Kevin MacNeil

Poet, playwright, bicyclist and novelist Kevin MacNeil chats to Ryan about why he's glad he started off life as a poet, the challenges of performance and why he describes himself as a "writer" rather than a "poet turned novelist". He also tells the amazing tale of his journey cycling along the Danube on possibly the first fixed gear bike trek in that part of the world. Including a track from Kevin's band and some readings from his excellent Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides.

Presented by Ryan Van Winkle. Produced by Colin Fraser. Music by Ewen Maclean. Email us: splpodcast@gmail.com

Twitter: @byleaveswelive & @anonpoetry.

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First published 19 July, 2010

About Kevin MacNeil

Kevin MacNeil was born and raised in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Novelist, poet, playwright, editor, aphorist and lyricist, his books include The Stornoway Way, Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides and Be Wise Be Otherwise. He is currently working on an album with William Campbell, a film, a play and a travelogue-memoir based on his 1,300km cycle down the Danube in September 2009 for two cancer charities. His latest novel is A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll & Hyde (Polygon, 2010).

Kevin has held a number of prestigious writing residencies in Scotland and continental Europe. He is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. His awards include: the Tivoli Europa Giovani International Poetry Prize; the inaugural Iain Crichton Smith Writing Fellow; a J.B. Priestley Award; and a Millennium Quality Award.

• Kevin's website
• Sponsor Kevin at JustGiving

About Kevin's bike

Kevin cycled 1400km of the Danube in September/October 2009, doing the entire route on a track bike, ie a bike without changeable gears. (It's a Revolution Track Bike courtesy of Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op, 48t chainring and 16t sprocket, bike fans.)

We recommend...

Love and Zen in the Outer Hebrides by Kevin MacNeil Edinburgh : Canongate Books: 2001. Rooted in the Hebridean islands, open to a wide range of cultures... SPL shelfmark: 3.Macnei.

A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll & Hyde by Kevin MacNeil Edinburgh : Polygon: 2010. After a bike crash in a foggy Edinburgh, young actor Robert Lewis wakes to find that life has changed for the darker. And the weirder. He's still a deceitful egoist but now life seems to be deceiving and manipulating him. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. You can find out more about A Method Actor's Guide to Jekyll & Hyde here

Find out more...

• Search SPL catalogue and borrow these items

Related links...

• Photo gallery of Kevin's Two Wheels by the Danube
• Kevin MacNeil & William Campbell on Myspace
  

Image: Miss Trouble/Isle of Lewis © Ishbel McFarlane