ACCLAIMED WRITER Alison Miller was on hand for the launch of a national writing celebration in Perth yesterday.

Libraries across Scotland joined to mark the best of Scottish writing by putting together two collections featuring books by some of the country’s best writers.

Caroline Beaton, community libraries manager, said, “Scotland has a rich and diverse literary heritage and our country has produced some of the best known and best-loved writers in the world.”

Lovers of crime writing can choose suspense, Victorian-style, with Conan Doyle, or come bang up to date with Louise Welsh, Val McDermid or Ian Rankin.

For people who enjoy reading books written with the unique flavour and rhythms of Scots dialect, there are classics like Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song, or grab a slice of contemporary Scottish life with writers such as Anne Donovan and Des Dillon.

There are two collections available in all Perth and Kinross libraries—So You Think You Know Scotland?, which features the classics and bestsellers, and Voices Of Scotland Now, which spotlights new and less familiar names.

Senior lending librarian Bob Mairs said, “All the public library services in Scotland have worked together on this collection.

“We believe there are a lot of people out there who may not have read any Scottish writing since they left school and we think they will be surprised at the variety of books available, from poetry and hard-hitting thrillers to science fiction and family saga.”

The promotion is supported by the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland and the Scottish Library and Information Council.