Writing your Passion
10am - 11am
The nation’s bookshelves are full of works by authors who have successfully turned their hobbies, their interests, their chosen lifestyles or their culinary flair or sporting skills into a best-selling book.
But how do you turn your passion into pages of well-crafted, highly engaging work for others to enjoy?
In this session two of Scotland’s finest writers Coinneach MacLeod - aka The Hebridean Baker - and Malachy Tallack talk to us about how they approached their subjects to produce best-selling books they go far beyond the how-to and the self-help manual to capture the imagination of readers.
The Hebridean Baker has a global social media following and, with nearly 10 million views of his recipe and lifestyle videos, Coinneach MacLeod has featured in Elle Magazine as one of Elle’s Cosy TikTok Picks. His unique style and wholesome and delicious traditional Scottish bakes have won him fans around the globe and in his book The Hebridean Baker, Coinneach shares his fabulous recipes and stories of island life, offering a true taste of Scotland’s wild and windswept Outer Hebrides – it’s all about rustic, home baking and old family favourites because, as the Hebridean Baker says, ‘Homemade is Always Best’.
Due out in early July, Mallachy Tallack’s Illuminated by Water explores the appeal of fishing, its intense joys and frustrations, the steadying effect it has, both at the water's edge and in the memory, and the contemplation of nature and landscape that comes with being an angler.
Malachy Tallack is the award-winning author of three books, most recently a novel, The Valley at the Centre of the World (Canongate, 2018). It was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. His first book, Sixty Degrees North (2015), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and his second, The Un-Discovered Islands (2016), was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. Malachy is from Shetland, and currently lives in Stirlingshire.
Chaired by XpoNorth’s Peter Urpeth
Chair
Peter Urpeth
Writing and Publishing Sector Specialist, XpoNorth
Peter is XpoNorth Sector Specialist in Publishing and Writing. He is a writer and multi-media journalist with more than 35 years of experience, and has worked in developing the publishing sector in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland for 18 years. Peter is also a pianist and documentary film-maker working in jazz and related musics.
Speakers
Malachy Tallack
Malachy Tallack is the award-winning author of three books, most recently a novel, The Valley at the Centre of the World (2018). It was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. His first book, Sixty Degrees North (2015), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and his second, The Un-Discovered Islands (2016), was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. Malachy is from Shetland, and currently lives in Stirlingshire. Illuminated by Water explores the appeal of fishing, its intense joys and frustrations, the steadying effect it has, both at the water's edge and in the memory, and the contemplation of nature and landscape that comes with being an angler. It will be published July 7th 2022 in the UK and the US
Coinneach MacLeod
The Hebridean Baker
Inspired by family recipes and traditional Scottish bakes, Coinneach launched the Hebridean Baker on Tiktok in 2020. Seventeen million video views (and counting!) later, Coinneach has motivated his followers around the world to bake, forage, learn Gaelic, have a dram or two of whisky and dream of visiting the Scottish islands!
Coinneach became Scotland’s bestselling cookbook author of 2021 with his debut cookbook, The Hebridean Baker – Recipes & Wee Stories from the Scottish Islands. With wholesome, traditional recipes, stunning photography, and a generous sprinkling of stories of island life and culture. The Hebridean Baker book offers a true taste of the Outer Hebrides & set to be a delight for bakers new and old.
Coinneach MacLeod was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly of the Hebrides and now he aims to bring the best of the Scottish islands to a worldwide audience with his cookbook being released in the USA, Canada, Australia and Germany this year.
