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Zoe Strachan - Author
Zoe is a writer, now a leading figure on Scotland's contemporary writing scene.She was a Brownie in Irvine, Ayrshire North, and resides in Glasgow.
"Read lots, write lots, keep at it and believe in yourself."
Scotland and being Scottish...
Glasgow feels very genuine, it doesn't have a shiny façade or manage to keep its problems tucked away out of sight, so I think many artists, musicians and writers find its edginess inspirational.
It's also very beautiful in places. If you walk around looking up at the buildings you'll see incredible architecture, though unfortunately some of it is crumbling before our eyes.
The history of the city is always present, even if sometimes you have to look out for it: the shipyard cranes dwarfed by luxury apartments down by the Clyde; the Britannia Panopticon music hall tucked away above an amusement arcade; the pristine white terraces built with money from slavery.
There's always another story to discover in Glasgow.
I'm lucky these days in that I quite often do have dinner with some of my favourite Scottish
writers: Louise Welsh, Laura Marney and Graeme Williamson spring to mind. We were all in the
MPhil at Glasgow University together and have stayed firm friends.
But for a fantasy dinner party the guest of honour would have to be Robert Louis Stevenson.
Going by his work - my favourites are The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Treasure
Island and his more gothic short stories like The Body Snatchers and Thrawn Janet.
I imagine he'd be full of incredibly interesting thoughts and theories, and his more autobiographical writing suggests that he had a great sense of humour and was a nice person too.
I'd love to hear his opinion of today's world compared to the 19th century, and what else he'd have written if he'd lived longer. I suspect he'd also be very good fun, so it might be quite a wild night!
Read lots, write lots, keep at it and believe in yourself.
I was an only child, and a very keen reader, so I started writing stories as soon as I could form the letters and words. My career in the Brownies was quite short lived (there was more of a focus on House Orderly and Hostess badges in my pack at that time than there is nowadays!)
But I remember doing my Writer's Badge and bringing in my first novel, a kind of Lion, Witch and Wardrobe rip off with plenty of talking animals and magic spells, set at Culzean Castle Country Park.
I didn't have very many friends when I was young, so reading and writing were hugely important parts of my life.
I would like to be stuck with Dora Chance from Angela Carter's novel Wise Children, a
heavily made up seventy five year old Londoner who'd keep me entertained with naughty tales
from her life as a song and dance girl. Plus she might have a bottle of gin hidden in her handbag,
which would help pass the time.
The worst ever would have to be Patrick Bateman from American Psycho by Bret Easton
Ellis. If he wasn't boring me to death about his love for the music of Phil Collins, he'd be
trying to murder me in some even more gruesome way!
There are so many it's difficult to narrow it down! I'll say Charlotte Brontë, because of her detailed and different female characters.
Lucy Snowe in Villette is particularly compelling, an utterly believable mixture of romantic and very tough cookie. She's an educated single woman who has to work for a living.
I've always found her far more real and empathetic than the women created by the other Brontë
sisters. I don't want to spoil the ending, but if you're a Jane Austen fan you might be disappointed!
I also think of Villette as a special book because it was Charlotte's last, and the only
one to be published under her own name rather than the more androgynous nom de plume Currer
Bell.
She was ill when she wrote it, and desperately lonely after the deaths of her sisters Anne and
Emily, so it's a real testament to her strength as an artist that she finished it at all, never
mind made it a masterpiece.
I'd choose The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark because it's an absolute classic
of Scottish literature, as well as a clever and wickedly funny novel which I think appeals to
readers of all ages.
When I first read it as a schoolgirl I fantasised about being in Miss Brodie's set of proud
rejects at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, and relished each new flaw which emerged in the
character of the wonderful anti-heroine herself.
The other is one I've just read: Female Chauvinist Pigs, Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture
by Ariel Levy. Girls growing up today seem to have many more pressures on them than I did (I'm
30 now), and this is a very readable and entertaining introduction to feminism as well as an
important discussion of why and how young women are encouraged to accept certain cultural phenomena
as liberating.
Although I studied Archaeology at university, and still have a real passion for it, I've
come to realise that I don't have the disposition for all that digging! And I worry more now
about the ethics of disturbing people's graves and removing their bodies, which is of course
one of the most illuminating aspects of it.
Having said that, imagine being one of the first people to venture inside the pyramids, or
being with Carter when he opened Tutankhamen's tomb. Aside from the supposed curse, there are
all sorts of other issues about cultural imperialism.
However since childhood I've been fascinated and terrified by the thought of shining my torch around and discovering such an incredibly sophisticated and beautiful world that had been hidden for thousands of years.
When I'm looking at mummies in a museum, I try to convince myself that in life they were the kind of people who'd have rather liked the idea of being famous and admired such a long time after their death.
As a child I was particularly fond of books about other worlds and about rather plain, lonely
girls who start to make friends and have adventures. Reading offers such a wonderful form of
escapism!
So I loved books by E Nesbit (like The Story of the Amulet or The Phoenix and the
Carpet) and Frances Hodgson Burnett (The Secret Garden especially), as well as Tolkien,
Susan Cooper and Joan Aitken.
As a teenager I'd venture into the adult library with my mum's ticket and look for books that
were unsuitable for someone my age. I was scared to death by Stephen King, thrilled by Ruth
Rendell and bemused by Erica Jong, and then I discovered Camus and Kafka and existentialism,
as well as Scottish writers such as James Kelman.
I felt as though they understood precisely how I thought, but by the time I was a young woman
I'd begun to wonder why the writers who were captivating me were all men.
I started experimenting with novels from the Virago carousel (by that time I had my own ticket
for the adult lending library), reading Angela Carter and Leonora Carrington, and gradually
moved on to some of the authors who are still my favourites today: Jeanette Winterson, Sarah
Waters, Ali Smith, Denise Mina, Kate Atkinson.
I'm very involved with the Scottish branch of PEN, an international association of writers
who defend freedom of speech and campaign for colleagues who are persecuted in other countries
simply for expressing their ideas. That persecution can lead to exile, imprisonment, torture
or even death.
If I had a million pounds one of the things I'd do is work with PEN to set up a fund for helping
writers in exile gain asylum here in Scotland.
I wouldn't want to limit it to writers, so I'd also give money to Positive
Action in Housing, who give vital support to other asylum seekers who are fleeing really
desperate situations in their homelands.
As I've always abhorred cruelty to animals I'd want to support the SSPCA
in this country, and I'm horrified by what's happening to women in Darfur in Sudan at the moment,
so I'd want to give money to provide rape crisis support there. Sadly, the list of deserving
causes is very long indeed.
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