An Evening with Douglas Stuart (Part Two)

Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize-winning author of *Shuggie Bain* and *Young Mungo*, returns to the stage at Union Chapel in London to discuss his new novel *John of John*, set on the remote island of Harris. In a deeply personal and lyrical conversation with Jack Edwards, Stuart reveals how his own experiences as a gay man in 1990s Scotland shaped the novel’s exploration of faith, repression, and queer identity. He recounts the intimate, pre-digital ways young gay men in his generation navigated desire—writing long letters, exchanging photos from family homes, even knitting a replica of their penis to send to a lover. These moments, he argues, were acts of profound vulnerability and creativity born from necessity. Stuart also reflects on the power of language, particularly the deliberate use of Scottish Gaelic to assert identity and privacy, and how the islands’ slow rhythms and communal memory shaped his writing process. He shares the brutal truth of his own publishing journey—44 rejections before *Shuggie Bain* was finally accepted—offering a raw, hopeful testament to persistence. The evening closes with Stuart’s affectionate praise for the quiet, resilient characters who populate his work, especially Innes, a man of quiet strength and grace who embodies the masculinity he admires most. The conversation transcends literary analysis, becoming a meditation on how silence, memory, and love persist in the face of repression.