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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 Tasmin Campbell.
Thursday 27
Glasgow ✽✽ Meet Louise Welsh Waterstone’s, 153–157 Sauchiehall Street, 332
9105. 6.30–8pm. £2. Meet the bestselling local author of The Bullet Trick and The Cutting Room. She will discuss and read from her latest thriller, Naming the Bones, with a signing afterwards.
Edinburgh FREE Geoff Coyle: The Riches beneath our Feet Blackwell, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8206. 6.30pm. Ticketed event. An exploration of how mining helped shape Britain by Professor Geoff Coyle, a former mining engineer and from a mining family himself. Please arrive for 6.15pm. FREE Thirsty Books The Lot, 4–6 Grassmarket, 225 9922. 7pm. A night of readings, poetry, performance, with a bar available. Doors open at 6.30pm. Ayr Burns an’ a’ that Various venues, 01292 616265. Times vary. Prices vary. Expect a whole host of music, song, poetry, art, Ayrstrike (the largest coarse fishing competition in Scotland) and Ayrplay, which is the Burns Showcase for New Bands Competition 2010.
Friday 28
Glasgow FREE Café Littéraire Alliance Française de Glasgow, 3 Park Circus, 339 4281. 2.30pm. Book group studying French contemporary literature. This session focuses on Olivier Rolin’s Tigre en papier.
Edinburgh Guid Crack Club: Scotland–Africa Waverley Bar, St Mary’s Street, 556 9579. 7.30pm. By donation (suggested £3). A meeting of two cultures in an evening of story and songs hosted by Ewan McVicar, with special guest Gift Amu Lagotse. Ayr Burns an’ a’ that Various venues, 01292 616265. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 27.
Saturday 29 Ayr Burns an’ a’ that Various venues, 01292 616265. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 27.
Sunday 30
Edinburgh Shore Poets The Lot, 4–6 Grassmarket, 225 9922. 7.45pm. £4 (£3). James Robertson, Martin McIntyre and Claire Askew are your performers tonight with musical accompaniment from female banjo group Blueflint.
Ayr Burns an’ a’ that Various venues, 01292 616265. Times vary. Prices vary. See Thu 27. Maybole Poetry Picnic Culzean Castle & Country Park, 0844 493 2149. Noon–2pm. Included in admission. Bring along a rug and your favourite nibbles and be entertained by Makar Press poets Rowena M Love, Michael Malone and Sheila Templeton, as they read selected works.
Wednesday 2
Edinburgh FREE Richard Shelton: To Sea and Back Blackwell, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8206. 6.30pm. Ticketed event. The launch of Richard Shelton’s exploration of the life of the hardy and adaptable Atlantic salmon. Please arrive by 6.15pm.
St Andrews ✽✽ Fern Hill and Other Dylan Thomas Byre Theatre, Abbey Street, 01334 475000. 7.30pm. £14 (£9–£12). Award-winning actor Guy Masterson reads some of Dylan Thomas’ lesser-known works in verse and prose.
Thursday 3
Glasgow FREE Poetry Discussion Group Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 287 2999. 6pm. Lively and informal discussions of poetry on the first Thursday of every month.
Edinburgh ✽✽ FREE Burke and Hare: The Re-telling of a True Story
National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. Writer Martin Conaghan and guests discuss the enduring popularity of the story of the 19th century’s most prolific serial killers, now a graphic novel with a film on the way. FREE Getting Started at NLS National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6–7.30pm. Find out how to register, seek out specific books and peek inside the Reading Rooms, then enjoy a lifetime of reading books for free. FREE Stuart Sim: The Edge of Modernity Blackwell, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8206. 6.30pm. Ticketed event. Author and journalist Stuart Sim’s latest work explores the connections between two of the greatest global crises of recent times – the financial and the
environmental – and calls for a radical change in our world view. Please arrive at 6.15pm.
Saturday 5 Edinburgh Spring into Summer: Inspired 2010 Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunks Close, 55 High Street, 524 0160. 9am–5pm. £175 (SCBWI members £150). Two days of inspirational reading and workshops to help you on your way to penning that bestseller, with a variety of guest speakers. Lunch is included in the price. Advance booking essential – email ra@scbwiscotland.co.uk FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 10am–6pm. Art students, young authors and illustrators from schools across the city who have been working with Vivian French to put together this fun exhibition of animal books and drawings.
Sunday 6
Edinburgh Spring into Summer: Inspired 2010 Scottish Book Trust, Sandeman House, Trunks Close, 55 High Street, 524 0160. 9am–5pm. £175 (SCBWI members £150). See Sat 5. FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. See Sat 5.
Monday 7 Glasgow Words Per Minute Creation Studios, 16 Trongate, 237 7653. 4–6pm. £2. Second edition of the spoken word, music, film and performance night run by Glasgow-based writer-performers Anneliese Mackintosh and Kirstin Innes. This month includes a preview of a new graphic novel by Rodge Glass, poetry
Louise Welsh She claims not to be especially appalled at the description of her as a sensationalist writer, and
Louise Welsh has been making plenty waves anyway since her 2002 debut The Cutting Room. With her new one, Naming the Bones, she drags an academic out of his comfy university life in pursuit of a dead poet from the 1970s. Sensational is one word for it. ■ Waterstone’s, Glasgow, Thu 27 May.
Events Books
from Emily Ballou, music and an award- winning film from Adam Stafford. Edinburgh FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 10am–6pm. See Sat 5. New Books Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–7.30pm. £5 (£3). Lilias Fraser introduces the library’s newest acquisitions. June’s book is Carol Ann Duffy’s New and Selected Poems for Children. FREE Blackwell Book Quiz Blackwell, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8206. 6pm. Blackwell welcomes in summer by teaming up with Rough Guide for a special holiday edition of their regular book quiz. Up to five members per team.
Tuesday 8
Edinburgh FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 10am–6pm. See Sat 5. FREE Discovering Family History at NLS National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6–7.30pm. Delve into your family’s past as NLS reveals research techniques in this practical workshop. Includes a short tour of the library. Please book. Wednesday 9
Glasgow ✽✽ Lynda La Plante Mitchell Library, 201 North Street, 287 2999.
3.30–4.30pm. £3. Perhaps best known for being the screenwriter of TV’s Prime Suspect, La Plante is also a bestselling crime author and former actress. Here she discusses her career and her latest novel, Blind Fury, followed by a book signing.
Edinburgh FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 10am–6pm. See Sat 5. FREE Beverley Wright: Songs from the Heart and Elsewhere Blackwell, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. The launch of local poet Beverley Wright’s latest publication, a collection of poems written over several decades covering a diverse range of topics from death to cheese graters. Storytelling Café Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 7–9pm. £4. Settle in for an informal evening of stories and song in the café-bar with Anna Fancett.
Thursday 10
Edinburgh FREE The Drawing Book Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 10am–6pm. See Sat 5. Nothing but the Poem Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–7.30pm. £5 (£3). An informal poetry group which removes the pressures of review, criticism and hype, to focus instead on the reader’s response to the text. No background knowledge is necessary. With Ryan Van Winkle, Edinburgh’s poetry Reader in Residence. FREE Book Launch: Quintin Jardine Waterstone’s West End, 128 Princes Street, 226 2666. 7pm. Enjoy a glass of fizz to mark the launch of Quintin Jardine’s 20th Bob Skinner mystery, A Rush of Blood. The famous Scottish crime writer will read from his new book and answer your questions.
✽✽ Interview and Signing: Yann Martel Traverse Theatre, Cambridge
Street, 226 2666. 7pm. £5. Hear Booker Prize-winning author Yann Martel read from his highly anticipated new work, Beatrice and Virgil, and glean some insights into the writing experience. Tickets are available from Waterstone’s West End or the Traverse box office.
27 May–10 June 2010 THE LIST 43