Minstrel Heart: A Life in Story

By David Campbell

Guruji said: ‘Sing not the song that others have sung. Sing only what you yourself have realised in your own heart.’

What I’ve realised in my own heart is that its song is for many, that it sings for whom it meets on its way. It does not remain at home, but is a wandering minstrel heart.

This book is the engaging and colourful memoir of celebrated Scottish storyteller David Campbell. It is an exploration of the nature of love in its many guises, and of David’s lifelong love of story.

Join David as he tells his story from childhood in wartime Fraserburgh to a holiday job with a dramatic and life-changing conclusion, through a pivotal role as a BBC radio producer at the time of the Scottish renaissance of writing, drama and folk traditions, and finally to his international career as an acclaimed storyteller, mentored by celebrated tinker-traveller Duncan Williamson.

The roots of things in my life have always been the love of words, stories, poetry and people, and the joy of bringing them together; it is there that I find the deepest meaning and the sweetest music.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Luath Press
• Release date: Jun 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781910022665

David Campbell

David Campbell was born in Los Gatos, California. After a typical 1980s childhood, he studied English and Creative Writing at Chico State University before acquiring a Master of Communication degree from Boston University. After another fifteen years cultivating a career in marketing among the Silicon Valley elite and publishing newsletters with five times the circulation of the New York Times, he decided to go back to his passion and just write. He hopes you enjoy reading what he wrote as much as he enjoyed writing it. He lives in Los Gatos with his daughter, Lilly.