WRITERS ABROAD MAGAZINE: THE THIRD SPACE
Member spotlight
Featuring Hamish Macdonald
I am a late developer. I did
not learn to read until I was
seven and did not 'come
out' as a creative writer
until fifty years later.
Memories of an early
childhood in Africa and a
vivid imagination carried
me through an
uncomfortable 'catch-up'
when my 'proper'
schooling began aged
nine. My own learning
difficulties, and lack of
confidence to pursue 'story
telling' as a career, drew
me into teaching. In
secret, I scribbled fiction. Meanwhile, I published successful history textbooks and bought
my home in France. In 2010, I became a full time writer. Currently, I am revising drafts of
my first two novels: 'The Pill Hobbler', a story for young adults about 'body snatching' in
Bristol in 1822, and 'As flies are to wanton boys’ that climaxes in the events of Bloody
Sunday in Derry in 1972. Meanwhile, work has begun on a third novel.
23 | May 2016