We had all been sworn to secrecy in case we leaked it, but I can now announce the appointment of James Robertson as the first writer in residence for the MA Creative Writing course.

As a class we knew that the post had been created but we did not know who the writer was until last week. I spent a happy few days pretending it was Stephen King, which is not to say that I am disappointed with Mr Robertson at all and I have moved his novel The Testament of Gideon Mack from its previous position to the number two slot in my to-read pile.

We are extremely lucky to have both a writer and a reader in residence on our course although I have not yet availed myself of the reader in residence. To be honest it is a little intimidating to meet someone who has read every book ever published and who can demonstrate total recall of all of them. There is an underground collective in our course who are charged with finding a book Stuart Kelly a) has not read, and b) thinks he has read but can’t remember. I will let you know when hell starts to chill. In fact, if anyone wants to make a book suggestion please add it to the comments.