Singers, politicians, a fish-gutter, queens, a dancer, a marine engineer, a salt seller, sportswomen, scientists and many more - Quines celebrates and explores the richly diverse contribution women have made to Scottish history and society.

The twelve stories in Letting Go take us on a journey through landscape, language and turbulent times, from the mid-19th century to the present day, and into the future. Stevenson's array of characters from many walks of life and nationalities - including a traveller, a wood carver, chicken farm workers, a nurse, an architect and a magician - meet and part, some becoming reacquainted. Themes exploring identity, creativity and the environment, echo and connect throughout the different narratives, sometimes carried in snatches of song. The author leads us outward from her native Scottish Borders to Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Gaidhealtachd, south to England, across the Atlantic to Apartheid South Africa and, finally, to the melting Arctic.

This is an autobiography in verse: beginning in the lost Eden of childhood, the warmth of family life and the wildness of weather in her native Scotland, then on to intense snapshots of a wider, troubled world: Bosnia, Iraq, Syria.

Cultural Crofter is a very apt description for Nancy Nicolson - she is a Sottish folk singer and a tradition bearer, a songwriter and a storyteller and a melodeon player. Brought up on a croft in Caithness, the former Edinburgh teacher has worked with the BBC, Celtic Connections, and the New Makars Trust. It was high time that her songs were collected and published, and Grace Note Publications has done just that, to coincide with her 75th birthday in 2016. They sent a Wumman: The Collected Songs of Nancy Nicolson contains an autobiographical piece by Nancy herself, as well as contributions by her fellow-Caithnessian writer George Gunn, by singer, songwriter, actor and director Gerda Stevenson and the folk singer, songwriter and publisher Ewan McVicar. But the focus is, as editor Paddy Bort writes in his introduction, firmly on the songs, in all their glorious diversity. Like few others, Nancy Nicolson has the gift - as writer, singer and storyteller - to communicate the life and culture of Scotland, with rare warmth and energy and her very own brand of wit and wisdom. As can be seen in this volume, Nancy Nicolson covers (nearly) every subject under the sun - from bootleg whisky to the Miners' Strike, from bairns' play to the grim and cruel games of war, and from 'hauf-hinget' Maggie to 'Maggie's Pit Ponies'. Some of her songs have assumed almost 'traditional' status by now - among them Nancy's greatest hits: "Listen tae the Teacher', 'The Moon in the Morning', 'The Brickie's Ballad' and, of course, 'They Sent a Wumman'. Among others, Gerda Stevenson, The McCalmans and Ed Miller have recorded her songs.