SUMMER BOOKS
(and drumming) to
a Hebridean beat
Perhaps it is the islander
in Colin MacIntyre
that motivates him to
pursue such varied creative
directions.
Having fi rst experienced musical
success in the 2000s,
as Mull Historical Society, he
received critical acclaim for
his fi rst novel in 2015. Now
he is embarking on what may
be the busiest summer
of his life, with a new
album, a memoir, and
his fi rst children’s picture
book - all out within a
few weeks.
“I’ve had one of my
most creative periods,
and probably the biggest
workload I’ve ever
had,” he says. “You
never really know when
your projects are going
to reach completion –
when you’re going to
let them go and reach
an audience, but I am
happy that it’s coming
together.”
While success in one creative
industry is a dream for many,
Colin has leap-frogged effectively
between two – his writing
career is as serious as his
music, which resulted in two
top 40 albums. His fi rst novel,
The Letters of Ivor Punch,
30 | AUGUST 2018
Strumming
A children’s picture book is the latest venture
for Mull Historical Society’s Colin MacIntyre
won the Edinburgh Festival
fi rst book award in 2015.
The adaptability might seem
remarkable, until you consider
that Colin comes from
the Hebrides, where dual
occupations are a fact of life,
and it’s normal, and often
necessary, to be crofter, coffi
n-maker, and postman (like
one of his Ivor Punch characters)
or even (like Colin’s own
grandfather Angus MacIntyre)
a bank manager and a poet.
“Being an islander from the
Hebrides means a lot to me,
and my creative work defi -
nitely taps into the landscape
I come from,” he says. “I’ve
worked side-by-side on the
album (Wakelines) and memoir
(the Boy in the Bubble),
and there is a thread that runs
through both - about
having dreams and
hopefully making some
of them become real.”
Colin calls himself a
‘creative’, and when he
explains his process -
whether making music
or literature - that umbrella
term seems about
right. “I’m always thinking
‘how can I use this,
how can I make a story
out of it’” he says.
“I’ve never been a sculptor,
but when you craft
things, you start with an
idea of what the shape’s
going to be, and you chisel
away a little each day. The
outcome isn’t always what
you thought it would be, but
somehow you bring it all together.”
As father to two primary-aged
children, children’s songs and
stories must have featured