Books Events
Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to suzanne.black@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Suzanne Black.
Thursday 4 Edinburgh FREE The Book That Changed My Life National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. Writers AL Kennedy and Sara Sheridan discuss significant tomes in their lives.
Friday 5
Glasgow Alain de Botton 6pm. £7 (£6). Talking about about his new book, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Aye Write! Joanna Trollope 6pm. £7 (£6). Trollope talks about her new novel, The Other Family. Aye Write! Albie Sachs 7.30pm. £7 (£6). The member of South Africa’s first Institutional Court gives an insight into law and international politics. Aye Write! William Boyd 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Boyd talks about his new conspiracy novel, Ordinary Thunderstorms. Aye Write! Reading the Leaves Tchai Ovna, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. £2. Poetry and storytelling evening. Scottish Poetry Slam Championship Final 9pm. £4. With finalists from Scotland and the US. Aye Write! Edinburgh FREE Carry a Poem Aloud Portobello Library, 14 Rosefield Avenue, Portobello, 529 5558. 2–4pm. Share your favourite poem at this event celebrating the verses we can’t live without.
Saturday 6
Glasgow FREE University of Glasgow Creative Writing Showcase 11am. Three new writers read alongside David Kinloch and Louise Welsh in an event introduced by Rodge Glass. See feature, page 26. Aye Write! The Glasgow Cookery Book 11.30am. £7 (£6). Home Economists Gilda Smith and Mary Farquhar, alongside crime writer Alex Gray, talk about the 100-year old book and make hot cross buns. Aye Write! Jasper Fforde 12.30pm. £7 (£6). Fforde talks about the first novel from his new series, Shades of Grey. Aye Write! Scottish Ballet 12.30pm. £7 (£6). Special guests from Scottish Ballet showcase photographs and talk about the book Scottish Ballet: 40 years. Aye Write! Greg Milner 2pm. £7 (£6). Milner talks about the way in which we understand and experience music. Aye Write! Robert Douglas 2pm. £7 (£6). Douglas talks about his first novel, Whose Turn for the Stairs? Aye Write! Robert Service 2pm. £7 (£6). Service delves into unexamined archives to explain the life of Trotsky. Aye Write! The Future of Money 3.30pm. £7 (£6). James Buchanan talks about the global economic decline, followed by Adam LeBor who talks about conman Bernie Madoff. Aye Write! Janet Paisley and Manda Scott 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Both Paisley and Scott read from their new novels, Warrior Daughter and Rome: The Emperor’s Spy respectively. Aye Write!
Aye Write! All events at Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 0844 847 1683.
34 THE LIST 4–18 Mar 2010
Take a Break with a Great Scottish Book 7.45pm. £7 (£6). Launch of the 2010 Tesco Bank Summer Read featuring 20 titles by Scottish authors or set in Scotland. Aye Write! Early Days of a Better Future 8pm. £7 (£6). Richard Morgan, Ken MacLeod, Hal Duncan and Mike Cobley take part in a lively debate about the shape of things to come. Aye Write!
Monday 8 Glasgow FREE A Way With Words Glasgow Women’s Library, 2nd Floor, 81 Parnie Street, 552 8345. 1pm. Launch of a publication of poems and artwork from women who have survived domestic abuse. Booking essential. Madeleine Bunting and Alastair McIntosh 6pm. £7 (£6). Debating how people’s relationships with land can affect national identities. Aye Write! Rebecca Goldstein and Steven Pinker 6pm. £7 (£6). Goldstein and Pinker debate the great clash between faith and reason. Aye Write! Sheila Rowbotham Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 0844 847 1693. 6pm. £7 (£6). Rowbotham explores the life and friendships of gay socialist writer Edward Carpenter. Aye Write! Harry Reid and Richard Holloway 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Reid and Holloway are in discussion about The Reformation. Aye Write! John Simpson 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Journalist Simpson discusses how the British press has changed both the world and itself over the last century. Aye Write! Phillip Ball and John Wallace 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Debating different cultures of music, with a performance from the RSAMD. Aye Write! FREE Robert Davidson and Iain MacLean 7.30pm. Davidson discusses a publisher’s perspective of Sandstone Press’ new initiative, while MacLean reads and discusses his book. Aye Write! Scottish Literature in the Curriculum: The 2010 Tannahill Debate 7.30pm. £7 (£6). A wide ranging discussion about the future of literature teaching in Scotland. Aye Write!
Edinburgh ✽✽ FREE Between Leith and Lerwick: Jen Hadfield David
Hume Tower, George Square, 01334 475000. 6.30pm. Workshop with the youngest ever winner of the TS Eliot Prize. Booking essential, email r.a.jamieson@ed.ac.uk
Tuesday 9
Glasgow FREE Alan Forbes and James Smith 3.30pm. Launch of Tinderbox Heroes, a book about the Cheapside Street disaster. Aye Write! Amy Bloom and Janice Galloway 6pm. £7 (£6). Bloom and Galloway read from their latest short stories. Aye Write! David Dimbleby 6pm. £7 (£6). Dimbleby debates art. Aye Write! Ian Jack 6pm. £7 (£6). Jack talks about the role of journalism today. Aye Write! X-5 Confab Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 0844 847 1863. 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Youths and writers debate the writing they’ve been consuming in the run up to the book festival. Aye Write! Alan Riach and Michael Schmidt 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Riach and Schmidt read from their latest poetry books. Aye Write! Herald Debate on the Future of Media 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Herald columnist Ruth Wishart chairs a debate which will benefit all who work in, consume and use media. Aye Write! Olivier Adam 7.30pm. £7 (£6). French author Adam talks with Ewan Morrison about his work. Aye Write! Ruth Dudley Edwards and Stuart Neville 7.30pm. £7 (£6). Edwards and Neville discuss Ireland, the Troubles and what followed. Aye Write!
Amy Bloom & Janice Galloway The short story is often seen as the poor relation
to the novel and the poem when it comes to literary endeavours. This Aye Write! event should go some way in helping to erase that prejudice when Bloom and Galloway (pictured) discuss their latest works, Where the God of Love Hangs Out and Collected Stories respectively. ■ Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Tue 9 Mar.
Owen Sheers and Russell Celyn Jones 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Both novelists talk about their contemporary takes on Mabinogion myths. Aye Write! FREE Amnesty International 5pm. Amnesty International highlights the work of four persecuted writers. Also Sun 7 & Sat 13 Mar. Aye Write! Brian Keenan 5pm. £7 (£6). On his latest novel, I’ll Tell Me Ma. Aye Write! Jill Mansell and Carmen Reid 5pm. £7 (£6). The bestselling novelists pop in to talk about their latest works, The Celebrity Shopper and Take a Chance on Me respectively. Aye Write! Scotland’s Lost Railways 5pm. £7 (£6). Julian Holland, author of Discovering Scotland’s Lost Railways teams up with Jo Morgan and David Spaven for an illustrated talk. Aye Write! Adrian: Scotland Celebrates Adrian Mitchell 6.30pm. £7 (£6). John Hudson, Chrys Salt and Cream lyricist Pete Brown pay tribute in poetry to the late Adrian Mitchell. Aye Write! Humphrey Hawksley, Dominique Moïsi and Alex Perry 6.30pm. £7 (£6). A debate on the cultural difference, world peace and democracy. Virginia Ironside 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Ironside explores the fun side of being old in her new book, The Virginia Monologues. Aye Write! Gutter Showcase Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 0844 847 1863. 8pm. £7 (£6). Gutter presents Scotland’s newest literary talents. Aye Write!
Sunday 7 Glasgow James Buchan 12.30pm. £7 (£6). Buchan discusses his work with writer and journalist Adam LeBor. Aye Write! FREE Paul Preston 12.30pm. The leading Spanish historian is interviewed by Daniel Gray, author of Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War. Aye Write! FREE Sue Lawrence 12.30pm. Lawrence talks about the interviews in her book Taste Ye Back: Great Scots and the Food That Made Them. Followed by a tasting session. Aye Write! FREE Joss Ackland 2pm. The actor
Ackland on his latest book, based on 58 years worth of diaries written by his wife. Aye Write! Sir Ian Blair 2pm. £7 (£6). Blair talks about his job, including the de Menezes case. Aye Write! Willy Maley on Irvine Welsh 2pm. £7 (£6). Leading literary commentator Maley discusses Welsh’s work. Aye Write! Andrew Greig 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Greig talks about his latest book At the Loch of the Green Corrie, which pays tribute to Norman MacCaig. Aye Write! Christopher Brookmyre 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Brookmyre talks about his latest satirical crime fiction, Pandaemonium. Aye Write! Ian Mitchell 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Mitchell offers an illustrated presentation of his new work, Clydeside: Red, Orange and Green. Aye Write! Tariq Ramadan 3.30pm. £7 (£6). Islamic thinker Ramadan talks about the themes of his new book, What I Believe. Aye Write! Ben Macintyre and Christopher Andrew 5pm. £7 (£6). The spy-thriller novelists discuss espionage. Aye Write! Charles Emmerson and Sara Wheeler 5pm. £7 (£6). Emmerson and Wheeler discuss the Arctic and its place in our future. Aye Write! Suhayl Saadi 5pm. £7 (£6). Saadi is interviewed by Rodge Glass on his latest novel, Joseph’s Box. Aye Write! Ed Hollis 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Hollis explores the hidden histories of 13 buildings. Aye Write! Eleanor Gordon and Gwyneth Nair 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Gordon and Nair look at the life of notorious Glaswegian Madeleine Smith. Aye Write! The Future of Scotland 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Stuart Kelly, Alan Spence, James Robertson and former First Minister Henry McLeish discuss the future of Scotland’s independence. Aye Write! Launch: Best Scottish Poems 2009 6.30pm. £7 (£6). Poet / novelist Andrew Greig and Robyn Marsack launch the cream of 2009’s poetry. Aye Write! FREE Federation of Writers Showcase 7.30pm. Members of the public get the chance perform a selection of their work on stage. Aye Write!