Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Doric writers encourage people to pen their own real-life adventure stories

A selection of stories submitted will be published in a free book and distributed during Book Week Scotland.

Aberdeen writers, Shane Strachan and Mae Diansangu are encouraging others to share their stories.
Aberdeen writers, Shane Strachan and Mae Diansangu are encouraging others to share their stories.

Doric writers are leading the call for people to share their real-life adventure tales in a national writing programme.

Scots Scriever Shane Strachan and spoken word artist Mae Diansangu are encouraging members of the public to join a national writing project launched by the Scottish Book Trust.

In its 15th year, Scotland’s Stories is an annual writing opportunity giving people the chance to share a true story from their life – the theme for this year is adventure.

A selection of stories submitted will be published in a free book and distributed during Book Week Scotland.

The Scottish Book Trust has commissioned pieces from writers to go alongside the stories from the public, including both Mr Strachan and Miss Diansangu from Aberdeen who will be writing in the Doric tongue.

Shane Strachan previously gave a Doric twist on a Christmas classic, and is known to write in his local dialect.

Poet, columnist and performer Len Pennie, author and food writer Sumayya Usmani and Gaelic writers Seonaidh Charity and Alistair Paul have also been commissioned to write pieces for the programme.

The opportunity is open to everyone, whether they write regularly or haven’t penned anything since school.

Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust, described the writing project as one of the charity’s “highlights”.

He said: “This opportunity is open to anyone, whether you see yourself as a writer or not. It’s a privilege to collect and share these stories.

“We’d love to see as many people as possible pick up a pen and enjoy the positive benefits of writing for pleasure and share a story of adventure and what that means to them.”

Share your story in your dialect

Submissions of up to 1,000 words can be written in Scots, Doric, Gaelic, or English, in any form, such as a written story, poetry, comic strip, play or letter.

Audio and video formats are also welcomed by the programme.

Alison Lang, director of the Gaelic Books Council, said: “Tha sinn an dòchas gum bi cuspair na bliadhna, ‘dànachd’, a’ brosnachadh dhaoine gu bhith a’ cur peann ri pàipear.

“Tha Seonaidh Charity, Alistair Paul agus ùghdaran stèidhichte eile air pìosan a sgrìobhadh mar-thà, agus tha sinn airson guthan a’ mhòr-shluaigh a chluinntinn cuideachd mar phàirt den iomairt inntinneach seo.

“Siuthadaibh, ma-tà… agus bithibh dàna.’

Translation: “We hope that this year’s subject, ‘adventure’, will inspire people to put pen to paper.

“Seonaidh Charity, Alistair Paul and other established authors have already written pieces on this theme, and we want to hear the voices of the public too as part of this fascinating initiative.

“So get writing… and let the spirit of adventure lead you.”

Stories should be submitted by Friday, June 2 on the Scottish Book Trust website, or by post to: Scotland’s Stories, Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunk’s Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR.

Conversation