FOUR writers have been named as the recipients of the Robert Stevenson Fellowships for 2018.
Run by the Scottish Book Trust, the fellowships involve residencies for writers at the Hotel Chevillon arts centre at Grez-sur-Loing in France.
The winners this year are Jenni Fagan, David Keenan, Theresa Muñoz and Shane Strachan.
Grez-sur-Loing is at the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau and was chosen because of its connections with Robert Louis Stevenson who first visited in 1875.
It was there, at the Hôtel Chevillon, that he met his future wife Fanny Osbourne.
Jenni Fagan is an acclaimed novelist, poet and screenwriter based in Edinburgh, and will use the fellowship to write her memoir.
Ms Muñoz is a poet, and her debut, Settle, was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize.
Keenan is a journalist and writer based in Glasgow.
Shane Strachan, based in Aberdeen, was chosen as a mentor for Queer Words Project Scotland and he has also received a Muriel Spark 100 funding award to create new short stories inspired by Spark’s time in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
www.scottishbooktrust.com
THE composer Thea Musgrave is to be celebrated by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra this month.
Ms Musgrave turns 90 this month.
The BBC SSO will give a special "portrait concert" in her presence at Glasgow’s City Halls on 27 May.
Born and educated in Edinburgh, Musgrave’s "rich and colourful composition, unique voice and sense of drama have made her one of the most respected and exciting contemporary composers in the world" the SSO said.
Her opera Mary, Queen of Scots was premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 1977.
Evelyn Glennie and oboist Nicholas Daniel will take centre stage at the concert for Two’s Company, a piece commissioned for them by the BBC in 2005.
The concert also includes three more of her works, and Celebration, a piece by Musgrave's friend Richard Rodney Bennett.
www.bbc.co.uk/bbcsso
EDINBURGH Art Festival has announced its 2018 Commissions Programme.
This year the festival will feature new work by Shilpa Gupta, Ross Birrell and David Harding, Ruth Ewan and Adam Lewis Jacob.
Gupta will present For, in your tongue I cannot hide: 100 Jailed Poets, a multi-channel sound installation, in the Engine House, ECA.
Ross Birrell & David Harding’s Triptych presents a new film work and installation in the 16th century church of Trinity Apse.
The artists will collaborate with Syrian composer/violinist Ali Moraly on a live performance in Trinity Apse.
Platform: 2018 is selected from an open call by artists Jonathan Owen and Hanna Tuulikki and this year the Festival’s dedicated showcase for emerging talent will feature work by four early career female artists at the City Art Centre.
www.edinburghartfestival.com
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