Kay’s book evokes wonderful images of Ayrshire childhood

game of football at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, balanced against a true story the author got from a friend later in life who was a British diplomat in Cuba at the time, and whose job it was to inform the Americans if the Russian missiles had in fact been moved and were no longer a threat to the United States.

Billy said: “People can expect a potent mix of tears from the pathos of a mining disaster and laughter as I turn back the clock with love and nostalgia and celebrate the way of life locally in the 1950s before television had such an impact.

“Scots speakers will be in their element and people who think they don’t speak or understand Scots will experience a dramatic extension and revival of their linguistic ability as long forgotten words re-emerge to claim their heart and soul.

“Because of the Boswell connection, I’ll also talk a little about James Boswell’s conflicted view of Scots and Scottish culture.”

Included in the collection are two short stories and a prizewinning poem also rooted in Kyle which were published in anthologies of Scottish literature many years ago, but which are now out of print.

One of the short stories ‘Famie’ is about an elderly middle-class lady from a family that had once owned the cinema in Galston and who suffered from dementia in her old age.

‘Inrush at Nummer Fower’ is a story of a tragic mining disaster from the 1920s that Billy got from his own grandfather’s brother – the character Matha Kay in the story.

It was first published in a collection in 1974 which also contained a story by a young James Robertson who wrote to Billy: “One of the most memorable things about Genie was your story.

“At that time the only other piece of prose in Scots I’d read was ‘Thrawn Janet’.

“It wasn’t my home language and ‘Thrawn Janet’ wasn’t an easy read but recognised what was going on and that this was the same language I heard going on all round me and could even use a bit of it when I had to.

“Then I read your ‘Inrush at Nummer Fower’ and it was a