list.co.uk/books Monday 26
Edinburgh
✽ FREE Alex Gray: Glasgow Queen of Crime! Muirhouse
Library, 15 Pennywell Court, 529 5528. 6.30pm. DI Lorimer is up against a double serial murder. Alex Gray explains. Part of Book Week Scotland. FREE James Robertson and Eunice Buchanan Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. Novelist Robertson joins poet Buchanan to celebrate the publication of their latest work.
Tuesday 27
Glasgow ✽ Reading the Waves Street Level Photoworks, Trongate 103, 552 2151. 6.45pm. £3 donation. Readings from Des Dillon and new writers.
✽ FREE Another Night in the Gutter with David Vann CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. Gutter magazine hosts this performance night with American novelist David Vann. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ FREE Remembering Edwin Morgan: An Evening of Words
and Music William Patrick Library, 2–4 West High Street Kirkintilloch, bookweekscotland.com 7pm. George Burt discusses his history of working with Edwin Morgan. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Edinburgh ✽ Helen Douglas and Valerie Gillies Scottish Poetry Library, 5
Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30pm. £7 (£5). Artist Douglas and poet Gillies discuss their collaboration on a scroll. Part of Book Week Scotland. FREE Seven Wonders of Scotland Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. Celebrating the publication of a new collection of short stories.
✽ Voicing Scotland: Gary West Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45
High Street, 556 9579. 7pm. £6 (£4). Gary West explores the relationship between contemporary folk singers and the bards of centuries past. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Wednesday 28 Glasgow FREE Sir Alexander Stone Lecture in Rhetoric, Robert Burns and the Rhetoric of Religion University of Glasgow, Sir Charles Wilson Building Kelvin Way, 330 3593. 5.30–8.30pm. Lecture on Burns’ rhetoric. Booking essential.
Edinburgh
✽ FREE Stewart Conn at St Giles’ St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 226
0673. 6pm. Conn reads a selection of Edinburgh Old Town poems, with musical accompaniment. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ FREE Story Hour: Stories at Teatime Looking Glass Books, 36 Simpson Loan, Quartermile, 229 2902. 6pm. Celebrating the short story with Kevin Barry and Angela Jackson. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ Alasdair Gray: Every Short Story Summerhall, 1 Summerhall,
0845 874 3001. 6.30pm. £4. Gray launches his new short story collection. Read an extract on page 22. Part of Book Week Scotland. FREE Aline Templeton: Evil for Evil Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. Launch of Templeton’s seventh Marjory Fleming novel.
✽ FREE Poetry Reading: A Little World Within Itself Fruitmarket
Gallery, 45 Market Street, 225 2383. 6.30pm. With Peter Riley, Kei Miller and Tracey S Rosenberg. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ Frae the Dragon’s Mou Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High
Street, 556 9579. 7.30pm. £6 (£4). Poetry and music alongside episodes from classic Chinese fiction. Part of Book Week Scotland. Thursday 29
Glasgow
✽ FREE Dragon’s Pen Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library,
15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. 6pm. New writers read their stories before a panel of literary dragons. Submit your own work on the theme of ‘Moving’ to info@womenslibrary.org.uk before Thu 29 Nov. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ FREE Dead Men Walking Mearns Library, Newton Mearns,
bookweekscotland.com 7.30pm. An evening with crime writers Gordon Ferris and Tony Black. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Edinburgh FREE Stuart Campbell: Boswell’s Bus Pass Oxgangs Library, 343 Oxgangs Road North, 529 5549. 2–3pm. Campbell discusses his book retracing the steps of Samuel Johnson and James Boswell around Scotland. FREE A Celebration of Scots Dictionaries National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. Panel discussion celebrating Scots dictionaries’ role in daily life.
✽ Sacred Texts Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close,
Canongate, 557 2876. 6pm. £7 (£5). Robyn Marsack talks to Richard Holloway and James Robertson about the continuing influence of sacred texts. Part of Book Week Scotland. FREE Where Rockets Burn Through: Contemporary Science Fiction Poetry from the UK Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. Launch of a new poetry anthology mixing form and flux capacitors. FREE Robert Louis Stevenson Talk with John Cairney Central Library, 7–9 George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 6.30–7.45pm. The actor and author gives a talk on Stevenson’s life and work.
✽ FREE Anobii First Book Award Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, 0845
874 3001. 9pm. A range of debut novelists from the 2012 Anobii First Book Award and other writers to speak about life’s memorable firsts. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Friday 30 Edinburgh FREE The St Andrew’s Day Lecture Surgeons’ Hall Museum, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Nicolson Street, 527 1649. 6pm. Val McDermid talks about the scientific processes used in her writing. Neu! Reekie! Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, 0845 874 3001. 7pm. £6 (£5). Avant-garde spoken word and music fusion night.
Saturday 1
Glasgow
✽ FREE A Poetry CallooCallay! For Book Week Scotland
Various venues, bookweekscotland. com, noon. Sleuthing hats on, everybody, for a city-wide poetry scavenger hunt. Teams collect a list of poetry-themed clues all over Edinburgh, racing back to a central venue before time is up. You might end up in the Scottish Poetry Library asking Sir Walter Scott the name of his dog, or writing some poetry yourself. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ Cut It Up Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 1pm. £7 (£5). Exploration of the art of cut-ups, with the chance to make some of your own old-new poems. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Sunday 2 Events | BOOKS
Glasgow
✽ FREE Sunday Showtime with Alan Bissett Mearns Library,
Newton Mearns, bookweekscotland.com 2pm. The author and performer reads from his novel Pack Men. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ Words Per Minute: Home The Glad Café, 1006a Pollokshaws
Road, 636 6119. 4pm. £4 (£3). Using stories, music and film, artists reflect on what ‘home’ means in relation to refugee experiences. Part of Book Week Scotland.
✽ Outside Thoughts Christmas Special The Old Hairdressers, Opposite Stereo, Renfield Lane, 222 2254. 7pm. £2. A festive night of short fiction storytelling. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Edinburgh
✽ FREE 20,000 Words Under the Sea The Bongo Club, Moray House,
37 Holyrood Road, 558 7604. 8pm. Marine-themed spoken word night. Part of Book Week Scotland.
Monday 3 Edinburgh FREE Blackwell Book Quiz Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8201. 6pm. Test your literary credentials in teams of up to five. Special Christmas edition.
Wednesday 5
Edinburgh
✽ FREE Ian Rankin: Standing In Another Man’s Grave Blackwells,
53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. Noon. Edinburgh’s best kept secret signs copies of his new book. See review, page 45. FREE Launch of Hamish Whyte’s The Unswung Axe Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30–8pm. Launch of Whyte’s second book of poems from Shoestring Press.
Thursday 6
Glasgow The Writer’s Life Scottish Writers’ Centre, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. £6 (£3). Insights into publishing from literary agent Jo Unwin.
Tuesday 11 Edinburgh The Really, Really Boring Poetry Event Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30pm. £5 (£3). Can you think of nothing more snoozesome than having to analyse a rhyme or think about metaphors? Bring along a poem that sends you to sleep, and make the best of it over a glass of wine.
Wednesday 12 Edinburgh A Blackwell’s Christmas Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. £tbc. Celebrate the festive season in literary style, with mulled wine, Christmas baking, poetry, readings and music. FREE Callum Macdonald Poetry Pamphlet Fair National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. A festive poetry fair gathering together independent Scottish publishers for readings and browsing.
Thursday 13 Edinburgh Nothing But the Poem Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–7.30pm. £5 (£3). Poetry discussion forum, this time devoted to Kay Ryan.
FIRST WRITES
MARK OLDFIELD has a go at this issue’s debut author Q&A. His first book is about a forensic investigator who uncovers crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War
Give us five words to describe The Sentinel? Dark, violent, fast-paced, surprising, tense.
What was the first book you read?
The first novel I read by myself was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
What was the last book you read?
2666 by Roberto Bolaño.
Which book makes you cry? Thirteen Red Roses by Carlos Fonseca. It’s the story of 13 young women who were imprisoned at the end of the Spanish Civil War under horrifying conditions for being members of a left-wing youth movement. Reading the story is enough to reduce most people to tears but if it doesn’t, the excerpts from the women’s letters to their loved ones certainly will.
Which book makes you laugh?
Most books by Roberto Bolaño make me smile and frequently laugh out loud because of his ability to wander off on flights of utter fantasy and then suddenly return back to the underlying story without disrupting anything. What one thing would you change about the publishing world?
Probably anything linked to payment.
What plans do you have for book number two? The Sentinel is the first volume of a trilogy and I’ve almost completed volume two. Because of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the first book, I’ve set parts of the second in the Basque country to let some characters get a bit of fresh air and to expose them to different challenges. (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ The Sentinel is out now published by Head of Zeus. See more of this interview at list. co.uk.
15 Nov–13 Dec 2012 THE LIST 47