Editor Alan Taylor and Kristian Kerr discuss the Emerging Critics Programme, a partnership between the SRB and Creative Scotland, established to mentor new voices in cultural criticism. Topics include the state of criticism in Scotland today, the centrality of newspapers to cultural commentary, how we might adopt and adapt to new formats – all with a liberal sprinkling of anecdotes from the annals of Scottish reviewing. This is the first episode in the Emerging Critics Miniseries.