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Latest chapter is an exciting one for author


By Mike Merritt

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He ran the remotest bookshop on mainland Britain for 15 years.

During that time Kevin Crowe welcomed top authors and poets and gained an international reputation as a top book detective - hunting down obscure titles for readers around the world.

The cover of Kevin Crowe's short story collection No Home in this World.
The cover of Kevin Crowe's short story collection No Home in this World.

But now Mr Crowe has turned another page in retirement. He is having his first collection of short stories published - some penned while he worked at the bookshop in Durness.

And it has already proved a hit with critics with endorsements from Jackie Kay, the Scottish Makar and Brendan Gisby, author of several novels and collections of short stories.

An avid book reader, Mr Crowe said it was finally time he got his own tome on the shelves. It is also a first for his publisher. Up until now Fly On The Wall Press has concentrated on publishing poetry, with its only prose being in anthologies.

“The offer of publication came after I submitted a short story ‘The Executioner’ for consideration for an anthology of poetry and prose on the theme of chaos,” said Mr Crowe, who also made history when he and his husband Simon Long became the first gay couple to have a same sex civil ceremony in the Highlands.

Kevin Crowe and Simon Long at Loch Croispol Bookshop
Kevin Crowe and Simon Long at Loch Croispol Bookshop

“The story was accepted, and the manager of Fly On The Wall Press, Isabelle Kenyon, suggested I might want to consider submitting some stories for book publication.

Mr Gisby is full of praise for the collection, but says they make uncomfortable reading at times.

“As a gay man ‘of a certain age’, Kevin Crowe knows a lot about the cruelties and injustices that have been and continue to be inflicted by this world. Those cruelties and injustices are reflected in many of the stories,” he says. “There are no happy endings in these stories. But it’s not all bleakness. All in all, a fine collection that is worthy of your attention.”

Mr Crowe was the chairman of Durness Community Council for several years.

He and Mr Long were based at Balnakeil Craft Village - a former Cold War camp turned into a community for creative people.

Durness is home to just 350 people - mainly crofters, fishermen and tourism workers - and is mainland Britain’s most north westerly village.

The couple settled in Durness in 1999 to set-up a bookshop and restaurant and Mr Long converted to Catholicism. He had been an Anglican priest for over 30 years, including in Kentucky, America.

The couple previously ran a bookshop and restaurant at Durness.
The couple previously ran a bookshop and restaurant at Durness.

Over the years some of the country’s best known writers made a pilgrimage to their little bookshop way out west.

But it was thanks to an army of real life J. R. Hartleys - authors trying to track down their out-of-print work - which Loch Croispol Bookshop specialised in.

The book detective skills of Mr Crowe made Loch Croispol especially famous.

And Mr Crowe admitted he had some unusual requests over his time there.

They included a Professor at Beijing University, China, who ordered all the books he had on witchcraft in Scotland!

Then there was the lawyer in Marseilles, France, who specialised in representing asylum seekers, wanting French-English Dictionaries.

Not to mention a Harry Potter collector from Sweden who was looking for an edition of Harry Potter translated into Arabic.

“It had been a rewarding and successful 15 years but the time came for us to call it a day,” said Mr Crowe, who now lives in Wick with Mr Long.

Among the famous who have visited the bookshop were Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Boys From The Blackstuff writer Alan Bleasdale, crime writer Ian Rankin - who researched his novel Standing in another man’s Grave in Durness - painter Peter Howson, who even exhibited there, and legendary beat poet Michael Horowitz.

John Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird and Sir Paul McCartney’s photographer brother Mike also popped-in.

In 2011, Loch Croispol was named as one of only four in Scotland to make the Independent’s top 40 bookshops.

Mr Crowe’s book can be ordered at https://www.flyonthewallpoetry.co.uk/product-page/no-home-in-this-world-by-kevin-crowe

“I’m currently writing a series of short stories under the title ‘Lockdown Tales’, which feature people who may find isolation more difficult than most of us.

“The first two are about a 95 year old widow without internet connection and the second about domestic abuse.

“I am currently writing a third, about a man in a wheelchair who has his care package removed because of staff shortages due to coronavirus.”

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