The Heart of Midlothian

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) is universally acclaimed as one of the world's greatest writers who was of seminal importance in the development of the historical novel. Stuart Kelly is the literary editor of Scotland on Sunday and a freelance journalist and writer. He is the author of Scott-Land: The Man Who Invented a Nation (Polygon). The Scottish novelist and academic MARGARET ELPHINSTONE's first novel was published in 1987. Her latest, The Gathering Night, was published in 2009. She is Emeritus Professor of Scottish Literature at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Apart from spells of academic work in the USA, she has spent most of her working life in various parts of Scotland including Shetland, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Originally from Scotland, where he studied at the Edinburgh College of Art under Denis Peploe and Elizabeth Blackadder, KEN LAIDLAW spent parts of his childhood in Malaya. After graduating he moved to London, where he now lives. He worked as an art director for a major publishing house for four years, and from then on as a freelance artist. His work has been exhibited at Hamiltons Gallery, the Design Council and Charleston House, and has been catalogued and sold by Sotheby's at two sales in 1988 and 1997.