 2 fewer stokes.

So looking forward to this, and happy book birthday to Elle McNicoll ✍🏻📚🩷💜💙 🎉

It was a proper honour to chat books and writing with Elle McNicoll ✍🏻📚🩷💜💙 with such an amazing audience, thank you The Portobello Bookshop and everyone who came along and tuned in!

Up the close and down the stair, meet the women of Burke and Hare... Follow Helen and Susan, two women who were caught up in the horrific matters of the notorious serial killers in #TheSpecimens by Mairi Kidd Out 26th Sept. Pre-order now: shorturl.at/iDvDI

I had the best day meeting booksellers all across Edinburgh on our proof drop 🩷

The other half is at EIBF with the amazing John Doughtery if you have littles to entertain (laughs aplenty for the grown-ups too)

WTAF?? This is appalling news for artists in Scotland, there's just no funding anymore. This was a LIFELINE for me several years ago; I seriously doubt I'd be a writer now without the Open Fund support I had in 2018.

Statement on Creative Scotland decision to close the Open Fund for Individuals literaturealliancescotland.co.uk/closure-of-ope… Creative Scotland Scottish Government Scottish Poetry Library Edinburgh International Book Festival Scottish Book Trust CILIPScotland Moniack Mhor Publishing Scotland SALTIRE SOCIETY Society of Authors ScotSocPlaywrights

Agree entirely with this. There are clearly big issues - but individual artists, the folk upon whose work the whole edifice depends, cut off from funding routes without consultation, support, advice, just... gone? I'd like to see the EqIA (among other things).

Reading this article here in Scotland while our arts funding is getting sliced again and again is agony. And yet it shows a different world is possible. It doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't. Read and rage and then let's do something about it✊ theguardian.com/books/article/…

Incredible timing for this Guardian piece to land. As I was saying...incredibly hard not to compare and contrast with Scottish Government's sawing through the parachute cords.

Uncomfortable...

Big thanks to Herald Mag & Arts and Teddy Jamieson for such a kind write-up of The Specimens

Looking forward to this so much. A big honour to be on stage with two writers I admire talking about a book series I love.

A few folk have asked me about buying The Specimens and having it signed. My AMAZING local bookshop The Portobello Bookshop can arrange this with one click (or so). Let's hear it for local bookshops (I mean obviously ours is the best but that's how local works, right?!) x

Appearing at Bloody Scotland was a sort of 'level unlocked' joy for me - on stage with Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman aka Ambrose Parry, no less, minutes before Chris won the McIlvanney Prize. Lovely to hear Tony Garner read too. Thanks Bob McDevitt and team x