Strip the Willow (28 page)
Authors: John Aberdein
John Aberdein was born and educated in Aberdeen. After some time herring-fishing and scallop-diving on the West Coast, he taught English and outdoor education in Fife, Hampshire and Orkney.
He was the first person to kayak round mainland Scotland; a member of the Kirkland Five who campaigned for more democratic schools; and a main organiser of Labour’s move to ditch nuclear power in 1985–86 – a policy since reversed by ‘the divine fiat of Tony Blair’.
His first short stories,
The Can-Can, ken
?, were published by Duncan McLean (Clocktower Press, 1996), his story ‘Moving’ was runner-up in the inaugural
Scotsman
/Orange Short Story competition in 2004, and his novel
Amande’s Bed
(Thirsty/Argyll Publishing) won the Saltire First Book of the Year Award in 2005.
John Aberdein is based in Hoy and divides his time between writing, gardening and travelling.
This ebook edition published in 2011 by
Birlinn Limited
West Newington House
Newington Road
Edinburgh
EH9 1QS
www.birlinn.co.uk
First published in 2009 by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd
Copyright © John Aberdein 2009
The moral right of John Aberdein to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.
ebook ISBN: 978–0–85790–010–4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The publisher acknowledges subsidy from
(Highlands & Islands Arts Ltd and HIE)
towards the publication of this ebook