Elvis in Prestwick - BBC Radio 4Extra

My short story Elvis In Prestwick about Presley's one and only visit to Great Britain is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra this Sunday and will be on iPlayer for seven days. It's read by the brilliant Laura Fraser.

Check it out here.

A play on repeat...

One of the odd things about writing for radio is that you never know when a play is going to be repeated. (Playwrights grumble a bit about this but, to be honest, there's so much content that it's obviously impossible to inform everyone). The happiest moment is when someone emails to say that they enjoyed listening to a play which you didn't even know was on.

Last night, I got such an email from a pal about Albion Street, the short play I wrote about the independence debate in Scotland that was first broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in February.

When I tell people a play of mine is being repeated the most common response is: ooh, that will mean a nice repeat fee, eh? This makes me laugh. I would have to check my contract but I believe the broadcaster gets two repeats before any new 'fee' is issued. And it's rare for a radio drama to get more than two repeats...

No, the truth is that the real positive about a repeat is that more folk can listen to your play. Downloads and iPlayer have had a massive (and positive) effect on how we listen to radio and have changed it forever.

But there's still nothing quite like a repeat.

NEW - MLitt in Creative Writing - Writing For Performance

New for 2014-15 is this new strand to the already brilliant MLitt in Creative Writing at University of St Andrews - Writing for Performance.

Lead by Zinnie Harris and myself, the course offers a broad range of experience and skills for writing for stage, screen, radio and for young people. We focus in particular on new writing from Scotland with teaching taking the form of weekly seminars, workshops and one-to-one tuition.

See here for more information.