Author Interview: Robert Butroyd
Q&A with the contributors from our latest issue.
Born in Scunthorpe, brought up in Rotherham, worked in education in Wolverhampton, Kirkcudbright, Bradford and Huddersfield, Robert Butroyd is fascinated by so-called ordinary places, which on closer inspection turn out to be no such thing. He has had creative non-fiction published in the Independent, Lincolnshire Life, The Bradford Review, and Elsewhere: A Journal of Place. Prior to retirement, he jointly authored a book on Action Research for Pearson, contributed chapters to postgraduate text books and published numerous academic papers. Now retired to Newcastle, he is free to pursue his passion. Check out his website www.placesandculturaltraces.com. Robert’s piece ‘Bradford's Unlikely Literary Road’ appears in Hinterland Issue 16.
What’s the last thing (except for this!) that you wrote?
Postcards full of exaggeration and excitement to the grandkids.
What’s a recent discovery that you can’t keep quiet about?
Eric Burdon is still declaring War.
Words to live by?
Nothing is ordinary.
Tell us something about yourself that surprises people...
Despite everything that has happened to them, and until recently it was all bad, my mood can still be lifted by Scunthorpe United at 5 o’clock on a Saturday.
What’s your piece in this issue about?
Discovering that Bradford’s literary tradition, stretching back to JB Priestley and John Braine is rooted in internal as well as international migration.
Issue 16 is available to order from our webstore now, or in good bookshops.