Sailmaker Plus

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From a teaching standpoint, it's an accessible way of getting kids to think about cultural contexts, gender, class, and local history too if they're from the west of Scotland. It takes some real-life knowledge to understand Davie and what happens to him, and as is typical of school texts set for this age, it's the beginning of understanding complexities which make life a struggle for many. Glasgow’s own Alan Spence’s “Sailmaker” beautifully tells the sad and complex tale of an academically gifted boy and his struggling father. Set in Govan in the 1960s, the story begins with the initial impact upon both at the loss of the boy’s mother, and then follows the father and son through approximately ten years of their lives together. He is Professor in Creative Writing at the University of Aberdeen and, with his wife, runs the Sri Chinmoy Meditation Centre. He has been the Artistic Director of the Word Festival since 1999. His first work was the collection of short stories Its colours they are fine, first published in 1977. This was followed by two plays, Sailmaker in 1982 and Space Invaders in 1983. The novel The Magic Flute appeared in 1990 along with his first book of poetry Glasgow Zen. In 1991, another of his plays, Changed Days, was published before a brief hiatus. The eye and ear are equally important. What I’ve evolved towards is a three-line form, usually, not more than 17 syllables long (or short). The important thing is the content, catching those little existential moments of thought, what Basho [1644-94, one of Japan’s most famous Haiku poets] called the ah! of things. ( Atoms of Delight)

The interpolation of Glaswegian dialect amid lofty Zen phrases produces an insightful book which lingers with the reader long after they have put it down. It is a book which, according to John Hudson, in Markings 15, ‘pops up just when you are about to pop out’ placing you ‘re-signed, pointed in the right direction, the here and now’. Spence is a poet and playwright, novelist and short-story writer, and has recently [ when?] been commissioned by Scottish Opera to set words to a piece of music by Miriama Young.His poetry includes two books of haiku: Seasons of the Heart (2000); and Clear Light (2005). A further collection, Glasgow Zen was first published in 1981, and an expanded edition republished in 2002. His short story collections are Its Colours They Are Fine (1977) and Stone Garden (1995), which won him the 1995 Scottish Writer of the Year Award. In 2006, The Pure Land, a historical novel set in Japan, was published by Canongate Books, [3] and is based on the life of Thomas Blake Glover who is allegedly immortalized in the story of Madame Butterfly. His published plays are Sailmaker (1983), Space Invaders (1983), Changed Days (1991), and The 3 Estaites (2002).

Burns, John (1982), review of Glasgow Zen and Sailmaker, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 10, Autumn 1982, pp. 42 & 43, ISSN 0264-0856 You’ve been drinkin…” Pg. 16. We’ve just seen Alec playing and using his imagination, now he has toAlan Spence is a member of the Edinburgh Sri Chinmoy Centre and practises meditation. [5] Awards [ edit ] By accessing meditative thought and insight through everyday tasks, Spence reveals a new world in the mundane. In 2022, Edinburgh Come All Ye, a collection of poetry, was published by Scotland Street Press. [4]