Inverness, We Need You!

Zizzi is opening a new branch at 20 Bridge Street and I was fortunate enough to be selected as their humble Writer in Residence between October 4th and 8th 2010.  So what is it I'll be doing?  Here's my take on it to give you a taster...

Inverness' history, although colourful and fascinating, is widely known and available.  So what I want to do is travel forward and find out what it's like to live in modern-day Inverness.  How has it changed in the last 20, 30, even 40 years?  Against a backdrop of historic architecture, how has Inverness evolved and become modernised?  Certainly, the opening of a new Zizzi is a fresh injection of Italian flair, but how else has the city's culture progressed?

This is where you come in.  In order to answer these questions, I need to hear your stories.  How do you think the city has changed?  What's your take on Inverness 2010?  If you have a story to tell, then I would love to hear from you.

All you have to do is pop into the restaurant on the following days and chat to me:

Tuesday 5th October - 1-3pm
Wednesday 6th October - 1-3pm
Thursday 7th October - 1-3pm
Friday 8th October - 1-3pm

Each day, I'll be uploading the blog with your stories to give readers an insight into your own tales from the heart of Inverness. So please do drop by Zizzi on 20 Bridge St and share your memories of past and present Inverness.

Let Me Introduce Myself...

My name's Elaine Reid and I'm a short story writer based in the west end of Glasgow.  I recently graduated from Strathclyde University with a First Class Honours in English with Journalism and Creative Writing.  This year, my short story 'Paulie's Bar Mitzvah' was awarded first prize in the Keith Wright Memorial Literary Competition.  I've taught creative writing workshops for children across Glasgow's libraries and also worked with Unicef's story competitions and seminars, assisting published authors.  I'm currently working on a collection of short stories entitled 'Give Your Fingers a Little Work' which I was lucky enough to preview at this year's Edinburgh book festival at the suitably gut-churning 'Dragons' Pen'.

Now, I think that's enough academia for one day.  When I'm not eagerly selling myself straight from the old CV, I enjoy Wes Anderson films, White Russians and the words of Charles Bukowski.  I'm a pretty good vegetarian chef and love to travel.  London, New York, Berlin.  It's an incurable case of Wanderlust, which brings me rather neatly to my next post.  My itchy feet are taking me to Inverness and I'll tell you why...