''The Drouth'' is a magazine and website based in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was founded in 2001 by Mitchell Miller and Johnny Rodger as an American-format quarterly periodical. Although its title is Scots (Eng: ''The Thirst''), the magazine is published mostly in

Scottish Standard English Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...

, with features and fiction regularly appearing in languages such as

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, Broad Scots and

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

. ''The Drouth'' is unusual for a Scottish literary magazine in that it only infrequently publishes poetry, arguing that as poetry covers a good portion of other magazines' content, its efforts are better focused on other art-forms less well represented in Scotland's "small mags". The magazine works on a commissioning basis, and does not encourage unsolicited submissions. It has a particular focus on literature, film, and politics but also covers

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

, and

comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

, as well as giving generous space to creative

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

. The magazine sponsors a number of cultural events, mostly in Glasgow. Every issue also features a guest editor (usually someone of distinction in a given field) and guest cover artist. In 2019, ''The Drouth'' received funding from Creative Scotland's Open Project Fund to develop a web version of the magazine.

Editorial stance

''The Drouth''s editorial stance could be described as non-aligned left with occasional anarchistic and libertarian overtones, as shown by its ties to radical online publications such as Pulse and Spinwatch, and with the author

James Kelman James Kelman (born 9 June 1946) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction and short stories feature accounts of internal mental processes of usually, but not exclusively, working class narrators and their ...

. Nevertheless, it also publishes work by more establishment figures on the left and right of the political spectrum, and editorial board members such as

Owen Dudley Edwards Owen Dudley Edwards (born 27 March 1938) is an Irish historian and former Reader in Commonwealth and American History at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Life He is the son of Professor Robert Dudley Edwards and brother to the Irish wr ...

retain links to the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

and

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

. The magazine is a frequent critic of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

but maintains it follows no party alignment, and is uncommitted on the issue of Scottish independence. In general, the magazine has taken an aggressively non-institutional stance and has found common cause with magazines such as Variant, though it retains an independent approach on political issues and does not maintain formal links with major organisations and institutions. Its editorial board is nevertheless, drawn from a mainly institutional background across the two major Scottish cities and currently consists of: *David Archibald, Lecturer, Dept of Film Theatre and Television The University of Glasgow (2006–present) *Gerard Carruthers, Head of Dept of Scottish Literature, The University of Glasgow (2001–present) *Steve Davismoon, Composer and lecturer at

Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

, Edinburgh (2003–present) *Owen Dudley Edwards, Reader in History, The University of Edinburgh (2001–present) *Dorian Grieve, Editor and Researcher in Linguistics, University of Glasgow (2004–present) *Simon Kovesi, Head of English and Modern Languages,

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

(2009–present) *Emily Munro, Head of Learning,

Glasgow Film Theatre The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is an independent cinema in the city centre of Glasgow. It occupies a purpose-built cinema building, first opened in 1939, and now protected as a category B listed building. History and architecture Predecesso ...

(2008–present) *Ruaridh Nicoll, Journalist and novelist (2004–present) *Miriam Ross, Researcher in film and related studies (also web editor) (2010) *Elke Weissmann, Lecturer, Liverpool Edgehill University Editorial board members primarily offer advice, but can also commission work, initiate ideas for issues and get involved in production. Several editorial board members were initially guest editors who joined the permanent staff.

Guest editors

Since issue 6, a guest editor has been invited to contribute editorial essays and advice. There has been no guest editor for issues 9, 25 and 33, and the lineup has included pseudonymous and spoof entries. The full list is as follows; *Issue 6: "Fact", Frank Kuppner, novelist *Issue 7: "Complexity", Edwin Morgan, poet *Issue 8: "Panegyric",

Jenni Calder Jenni Calder (née Daiches) (born 1941) is a Scottish literary historian, and arts establishment figure. Biography Edinburgh based, she has been part of the Scottish literary community for many years. Her teaching and writing cover Scottish, ...

, writer *Issue 10: "Word" *Issue 11: "Monument", Miles Glendinning, architectural critic *Issue 12: "Bigotry", Gowan Calder, actress *Issue 13: "Intelligence",

Christopher Harvie Professor Christopher Harvie (born 21 September 1944, Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Motherwell) is a Scottish historian and a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Mid Scotland and Fife ( ...

, writer and academic *Issue 14: "Land", Ruaridh Nicoll, journalist and novelist *Issue 15: "Consensus and Revision", Sarah Dunnigan, expert on ballads *Issue 16: "Didactic", Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, media analyst *Issue 17: "Form", Elke Weissmann, cultural critic and researcher in television studies *Issue 18: "Class", Willy Maley, writer and academic *Issue 19: "Dialect", Carol Baranuik, expert on Ullans (Ulster Scots) *Issue 20: "Image", John Calcutt, Lecturer at Glasgow School of art *Issue 21: "Document", Jonathan Murray, expert on Scottish cinema and history *Issue 22: "Utopia", Sheila Dickson, academic and translator *Issue 23: "Deviant", Mark Cousins, critic and filmmaker *Issue 24: "Skin", Craig Richardson, artist and academic *Issue 26: "Collect", Rosemary Goring, Arts Editor, ''The Herald'' *Issue 27: "Pure", Emily Munro, writer and film programmer *Issue 28: "Establishment", Molly Maguire, poet *Issue 29: "Union", Ian S. Wood, historian *Issue 30: "Public", Ashley Shelby Benites, author *Issue 31: "Rhetoric", John Knox, reformer *Issue 32: "Moral", Jen Birks, media analyst *Issue 34: "Lost", Rhona Brown, writer and academic *Issue 35: "Process", Simon Kovesi, critic and academic *Issue 57: Music, Stuart Smith and Elodie Roy

Guest artists

Since issue 14, guest artists from fine art, illustration, photography and even film, have been invited to provide covers to each issue - *Issue 14: "Land",

David Shrigley David John Shrigley (born 17 September 1968) is a British visual artist. He lived and worked in Glasgow, Scotland for 27 years before moving to Brighton, England in 2015. Shrigley first came to prominence in the 1990s for his distinct line drawi ...

, installation *Issue 15: "Consensus and Revision",

Margaret Tait Margaret Caroline Tait (11 November 1918 – 16 April 1999) was a Scottish medical doctor, filmmaker and poet. Early life and education Tait was born and raised in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, before being sent to ...

, experimental film *Issue 16: "Didactic", Andreas Kaiser, installation *Issue 17: "Form", Toby Paterson, painting *Issue 18: "Class",

Ken Currie Ken Currie (born 1960 in North Shields, North Tyneside, England) is a Scottish painter working out of Glasgow. His paintings have been described as dark and violent. Education & Works Currie grew up in Barrhead. He started studying at the Gla ...

, painting *Issue 19: "Dialect", Mark Neville, photography/performance *Issue 20: "Image",

Alasdair Gray Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and ...

, illustration *Issue 21: "Document", Aaron Valdez, experimental film *Issue 22: "Utopia", Stephan Klenner Otto, illustration *Issue 23: "Deviant", Louise Galea, photography. *Issue 24: "Skin", Craig Richardson, installation *Issue 25: "Epic/Lyric", Euan Sutherland, illustration *Issue 26: "Collect", Andrew Lee, photography *Issue 27: "Pure", John Kay, illustration *Issue 28: "Establishment', Stuart Murray, illustration *Issue 29: "Union", Steve Ovett Effect, performance/illustration *Issue 30: "Public", Bill Breckinridge, photography *Issue 31: "Rhetoric", Alexandra Demenkova, documentary photography *Issue 32: "Moral", Stephen Healy, photography *Issue 33: "Solution", Chris Dooks, photography *Issue 34: "Lost", Ian McCulloch, painting *Issue 35: "Process", Roddy Buchanan, photography

Books and related media

''The Drouth'' has published two books based partly on essays and features that first appeared in its pages. In 2009 it published ''Fickle Man: Robert Burns in the 21st Century'' (Sandstone Press) and in 2010, ''Tartan Pimps: Gordon Brown, Margaret Thatcher & the New Scotland'' (Argyll Publishing).

Notable contributors

Angus Calder Angus Lindsay Ritchie Calder (5 February 1942 – 5 June 2008) was a Scottish writer, historian, and poet. Initially studying English literature, he became interested in political history and wrote a landmark study on Britain during the Second Wo ...

*Gowan Calder *

Eddie Campbell Eddie Campbell (born 10 August 1955) is a British comics artist and cartoonist. He was the illustrator and publisher of '' From Hell'' (written by Alan Moore), and the creator of the semi-autobiographical ''Alec'' stories collected in ''Alec: ...

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

Jem Cohen Jem Alan Cohen (born 1962) is an Afghans, Afghan-born United States, American filmmaker based in New York City. Cohen is especially known for his observational portraits of urban landscapes, blending of media formats (16 mm film, sixteen-millimet ...

*Stephen Davismoon *

*Roberto Fabbriciani *John Gray *Dorian Grieve *Murray Grigor *Sileas na Keppoch *Simon Kovesi *Frank Kuppner *Carl MacDougall *Donald MacLeod * Edwin Morgan *Jonny Murray * Ruaridh Nicoll *

Andrew O'Hagan Andrew O'Hagan (born 1968) is a Scottish novelist and non-fiction author. Three of his novels have been nominated for the Booker Prize and he has won several awards, including the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize. His most recent novel is ''C ...

*Paul O’Keeffe *Juana Ponce de Leon *Jake Mahaffy *

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...

*Ashley Shelby *David Stenhouse *Sherien Sultan

References

External links

The Drouth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drouth, The 2001 establishments in Scotland Arts in Scotland Literary magazines published in Scotland Magazines established in 2001 Mass media in Glasgow Quarterly magazines published in the United Kingdom Visual arts magazines published in the United Kingdom