The browser: Seven Stories a magic number

I took a jaunt down to Newcastle last weekend, ostensibly to see my predecessor as literary editor, the novelist Andrew Crumey, but we managed to take in Seven Stories, the national Centre for Children's Book, as well.

It's an incredible resource, with a fantastic bookshop, craft rooms, dressing-up areas (which we didn't avail ourselves of) and exhibition spaces. Both exhibitions – a celebration of illustrator Quentin Blake's work with Roald Dahl and an ingenious look at troublemakers through the ages from Just William to Horrid Henry – were as fun and interesting for the adults in the group as for the children. There's a real frisson in seeing, for example, Philip Pullman's drafts for the Sally Lockhart novels, with "No No No No No" written across the page. It's a shame that Scotland doesn't have a similar venue: at least it's only 90 minutes down the road.

Council up their Arts

I've said this before but it's worth repeating: authors make manuscripts but publishers make books. In light of that, the decision by the Scottish Arts Council to cut £100,000 from the grants to publishers is short-sighted, to say the least. Money, of course, will still go to authors, who frankly need no encouragement – it's like bulk-buying ingredients while you close down the restaurant and sack the chef. Publishers can apply on a "book by book" basis, eroding that old "arm's length" principle by letting bureaucrats decide what is published.

I am reminded of the words of former Arts Council of England Literature Director Charles Osborne: "Spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on encouraging mediocrities to think of themselves as 'full-time' writers was both pointless and cruel."

Lies, damned lies, and one exclusive

The charming James Frey, whose "memoir" was mostly fiction, has a novel coming out in August. As the publicity machine gears up, his acquaintance with the actuality slips again. His "exclusive" soft-pedal interview with Vanity Fair was gazumped by one he gave to The Bookseller. ("I know I'm going to be slaughtered," he bleats, for once showing some self-awareness.) Then he blames the publisher for making him make it all up. The publisher, Nan Talese, is reportedly fuming with indignation, saying that it's "simply not true".

Dolly's hair-raising tribute

As readers may remember, Scotland on Sunday has become the media partner for the Wigtown Book Festival. They're throwing a party today at the County Buildings at 2pm to celebrate being the first region in Scotland to take up Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. The iconic chanteuse says: "It seems only right that the first town in Scotland to adopt my Imagination Library is called Wigtown. I bet I have as many wigs as they have kids! Seriously, I am thrilled that the good folks at the Wigtown Book Festival decided to bring the Imagination Library to their area. I know they have a great book festival every year and I am honoured that they want to add my programme for the kids that live in the Machars."