Northern Highlight - Louise Lamont

NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT

LOUISE LAMONT

Why did you want to work in the book industry?

I very much liked the idea of being paid to share my thoughts about books, a thing I had been doing for free since I was about 6.

Tell us about where you live.

Like many people, I felt I had to be in London to work in publishing, and so I moved there after graduation. But over the last few years, I came to realise that that wasn't really true - and in some respects, no longer feasible long-term. So in 2018, I asked my bosses at LBA Books - a literary agency based next to the British Museum - whether I could carry on working for them in exactly the same capacity, but just 334 miles away in Scotland. We have the internet now, after all.

Quickest to say yes was the colleague whose snack drawer I pilfered on a daily basis, even after she replaced all the good stuff with those dry-as-dust nature bars - but the rest of the team also agreed to give my proposal a go. Perhaps they too feared for their snacks. Whatever the reason, I will always be deeply thankful to them and to all my clients for going along with it, because coming back to Edinburgh has been the single greatest move I've ever made - and I include my patented dance move 'The Typewriter' in that.

As lockdown has since proved, there's no real reason for London to hold the monopoly on publishing jobs. Besides, the Scottish publishing scene - authors, agents, publishers, booksellers, everyone - is incredibly vibrant, lively, and welcoming; it has been a treat to come up and take part. 

Where do you do most of your work?

Part of the deal with LBA about moving to Scotland was that I had to show my face in London once a month - so I would come down for a few days, dust off my desk, and zip around town catching up with editors. The rest of the time, I would work in various Edinburgh hotspots - a few of my favourites being:

- the bay window at Waterstones Princes Street, until they covered up all their power sockets which I took as a personal attack (but in retrospect was probably more to do with not fusing their Christmas lights display)

- the reference room at Central Library: peak library conditions of absolute hush and great wifi, but also unexpectedly comfortable seats

- assorted cafes, where I am only too happy to keep the snacks and hot drinks coming in order to justify taking up a table for hours at a time.

But for the last few months, I've obviously been working from home i.e. from the same corner of my kitchen.

Edinburgh Central Library

What for you is the 'spirit of Scotland'?

I always find it tricky to pin down the spirit of a place or identity - but in his routine about the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport, Billy Connolly talks about the power of those unexpected moments that make you yell, 'Yesssss, I am FROM there, and don't you forget it.' For me, that moment was listening to Nicola Sturgeon's statement on the otherwise-bleak morning after the Brexit vote. She began by addressing EU citizens living in Scotland, telling them they were welcome here and that Scotland was their home. She ended with her reaction to David Cameron's resignation - and it boiled down to 'Yeah, public service is hard. Bye now.' That canny blend of fellow-feeling and irreverence: that was it, for me.

How has this spirit influenced your work?

I hadn't really thought about it until answering this question, but that same combination of fellow-feeling and irreverence probably does fit the character description for a fair few agents - empathising with and supporting our authors through thick and thin, while also displaying a healthy scepticism towards the things we're told are precedent/long-established traditions that must be respected, like contract provisions and royalty terms... 

Spread from When Grandad was a Penguin by Morag Hood, published by Two Hoots.

Who for you are the great Scottish writers/illustrators?

I read ICARUS WAS RIDICULOUS by Pamela Butchart on a trip down to London recently, and was completely thrilled by its wickedly funny retelling of various Greek myths for young readers. Comedy is the hardest thing to make look easy, so all power to Pamela. As for illustrators based in Scotland, I'd highlight the deadpan wit of Morag Hood - and I could stare at the gold-flecked fur of Catherine Rayner's creatures all day long.

Illustrated by Thomas Flintham, published by Nosy Crow. 

Image from Sylvia and Bird by Catherine Rayner, published by Little Tiger Press. 

If you could be transported to anywhere in Scotland right now, where would it be?

Anywhere that isn't this corner of my kitchen? Perhaps the basement cafe at Waterstones Sauchiehall St where, in our wild youth, my cousin and I would meet up every Saturday, order enormous hot chocolates, and leaf through travel guides in complete silence.

What would you like to see from children's publishing in Scotland?

Not so much from children's publishing in Scotland, as for it. I'm writing this the day after Edinburgh-based publisher Barrington Stoke won the Carnegie Award with Anthony McGowan's LARK - and this blogpost explains what they've been hoping to achieve with their books since they were founded 21 years ago: https://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/blog/2020/06/17/lark-wins-the-2020-cilip-carnegie-medal/. So as publishing moves away from London and finds a better geographical balance, I'd like to see more of that local ambition more widely recognised and rewarded.

What is your favourite children's book set in Scotland?

The Maisie books by Aileen Paterson - special shout-out to MAISIE'S MYSTERY TOUR for making the Fife coast sound like a never-ending string of wonders: ice creams at Burntisland, linoleum and buns at Kirkcaldy, castaways in Lower Largo, sailing trips from Crail, ghosts and golf in St Andrews, and finally a fish supper from Pittenweem. I love how Paterson never stinted on the visual or textual detail that gave Maisie's adventures their particularly Scottish verve.

You can follow Louise on Twitter: @LLMonts, follow Down The Rabbit Hole here(http://dtrhradio.com) and find out more on the LBA website, www.lbabooks.com.