Writer Tom Hubbard has recently produced two new works which are due to be launched in Edinburgh. Tom was born in Kirkcaldy and was the first librarian of the Scottish Poetry Library and has since edited many academic and literary works, both in English and in Scots. His new books are called Slavonic Dances and Flechitorium.

Slavonic Dances consists of three novellas centred on Scottish characters who interact with people of central and eastern Europe, including a Fife lady of the 1940s who marries a Polish serviceman, a young Scot who finds love in 1968 Prague, and a Glasgow poet and singer who discovers Russian culture while in St Andrews. Some of the characters speak in Scots dialogue and there is a glossary of terms in Scots in the book.

Flechitorium is a collection of ballads, poems and one prose story, all inspired by the legends and history of Fife, but with connections to wider Europe. It includes poems in Scots and a prose tale in Scots called ‘Uncle Nick’ which portrays the devil as a Fifer. A flechitorium is a word used in the Scots of Fife to refer to a flea-pit cinema, though Tom wonders whether other speakers of Scots might know the word too. As with the first book there is a glossary of words in Scots included.

Tom will be launching his books on Saturday 19 May, 7.30 for 8pm, at the Lighthouse Bookshop, 43-45 West Nicholson Street, Edinburgh (telephone 0131 662 9112). The books are published by Gonzalo Mozzei of Grace Note Publications, Crieff. There are currently a limited number of free seats but these must be booked in person at the bookshop.