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Good Reading : November 2012
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www.goodreadingmagazine.com good reading november 2012 18 writers’ city it might be located near the cold and bleak 56th parallel, but edinburgh, capital of Scotland, has long been a hotbed of creativity for writers, performers and comedians. Lizzie riLeY visits the cosy corners of this city that has fired the imaginations of authors and checks out the places where you can retreat to create or consume the written word. even the most prolific authors find that their creativity sometimes flags. But many of them find that the best remedy for a lack of inspiration is to move to a new setting, which can kickstart creativity and refuel an exhausted imagination. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is undoubtedly one of the world’s most inspiring cities for a writer’s retreat; few cities have more literary history, culture and atmosphere. It’s easy to see why it’s home to some of the greatest contemporary British writers, such as Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith and, of course, J K Rowling. One of the town’s most famous authors from the past is Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Since that story was published it has been used as an analogy for Edinburgh, a city of contrasts and contradictions. The winding cobblestone streets and blackened, tumbledown buildings of Old Town are juxtaposed with the grand sweeping buildings of the New Town, making it seem more like a whimsical setting in a fantasy or a melancholy poem. The city is thick with a long and often grim history. It’s here that the infamous body snatchers Burke and Hare perpetrated 17 ghoulish murders and sold the corpses to anatomists for dissection; and on Candlemaker Row you can find a statue of Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog who spent 14 years watching over his master’s grave. Holyrood Palace, at the end of the Royal Mile, was the home of Mary Queen of Scots before her imprisonment and eventual execution. And according to a local yarn, when the Nor’ Loch was drained the bottom was found to be littered with countless skeletons of drowned witches. Perhaps it’s these layers of history and legend that lend Edinburgh its eerie atmosphere of nostalgia that has inspired so many writers. Pull quote style in utatie dio dolorer sim et, core magna ad do exer init atueraesto coreetue con velit nonsect etuerilla facip erate endit lum duis non vulluptat nis nostie facillum irit dipsuscil cool creative capital of outside brass & copper café in edinburgh’s west end. Lady Stair’s close. 18_19_writers_city_c.indd 18 4/10/12 11:00:53 PM
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