The Ithacan Sonnets

Whit an odyssey! Elaine Morton has turned the Greek epic tapsalteerie wi forty sonnets that gie insicht intae events thro the een o the owerluiked heroine, Penelope - a wumman wi a guid Scots tung in her heid. This version pruives that ye dinnae need tae stravaig ower seas whan adventures o the hert an hearth can be even mair upsteerin. The reader wull fi nd this Penelope speaks fur mony wummen weel ayont auncient Greece - wi nae cheynge there! Frances Robson

Elaine Morton lairnt an taucht leids an music afore stertin tae screive in Scots in 1998, gien a heize by the speak o friens in East an West Lothian. Life hes taen in pleyin wuidwind an bress wi a hantle groups, wavin the stick at a bress baund for 15 years, alangside daein an editor's darg for 28 issues o Lallans magazine. She hes been screivin sin she war 12 year auld, acause o mony days in hospital wi naething ither tae dae, sae wha kens whit wull come neist tae some furthsetter?

Les McConnell studied at Edinburgh College of Art and was awarded a graduate scholarship to study in Holland. Les trained as a teacher and settled in Fife. He has exhibited widely, including the RSA. He has continued to paint and illustrate books that have been reviewed with critical acclaim. Previous works include books by poet William Hershaw - The Sair Road, Saul Vaigers and Earth Bound Companions and by folklorist Margaret Bennett - Dundee Street Songs, Rhymes and Games: The William Montgomerie Collection, 1952, winner of the 2022 Opie Prize.