Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to cate.simpson@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Cate Simpson.
Thursday 4
Nationwide
National Poetry Day Various \cnues. This year's National Poetry Day celebrates the theme of dreams. with a huge range ol eyents planned across the [K including a l)i'eaiii 'l‘oui‘ ol the tour capital cities. (iii to
w w wrialionalpi tetr‘ydaycouk for more details.
Glasgow
Jenny Erpenbeck: The Old Child (ioelhc Institut. 3 Park ('ircus. 333 3555. 7pm. l'r‘ec. lzr‘pcnbeck reads from her ollbeat new iioyella with an intrixluction by Louise Welsh.
Edinburgh
Tony Blackburn \y’aicisioiie's. Ila Princes Street. 336 3666. I330 3pm. l'rce. ()ne of Britain‘s most Iaiiious radio l)Js commemiirates the time he has spent on the airwaves in his autobiography. l’o/rluylre' My Life in Radio.
Edinburgh
Selected Works: Michael Longley on Louis MacNeice Scottish Poetry Library. 5 (‘i'ichton's ('lose. ('anongate. 557 3876. 6 7.l5pm. L5 (L3). Longley presents his layotir‘itc .\lac.\'cicc poems in tribute to the centenary ol his birth. Please book in ady'ancc.
Edinburgh
Marina Sitrin Quaker Meeting House. 7 Victoria 'l‘ei'i'ace. 335 «1835. 6.30 8.30pm. Free. The editor ol' llm‘rmnmlimr: Voices of Popular Power in Argentina r‘cads lTUIII her book and talks about direct deiiiix‘racy. collective action and some of" the most y ibrant social moyements of our time.
Monday 8
Edinburgh
Marina Sitrin Word Power Bookshop. 43 “est Nicolson Street. 663 ()1 l3. 7pm. l‘ree. See Sun 7.
Tuesday 9
Edinburgh
Christine De Luca lnstitut l-iarrc'ais d‘licosse. l3 Randolph ('rcsccnt. 335 5366. 6.30pm. l‘ree. De Luca launches Mom/es I’urirlle/ex. an anthology of poems in French and Shetlandic. Readings of Chinese Poetry in Scots National Library of" Scotland. (ieorge l\' Bridge. 63.3 3845. 7pm. liree. llcar two great poetic traditions combine as David Pury es reads Scots \ersions ol ancient (‘hinese poems.
Wednesday 10
Edinburgh
Storytelling Cate: Storylab Scottish Storytelling Centre. ~13 45 High Street. 556 9579. 7pm. £3. Lari l)on hosts an eyening of stories. music and song. where you can contribute or just sit back and enjoy.
Tony McManus: Book Launch National Library ol‘ Scotland. (‘ieorge l\' Bridge. 633 38-15. 7pm. Free. A book launch for McMantIs' comprehensiye analysis of geopolitics and the work of Kenneth \Vhilt‘. 'I'lre Rat/It‘d] Field. Speakers will discuss the work. followed by a reading from Catherine Murray. Andrew Greig Scottish Poetry Library. 5 (‘richton's Close. C‘anongate. 557 3876. 7.30pm. £5 (£3: PAS members free). The
30 THE LIST 4—18 Oct 3007
Poetry Association of Scotland presents the Scottish poet and noyclist with a penchant for golf as part of their series of poetry readings Please book in adyance
Edinburgh
Louis MacNeice Discussion Evening Scottish Poetry Library. 5 (‘richton's ('losc. ('anongatc. 557 3876 6.30 8pm. £5 (£3) Robyn Marsack dely'es into the emotiye poetry ol \litL'Ncicc to celebrate his centenary Please book in adyance.
Glasgow
=i< Conversation Pieces: Alasdair Gray Royal (’oncert Hall. 3 Sauchiehall Street. 353 8000. lpm. £5 (£4 in adyancel. A chance to enter the mind of a Scottish literary giant as the influential author of Immrk talks about his work.
Edinburgh
Reading Group: Nothing but The Poem Scottish Poetry Library. 5 ('richton's ('lose. ('anongate. 557 3876. 6.30 8pm. £5 (£3). :\ gentle reading group led by Julie Johnstone that focuses on the reader's response to the text. l"or booking and more details please phone or email receptionm spl.org.uk.
Glasgow
* Alasdair Gray Borders Books. ()8 Buchanan Street. 333 7700. 13.30pm. Free. See I‘ri I3.
Geraldine McCaughrean \‘y'atei‘stone's. I53 I57 Saucliiehall Street. 333 ‘) l()5. 3pm. l-‘ree. The launch of the paperback version of Peter Pan in Scarlet. the ollicial sequel to JM Barrie's iconic tale.
Glasgow
Conversation Pieces: Rosemary Goring Royal ('oncert Hall. 3 Sauchiehall Street. 353 8000. lpm. £5 (£4 in ady'aricer. The literary editor of The Herald discusses her new book. Sent/um]: 'I'lie Aurnlmrump/iv. which expounds the testimonies of ordinary Scottish people and their often extraordinary liy'es. Edinburgh
a" Michael Palin Waterstoiie‘s. I38 Princes Street. 336 3666. 13.30pm. Free. The former Python star signs copies ol his book. New Europe. a companion to the TV series of" the same name that follows his journey through liastern liurope.
Ron ButIin National Library of Scotland. (ieorge IV Bridge. 633 3845. 7pm. Free. Book launch for Butlin's new collection of short stories. .N'u More Angels.
Wednesday 1 7
Glasgow
* In Conversation with Jackie Collins Royal (‘oncen Hall. 3 Satichiehall Street. 353 8()()(). 7.30pm.
L' H). The doy'enne ol‘ steamy bestsellers drops in to discuss her latest. Drop Dead Beautiful.
Edinburgh
Diana I-Iendry and Hamish Whyte Scottish Poetry Library. 5 (‘richton‘s ('lose. (‘anongate 557 3876. 7.30pm. £5 (£3). Fresh from their Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in France. these two poets and editors will give a rare performance of their own work.
Comics
55 JC’HHIUW‘, GARTH ENNIS AND DARICK ROBERTSON The Boys
(Titan; 0000
Garth Ennis. the bad boy British writer responsrble for the controversral series' Preacher and Transmetropo/rtan, puts the boot into the iconoclastic superhero strip sub-genre. The first SIX issues. collected here. introduce the titular CIA-backed taskforce led by thuggish Englishman Billy Butcher and featuring a Scottish rookie modelled on Simon Pegg. charged with the task of poliCing the caped crusaders who are being conupted by their god- like powers.
Ennis‘ sly political slant on the demythologismg storyline sets the action firmly in a post—9/i 1 world, With the morally bankrupt ‘supes' representing hawkish neo-con America and their anti-her0ic nemeses cast as terrorists. The Boys is more piss~take than tirade. however, and as such it's enormously irreverent. shocking and hilarious with it. Plenty of sex. violence and bad language. then. but such transgreSSions are all in the serwce of a smartly subverswe storyline. (Miles Fielder;
HISTORICAL MANGA FUYOMI KOUNO Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
(Last Gasp) 000
Set ten years after the US dropped the ‘Little Boy' atomic bomb on Hiroshima. deCimating the city. these two stories follow the lives of the Hibakusha (‘eprOSion-affected peeple'). ‘The first story.
." Eye'n'ig Carr“ ffetais the .It'SiTOHI into illness of a young w'ornan ten years after the bomb and sets the bleak tone of decay. loss and entrapment 'COuntry of Chem, Blossoms mOyes the action to yard in time to show the physical and psychic fallout of the war still prevalent in second generation Hibakusha and the present day.
4 v _,r\ v I . ' d I r 1- , lac- ‘1 ’
Luna;
For those unfamiliar With both the manga format and Japanese history this is a good place to start. Written by Kouno. a Hiroshima native. the comic was a bestseller in Japan, where even in Hiroshima itself enough time has passed that the younger generations feel suffiCiently distanced from the event that still defines the outsiders View of the City. (Suzanne Black)
GRAPHIC NOVEL NICOLAS DE CRECY Glacial Period (NBM/Comics Lit) 0...
Being branded an enfarit terrible is too often faint praise for some artists but it poses no problems for Nicolas De Crecy who goes to great pains not to conform to stereotypical comic boy cliches and in dOing so has produced a distinct body of work that is happily at odds wrth the given superhero hegemony. This excellent protect was
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Ill JM( )l JR HEATH ROBINSON Heath Robinson's Helpful Solutions (Cartoon Musouml OOOO
GIVMI the relative dearth of books about the brilliant l‘iiglish humour cartoonist Heath Robinson, it's heartening to set.- l ()ndon'f; Cartoon Museum [)lll)llf)lllll'l it heavrly illustrated catalogue (wrth an informative essay by Simon Herieage. founder of the Museuriii; parent organisation the Cartoon Art ‘Irusti the deeply ironic title refer“, to the (i/‘narChIIir; preoccupation in Robinson's work the enormous disproportion between ends and means asexemr'ilified in the cartoons detailing era/y coritrar’itions and regalirig chivalrir, deeds. In the Scottish themed ‘Getting the Wind Up'. for example. a canny bagpiper scale; a tower to kiss his Papunml by means of self-inflating his musacal instrument. The pleasantly abSurd humour IS at once antiquated and funnier than ever. while the minuter detailed line art IS absolutely QXQtllSll‘:. This coffee table format book beautifully reproduces a ‘best of' selection that takes in Robinson's cartoons from the late 19th centun/ and on through both World Wars. It's a must-have. (Miles Fielder)