George Anderson

Photograph © Marc Marnie

I don't know exactly when the Ceilidh began, but it's as long as anybody can remember. Some say St Senga herself started it by singing a haddy ballad of such power and sadness it left everybody so depressed that the best musicians of the islands had to be called to dispel the gloom. Word has it that Senga's song was so grim it will take centuries of cavorting to make up for it. So they've been playing ever since. Not that what they play is 100% cheerful mark you. The mainstay of the repertoire is indeed the haddy ballad which if you ask me is nothing but greetin' with the merest smear of melody thrown in.

From The Longest Continuous Permanent Floating Ceilidh in Radgenish

Biography

George Anderson was born in Twechar in 1966. He lives in Leith and has worked variously in journalism, public relations, wildlife conservation and the arts. His writing draws a great deal on music and the natural world for subject matter.

He was a finalist in the Macallan/Scotland on Sunday Short Story competition and has also made the competition's anthology on a further occasion. His story, Tumshie Macfadgen's Bid for Ultimate Bliss was adapted by writer/director Simon Hynd into a Tartan Short film of the same name, winning a Scottish BAFTA in 2004. The success of the film caused George to take his writing more seriously, and he completed an MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, graduating in 2006. He has read at the Aye Write! Festival and Wigtown Book Festival, where he has also acted as Book Doctor, and chaired discussions with writers such as Janet Paisley, Christopher Brookmyre and Colin Bateman.

Comment 

"Writing can be a lonely path to follow. You wonder if you should keep at it, so being recognised with an award such as this is a terrific validation. The fact that a panel of knowledgeable people see worth in what I am doing is a great encouragement.  And of course the money will also buy me some time in which to react to that encouragement."