Books EVENTS
PREVIEW SENSORY LITERARY EXPERIENCE ENLIGHTEN Edinburgh, Thu 1–Sun 18 Mar
Back in 2010, a City of Literature initiative used Edinburgh as the backdrop to the Carry a Poem campaign. On Valentine’s Day that year, arm-in-arm lovers and single folks mooching around the centre of town on their tod were stopped in their tracks by a line of Douglas Dunn’s ‘Disenchantments’ being projected onto the side of Edinburgh Castle. Such an attention-grabbing campaign is being revisited this year with enLIGHTen. Every evening from St David’s Day to the day after
St Patrick’s Day, between 6pm and midnight,
buildings in the centre of the capital will be illuminated by a series of huge light projections featuring quotations from some of Scotland’s iconic Enlightenment minds. As eye-opening as all that will be, the project is not simply left there.
A series of modern poets and authors have been commissioned to create a response to those bon mots which will be turned into free audio downloads. Among those contemporary writers will be Gavin Inglis, William Letford, Kirsty Logan, Ken MacLeod, James Robertson and JL Williams. The whole event should prove to be a sensory literary experience the likes of which Edinburgh has never seen. (Brian Donaldson)
Friday 9
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices
vary (free–£15). Glasgow’s annual celebration of reading and writing has over 300 events. Dive straight in on day one with appearances from William McIlvanney, Richard Holloway and AL Kennedy, as well as the Herald Media Debates on MP Tom Watson’s adventures with News International and The Future of the Media, and the 2012 Andrew Tannahill Debate, which explores the work and influence of Hugh MacDiarmid. There’s also the finals of the Scottish Poetry Slam Championship.
Edinburgh FREE Edinburgh Book Fair Radisson Blu Hotel, 80 High Street, 07749 204443. 12pm–7pm. Dealers from throughout Scotland sell antiquarian and second-hand books, maps and prints.
Saturday 10
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices
vary (free–£15). Start the day at Aye Write! with exclusive clips from The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, the forthcoming Aardman animation, as part of a discussion with Aardman co- founder David Sproxton and Gideon Defoe, who wrote the book from which it was adapted. Later on, take your pick from a crime double with Alex Gray and Ian Rankin, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst on Becoming Dickens and a discussion on the 20 books from the last century selected by an illustrious panel for inclusion on ‘Scotland’s Bookshelf’.
48 THE LIST 1–29 Mar 2012
Edinburgh ✽✽ Richard Holloway: Leaving Alexandria Royal College Of
Physicians, 9 Queen Street, rcpe.ac.uk 6.30pm. £4. The acclaimed writer, thinker and outspoken former bishop of Edinburgh is in conversation with the BBC’s James Naughtie about his long- awaited memoir, Leaving Alexandria. He’ll be discussing the pain and exhilaration of a life lived between faith and doubt, and how, after many crises of faith, he walked away from the church. Booking via Waterstone’s George Street.
Sunday 11
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices vary (free–£15). Today at the festival, among other delights, you can hear Alan Bissett, Rodge Glass and Richard Wilson discussing football and sectarianism, Robert Ross and Tim Brooke-Taylor on comedian Marty Feldman or thinker Zygmunt Bauman on, er, just about everything. FREE National Library of Scotland Annual Roadshow Eastwood Park Theatre, Eastwood Park, Rouken Glen Road, Giffnock, 577 4970. 10am. The annual roadshow from NLS features a talk on the map library, a screening of films from the Scottish Screen Archive, and workshops on family history and remote resources.
Monday 12 Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices vary (free–£15). Today’s highlights include poet Ruth Padel and detective
fiction superstar Alexander McCall Smith. Edinburgh FREE The Blackwell Children’s Book Group Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. The group discusses Catscape, an exciting fantasy by Mike Nicholls. FREE Edinburgh Creative Writers Pulp Fiction, 43 Bread Street, 229 4444. 7pm. See Mon 5. FREE Joseph Pearce’s Book Club Joseph Pearce’s, 23 Elm Row, 556 4140. 7pm. Monthly book club in a cosy bar setting.
Tuesday 13
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices vary (free–£15). Writers including Colm Tóibín grace the festival with their presence today, while Owen Jones discusses his book Chav: The Demonization of the Working Class, and Ian Macpherson presents an ‘Everlasting Book Launch’.
Edinburgh The School of Poets Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6pm. £2. Monthly workshop- style poetry session aiming to encourage and develop writing skills. Beginners and more experienced writers are equally welcome. You can attend any session as a taster, and if you like it, join up for the year. Electric Tales The Stand, 5 York Place, 558 7272. 8.30pm. £5 (£4). A blended mix of comedy and storytelling, making for a chilled night of funny yarns and verse told by a range of performers, with
the sole aim of cheering you up. With our favourite funny females, Siân Bevan and Susan Morrison.
Wednesday 14
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices
vary (free–£15). Today Nigel Warburton presents the small matter of A Little History of Philosophy and Jackie Kay reads from new collection Reality, Reality.
Edinburgh Poetry Association of Scotland: David Constantine Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30pm. £7 (£5). The Poetry Association of Scotland presents poet, editor and translator David Constantine, whose work offers invention, surprise and insight into the predicaments of the human condition.
St Andrews ✽✽ StAnza: Scotland’s Poetry Festival 2012 Various venues centred on the Byre Theatre in Abbey Street. Times vary. Prices vary. Scotland’s international poetry festival has two themes in 2012: The Image and Poetry by Degrees; the former involves looking at poetry in relation to the visual arts and the latter considers poetry in education and education in poetry. Tonight the festival launches with appearances from Alistair Moffat, Lavinia Greenlaw and Kwame Dawes, among others. See preview, page 49.
Thursday 15
Glasgow ✽✽ Aye Write! Mitchell Library, North Street, 353 8000. Times vary. Prices
vary (free–£15). Journalist Sam Leith discusses his new book on rhetoric, Anna Reid brings to life the siege of Leningrad, and the day finishes with a fun literary quiz, among other delights on offer today at the festival. FREE Scottish Writers’ Centre presents The Writer’s Life with Valerie Gillies and Lesley O’Brien CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. A discussion event led by two writers interested in how creative writing can help increase self-awareness and well-being.
Edinburgh FREE John Murray’s Handbooks for Travellers National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. A talk by Dr Gordon Johnston and Dr Grainne Goodwin on the content and commercial and critical fortunes of John Murray’s pioneering 19th-century travel handbooks.
✽✽ FREE Doug Johnstone: Hit and Run Blackwells, 53–59 South
Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. Johnstone publishes his fourth novel (following hot on the heels of 2011’s Smokeheads), which features a dog called Rebus and a pill-fuelled hit-and-run accident involving a notorious crime lord. The launch event features readings, chat, wine and maybe even a tune or two (Johnstone is also a musician). FREE Vicky Campbell: Viking Gold Central Library, George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 6.30pm. Vicky Campbell reads from her gory action adventure, Viking Gold. Ages 10+.
St Andrews ✽✽ StAnza: Scotland’s Poetry Festival 2012 Various venues centred on the Byre Theatre in Abbey Street. Times vary. Prices vary. Today’s programme includes a poetry walk around St Andrews, the StAnza Lecture (delivered by Lavinia Greenlaw) and an evening reading from Michael S Roberts and Kwame Dawes, as well as a poetry book fair and a host of exhibitions around the Byre Theatre and the town.