North East writer Douglas Kynoch, who is well known far beyond Aberdeenshire, and first hit the headlines back in 1994 with Teach Yourself Doric, has written a collection of Doric poetry and prose entitled Simmer Ootin and other Scots Writings. This collection has as its main theme comparisons between the countryside today and the rural landscape as it was back in the 1940s when Kynoch was then a child visiting a gamekeepers cottage in Aberdeenshire. The writings are both humorous and serious, dealing with school life, church and the nature of dementia. Kynoch also demonstrates his wide talent with translations from French writers, his own versions of psalms and carols, and pays tribute to the late poet Alec Scott. Although Kynochs own native dialect is centred on Aberdeen, he considered that it was ...too diluted for writing purposes... and chose rather to write in a rural-based Scots drawn from the North East countryside and takes direct inspiration from the work of Charles Murray.

Simmer Ootin and other Scots Writings is priced 7.99 (ISBN 978-0-9566149-9-5) and can be purchased either in most North East bookshops (including Waterstones, Aberdeen) or online from www.booksfromscotland.com . If you would like more information please contact the publisher, Duncan Lockerbie of Lumphanan Press, either by e-mail Duncan@lumphananpress.co.uk or by phone 07708630672.