John MacLeod

Allander Church, Milngavie - Friday 9th Sept - 7.30pm

Banner in the West: A Spiritual History of Lewis and Harris

Event hosted by Milngavie churches in association with the festival.

The son of Lewis parents and the Free Church manse, John MacLeod was born in Lochaber in 1966 and educated at Jordanhill College School, Glasgow; James Gillespie's High School, Edinburgh; and Edinburgh University. After graduation in 1988 he fell quickly into freelance journalism 'by some sort of awful accident' and remains youngest ever Scottish Journalist of the Year (at twenty-five, in 1991). He has won a clutch of awards and has written for The Scotsman and The Herald. Since 2002 he has written a weekly column for the Scottish Daily Mail.

His seven books include Banner in the West: A Spiritual History of Lewis and Harris (2008); the acclaimed When I Heard the Bell: The loss of the Iolaire (2009) – which was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize; River of Fire: The Clydebank Blitz (2010) and None Dare Oppose: The Laird, the Beast and the People of Lewis. He returned to Stornoway in 1993.