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[Anna] Alasdair an toiseach. Buinidh tu dha Stepps mar a thuirt mi. ’S e àite gu math gallda a tha sin. Dè thug ort Gàidhlig ionnsachadh?

[Alasdair] Uill ann an Siorrachd Lannraig anns an do thog mi, tha tòrr mòr ainmean Gàidhlig air na h-ainmean-àite, mar An t-Àrd-Ruigh agus Cathair Ceann Tulaich ’s mar sin air adhart, agus cuideachd bha ùidh aig m’ athair ann an cànanan. Bha e gu math ioma-chànanach agus bha Gàidhlig, uill bha Gàidhlig gu leòr aige. Dh’ionnsaich e Gàidhlig agus bha beagan aige de Chòrnais ’s Cuimris ’s bha e fileanta ann an Esperanto cuideachd so bha mi a’ faireachdainn gun robh cànanan, agus gu sònraichte Gàidhlig, gu math cudromach.

[Anna] Agus dè seòrsa rud, dè seòrsa saoghail a bh’ agad ann an Stepps ’s tu ag èirigh suas?

[Alasdair] Ò uill bha sinn dìreach a’ fuireach air iomall Ghlaschu agus deagh bheatha agam an sin.

[Anna] Agus bha thu a’ bruidhinn air an t-seòrsa rud a thug buaidh ort - thug d’ athair buaidh ort - ach nuair a bha thu ag èirigh suas an tug e buaidh ort anns na bha thu a’ leughadh cuideachd?

[Alasdair] Thug. Bha ùidh mhòr aig m’ athair ann an sci-fi gu sònraichte agus bha leabhraichean mar sin daonnan againn aig an taigh agus cuideachd bhiodamaid a’ coimhead air fiolmaichean sci-fi agus so mar sin thog mise ùidh ann cuideachd.

[Anna] Agus chun an latha an-diugh am bi thusa a’ leughadh - tha teaghlach agad fhèin a-nise - an ceangal a tha sin eadar athair agus leanabh agus leughadh, a bheil sin anns an teaghlach agad?

[Alasdair] Tha gu dearbh, tha. Bidh sinn a’ leughadh leabhraichean ri chèile anns an taigh agus a bharrachd air sin tha dyslexia air mo nighinn agus chan eil e cho furasta dhi leabhraichean àbhaisteach a leughadh so uaireannan bidh sinn ga cuideachadh le bhith a’ leughadh rudan a-mach dhi agus cuideachd bidh sinn a’ faighinn leabhraichean air teip, mar gum biodh leabhraichean-claisneachd, air a son.

[Anna] Agus tha sin na chuideachadh dhi-se seach gu bheil duilgheadas aice le bhith a’ leughadh.

[Alasdair] Tha. Tha, agus tha i a’ dèanamh adhartas mean air mhean ach tha sinn a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil e cudromach san eadar-ama nach caill i na rudan cudromach a tha rim faighinn ann an leabhraichean ’s gum bi i eòlach air na leabhraichean a tha a h-uile duine eile a’ leughadh ’s a bruidhinn mu dheidhinn.

[Anna] Mar sin tha an ceangal aicese ris a’ chòrr. Nise tha sinn a’ dol air ais chun an dàimh a bh’ agad le d’ athair a thaobh sci-fi nuair a thig sinn chun a’ chiad roghainn agadsa. Nach innis thu dhuinn dè a’ chiad leabhar a tha thu air taghadh dhuinn a-nochd?

[Alasdair] Ok ma-thà uill ’s e a’ chiad leabhar a thagh mi'Slaughter House 5' le Kurt Vonnegut Junior. ’S e leabhar sci-fi gu math neo-àbhaisteach a th’ ann. ’S ann mu dheidhinn fear a tha air, tha am beatha aige air a dhol a-mach à òrdugh so an àite a h-uile rud a bhith a’ tachairt ann an sreath mar gum biodh tha e a’ tachairt ann an òrdugh gu math neònach, gu math tuairmseach mar gum biodh, gu math random, agus chan eil fhios aige dè tha a’ dol a thachairt a-nis.

[Anna] Nuair a tha thu ga leughadh tha e coltach ri iomradh air cuideigin a tha a’ fulang ri PTSD, nach eil? Agus bha ceangal ann ris a’ chogadh.

[Alasdair] Bha gu dearbha. Agus tha e a’ tòiseachadh anns a’ chogadh agus gu dearbha bha Kurt Vonnegut fhèin na shaighdear anns a’ chogadh agus bha e na phrìosanair cogaidh ann an Dresden anns a’ chogadh agus bha iad a’ fuireach mar phrìosanaich cogaidh ann an togalach air an robh 'Slaughter House 5' agus mar sin bha esan ann agus chunnaic e na bha a’ dol agus ’s ann rè a’ chogaidh a tha beatha a’ phrìomh charactair a’ dol caran neònach, Billy Pilgrim.

[Anna] Agus tha seo anns na bliadhnaichean às dèidh an Dàrna Cogaidh, a’ bhuaidh a thug sin air a bheatha. Dè tha cho tarraingeach dhutsa mu dheidhinn an leabhair ’s an sgrìobhadh?

[Alasdair] Uill tha e gu math neo-loidhneach, no non-linear, mar gum biodh agus tha a h-uile càil a-mach à òrdugh agus cuideachd ged a tha rudan neònach a’ tachairt dhan duine, ’s e duine gu math àbhaisteach a th’ ann agus tha e a’ toirt ort a bhith a’ smaoineachadh air rudan mar saor-thoil, mar eisimpleir a bheil saor-thoil againn no a bheil a h-uile càil, a bheil thu cinnteach dè seòrsa rud a nì sinn mus dèan sinn sin, ’s tha e a’ togail tòrr mòr cheistean mar sin.

Chaidh am prògram seo, Leugh Mi, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 2015.

Anna] Firstly Alasdair. You belong to Stepps as I said. That is a very lowland place. What made you learn Gaelic?

[Alasdair] Well in Lanarkshire where I was raised, there are many Gaelic names in the placenames, like An t-Àrd-Ruigh (Airdrie) and Cathair Ceann Tulaich (Kirkintilloch) and so on, and also my father was interested in languages. He was very multilingual and Gaelic was, well he had plenty Gaelic. He learnt Gaelic and he also had a little Cornish and Welsh and he was fluent in Esperanto too so I felt that languages were, and especially Gaelic, very important.

[Anna] And what sort of thing, what was your life like in Stepps whilst growing up?

[Alasdair] Oh well we just lived on the edge of Glasgow and I had a good life there.

[Anna] And you were talking about the sort of thing that influenced you - your father influenced you - but when you were growing up did he influence you with what you read too?

[Alasdair] He did. My father was really interested in sci-fi especially and we always had books like that at home and also we would watch sci-fi films and so as such I developed an interest too.

[Anna] And nowadays do you read - you have your own family now - that connection between father and child and reading, is that in your family?

[Alasdair] It is indeed, yes. We read books together at home and more than that my daughter has dyslexia and it isn't as easy for her to read ordinary books so sometimes we help her by reading things out to her and also we get books on tape, audio books as it were, for her.

[Anna] And that helps her because she has difficulty reading.

[Alasdair] It does. It does, and she is making gradual progress but we think that it is important in the interim that she doesn't miss the important things that are found in books and that she knows about the books that everyone else is reading and talking about.

[Anna] As such she is connected with the others. Now we are going back to your relationship with your father regarding sci-fi when we come to your first choice. Why not tell us what the first book that you have chosen for us tonight?

[Alasdair] Ok then well the first book that I chose is 'Slaughter House 5' by Kurt Vonnegut Junior. It is a very unusual sci-fi book. It is about a man who has, his life has gone out of sync so instead of everything happening in a sequence as it were it happens in a very strange order, very random as it were, very random, and he doesn't know what is going to happen now.

[Anna] When you read it it is similar to an account of someone who is suffering with PTSD, isn't it? And there was a link to the war.

[Alasdair] There certainly was. And it begins in the war and indeed Kurt Vonnegut himself was a soldier in the war and he was a prisoner of war in Dresden in the war and they lived as prisoners of war in a building named 'Slaughter House 5' and so he was there and he saw what was happening and it is during the war that the main character's life goes quite strange, Billy Pilgrim.

[Anna] And this is in the years following the Second World War, the impact which that had on his life. What is so appealing to you about the book and the writing?

[Alasdair] Well it is very non-linear as it were and everything is out of sync and also although strange things happen to the man, he is a very ordinary man and it makes you think of things like freewill, for example do we have freewill or is everything, are you sure what sort of thing we can do before we do it, and it raises many questions like that.

This programme, Leugh Mi, was first broadcast in 2015.