JPV Oliver, Gent, is shown in the library of his family’s ancient and sprawling summer retreat, MacGowan Abbey, deep in the Nunavut Territory of Northern Canada. In addition to English and French, Mr Oliver is fluent in the local Inuktitut language, as were generations of his Scots ancestors before him. The library is a puzzle however since he hasn’t read a book cover-to-cover since 1992. Mr Oliver is a 2019 recipient of the prestigious Laphroaig Prize for Literature.