{"product_id":"if-this-were-real","title":"If This Were Real","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAppearing at the Edinburgh Festival, August 2013.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eIf This Were Real\u003c\/em\u003e is a kind of autobiography in verse: beginning in the lost Eden of childhood, the warmth of family life and the wildness of weather in her native Scotland, then on to intense snapshots of a wider, troubled world: Bosnia, Iraq, Syria. From Pentland rain to Sarajevo roses, these are poems that demand not just to be read, but to be performed, ''spot-lit lies, \/ floodlit truths, and shadowed ambiguities \/ in our retellings of the world''s old tales''.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGerda Stevenson\u003c\/strong\u003e is well-known for her work in theatre, radio, film and TV. She appeared in the Hollywood blockbuster \u003cem\u003eBraveheart\u003c\/em\u003e (1995), and won a BAFTA Best Film Actress award for Margaret Tait''s \u003cem\u003eBlue Black Permanent \u003c\/em\u003e(1992). Her TV roles include \u003cem\u003eMidsomer Murders\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eHeartbeat\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTaggart\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Bill\u003c\/em\u003e. Her poetry has appeared in the \u003cem\u003eScotsman\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eHerald\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eNew Writing Scotland\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eCork Literary Review\u003c\/em\u003e, as well as the Smokestack anthology\u003cem\u003e A Rose Loupt Oot: Poetry and Song Celebrating the UCS Work-In\u003c\/em\u003e (2011). She has also written extensively for radio. Her stage play \u003cem\u003eFederer versus Murray\u003c\/em\u003e was shortlisted for the London Fringe Theatre Writing Award 2010, and toured to New York in 2012. She lives with her husband, the poet Aonghas MacNeacail, in the Pentland Hills in the Scottish Borders.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57483326620021,"sku":"9780957172272","price":7.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780957172272.jpg?v=1786178463","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/if-this-were-real","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}