What’sOn
■ Books ■ Clubs ■ Film 34 37 44
■ Comedy ■ Kids ■ LGBT 56 58 59
AroundTown
www.list.co.uk/aroundtown
■ Music ■ Theatre ■ Visual Art 60 81 88
✽✽ HITLIST
MARGINS, MILLAR, AND MORE
S A L G U O D S A M O H T
I L E N
Marginalisation
Callum Ritchie finds out about the big names taking part in Glasgow’s newest grassroots book and music festival
I magine just starting a festival. Just saying, right there and then, ‘There’s a gap in the market, and I’m going to fill it.’ It’s not such a great step for Mark Buckland; freshly graduated from university, he said to himself ‘I’m going to start a publishing company’, and two years later his company Cargo have published two novels and a high-profile anthology, as well as pioneering e-book/print-on- demand technology in Scotland.
Cargo’s Margins Book and Music Festival, though, is seriously impressive even by his get-up-and-go standards. The events taking place at Stereo over one long weekend are designed to warm audiences up for the coming Aye Write! festival. ‘There are so many good live literature events going in Scotland now, we thought it would be a good idea to tie them all together, but also bring in writers of different generations,’ he says. ‘It’s about joining new writers together with far more established names: showing off that Scottish – specifically Scottish – writing has never been stronger. And we thought we’d put some live music in there too.’
Alongside showcases from live literature nights Monosyllabic, Words Per Minute and Seeds of Thought and the Golden Hour established writers such as Doug Johnstone, Rodge Glass, Alan Bissett and Ewan Morrison will all perform, each with new writers like Kirstin Innes and Allan Wilson (pictured, above) on their bills. The real surprise is that elder statespeople like Tom Leonard and the recently-
announced Scots Makar Liz Lochhead will also be taking part in these events. ‘We’re so excited about Liz and Tom agreeing to take part,’ Buckland says. ‘We wanted to put on an alternative, different book festival, and Tom we felt was someone whose contribution to literature isn’t recognised as much as it should be.’
Both Leonard and Morrison will be taking part in the festival’s closing event, with live music from Burnt Island, Where We Lay Our Heads, and Edinburgh lyrical legend Withered Hand.
‘We’re really keen to pull in people who just want to take a chance and see something different,’ Buckland explains. ‘That’s why we’ve kept the ticket prices ultra-low: at £1 a head for every event, we’re definitely not doing this to make money! We just really care about Scottish literature, and allowing more and more people to be exposed to it.’ Although the event is run by one publishing company, it’s not, as some events can be, entirely a showcase for their own books. Johnstone, for example, will be promoting his Faber-published new novel Smokeheads, which you can buy on the night.
‘These people are good writers. I don’t care who they’re published by,’ says Buckland. ‘It’s about a passion for the writing; it’s not a competition.’
Margins Festival, Thu 17–Sun 20 Feb, Stereo, Glasgow. For full listings visit www.cargopublishing.com
✽✽ Glasgow Film Festival Talks and Workshops Programme Some of the talks and workshops in this year’s GFF programme are just as exciting as the films, we reckon. Mark Millar! Pam Hogg! Although probably not together. See extended listing, and feature, page 12. Glasgow Film Theatre, Thu 17–Sun 27 Feb, times vary. ✽✽ Margins Festival of Literature and Music See preview, left. Stereo, Glasgow, Thu 17–Sun 20 Feb, times vary. ✽✽ A Way With Words Two creative writing, storytelling and visual art workshops drawing on the wisdom of women’s folk tales for inspiration. Glasgow Women’s Library, Sat 19 Feb, 11am–2pm. ✽✽ The Disco Lecture Oh, why can’t all lectures be disco lectures? Attendance rates would rocket. Aussie DJ and Berlin club-meister Craig Schuftan explains the addictive properties of disco as part of Let’s Get Lyrical. He’s the greatest (dancer). There’s a club afterwards, too. Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Sun 20 Feb, 7–10pm. ✽✽ Bring Home Fashion Fashion show by Telford College and Heriot-Watt University, with designs based along a theme of ‘upcycling’. All proceeds go to the British Heart Foundation. Telford College, Edinburgh, Thu 24 Feb, 7.30pm. ✽✽ Art’s Complex Performance Night Donata Kiaunyte’s Little Mountain piece heads up the inaugural performance night at the venue with the funny apostrophe. Art’s Complex, St. Margaret’s House, Edinburgh, Sat 26 Feb, 6.30pm. 17 Feb–3 Mar 2011 THE LIST 31