Having come to playwriting later in life, I’m on a steep learning curve. Still marvelling at how the process is very much a shared endeavour. Soaking up feedback, tricks of the trade, and learning about something called dramaturgy. It’s an enthralling journey. My first pièce de theatre was Cicely and David, and took the formContinue reading “Being Cicely: my new play takes a big leap forward”
Author Archives: David Graham Clark
Thirty year anniversaries: Maggie’s and the National Youth Choir of Scotland
Sometimes, wonderful things come in twos. So it was on consecutive days this August, when I was lucky enough to attend 30th anniversary events for two organisations that I respect hugely. One evening in the wood-lined modern elegance and superb acoustics of the Perth Concert Hall, I listened to a wonderful performance by the NationalContinue reading “Thirty year anniversaries: Maggie’s and the National Youth Choir of Scotland”
Mellow Yellow
Until recently, if someone had asked for my thoughts on the colour yellow in the garden, my immediate reaction would probably have been: ‘apart from daffodils, then I’m not a big fan’. Then came an early summer day when a rose of sharon, aka hypericom hidcote, was in full bloom just outside the kitchen window.Continue reading “Mellow Yellow”
Vegetable garden gloom
I know there can be good years and bad years. As gardeners we are mindful of the vagaries of weather and their consequences. We are accustomed to shrugging off the failures and celebrating the successes. But 2026 in the vegetable patch has tested such fortitude to the limit. With few exceptions, as Lammas approaches, thereContinue reading “Vegetable garden gloom”
Intermingling in the June garden
The garden in June is turbo-charged. Drifts of rain, bouts of sunshine and record-breaking heat make for prodigious growth, with visual exuberance at every turn. A gardener’s blog post at this time of year should therefore focus on images, not words. But this month, as I wander round the Dumfriesshire garden at various times ofContinue reading “Intermingling in the June garden”
The May garden of 2026 in thoughts and pictures
Once upon a time it was October, then June, and more recently it has become May. I have decided the fifth month of the year has become, at least for the moment, my favourite in the gardening calendar. And what a May this year brought us. From late frosts, to torrential rain, then finally aContinue reading “The May garden of 2026 in thoughts and pictures”
Literary encounters in Dumfries and Galloway
Sometimes good things come in threes. When these happen on my home patch and relate to matters of reading and writing, then I consider myself especially fortunate. Recently, and in just over one week I attended three excellent events that fed my interests in the written word. Three local encounters that opened up new horizonsContinue reading “Literary encounters in Dumfries and Galloway”
Sculptural influences in the garden
Since I took a lease on the field next to my house in 2015, I have developed a couple of acres of rough pasture into something that gives endless pleasure and satisfaction. A veritable arboretum, the field is now home to over two hundred trees and woody shrubs. A block of silver birch runs theContinue reading “Sculptural influences in the garden”
Hosts of golden daffodils
I’ve struggled to put this piece together. Not because it’s in some way complex, demanding to write, or over-long. None of these. My struggle is about whether one should celebrate something so simple and pleasure-giving as my subject here, at a time when the world is being torn apart by conflict and war. After muchContinue reading “Hosts of golden daffodils”
Louisa Birdsall – illustrator and designer
In the early part of 2025 I had completed my first novel and the manuscript was in production with an independent publisher. For a story set in my home region of Dumfries and Galloway, in south west Scotland, I was keen to find a local designer or illustrator to create the cover. In my mindContinue reading “Louisa Birdsall – illustrator and designer”
