One of my blog readers recently asked me what stages I had to go through before my latest book was accepted by Yale University Press. He was surprised by how complex the process was, so I thought others might find it interesting too. I don't know how it is with other...
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The manuscript of my new book has been accepted by my publisher, Yale University Press, and I'm delighted to be able give you some news of it. (It's due to be published in March 2026.) The book is called Nocturnes and the Fascination of Night Music. It's essentially a...
Here I am signing paperbacks in Toppings Bookshop in Edinburgh this morning. Whenever I'm in a big bookstore, especially a well-curated one like Toppings, I look at all the tables with their piles of new books on a thousand fascinating subjects and wonder what chance...
My new book comes out today. Perhaps there's no real significance to the formal publication date, especially as pre-ordered copies have been landing on people's doormats for a week or two now - but still, it feels like a day to be happy. I made a YouTube playlist to...
I haven’t said much about my new book during the past year. In the midst of such upheaval it seemed unwise to count on things going as planned. But happily it’s not long now until The Piano - a History in 100 Pieces is published by Yale University Press on July 13th....
This week I came across the video made by cellist Felix Wurman about Domus at the beginning of the group's career. We were trying to publicise our concerts in our portable concert hall, a large geodesic dome which the players assembled out of aluminium tubes, putting...
Last night, on Burns' Night, my book group met on Zoom to read Robert Burns' poem 'Tam O'Shanter'. Several members of the group had grown up taking part in annual Burns recitations on January 25, with prizes given for the best or most dramatic performances. They...
In response to yesterday's outrage about an HM Government ad showing 'Fatima', a young ballet dancer as an example of someone who might switch to 'working in cyber', I'm posting an excerpt from 'J is for Job (not a proper)', from my book A Musician's Alphabet (Faber,...
I have been reading an enthralling book, 'A Hundred Years in the Highlands', written in 1921 by Osgood Mackenzie. He was the founder and owner of the famous gardens at Inverewe. Osgood Mackenzie was an elderly man when he wrote the book and could recall childhood...
For the past couple of days I've been at the Edinburgh Book Festival (one of the world's major literary festivals) listening to other writers' talks - that is, when I could hear them over the noise of the thunder, lightning and rain battering on the canvas roof (in...
As August approaches, Edinburgh is suddenly full of posters advertising the thousands of Festival and Fringe events about to be unleashed upon us. You can feel the city is about to overflow with visitors. One of the most popular of the several festivals which co-exist...
Last night the Edinburgh International Book Festival launched its 2019 programme, and what a programme! Writers from every corner of the world will be coming to Edinburgh to discuss topics from politics, nature and storytelling to history, fashion, poetry and...
One of my Christmas presents was a memoir, 'Divided Loyalties - a Scotswoman in occupied France' by Janet Teissier du Cros. It was written by an Edinburgh-born woman who married a Frenchman and spent the years of the Second World War in the Cévennes region of France...
The Times Literary Supplement of January 4 has a lovely review of my book 'Speaking the Piano'. Because of the subscriber paywall, only a snippet of the review is publicly accessible online, but here's a photo of the review as it appears in print. And here's an...
Australia's leading arts magazine, Limelight, carries a review of my book Speaking the Piano 'Tomes offers warm, thoughtful insights into the art of teaching' 'Speaking the Piano explores more than simply the nuts and bolts of mastering an instrument - it tries to...