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HITLIST HITLIST THE BEST FILMS, FESTS & FOOD THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
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P O H S B D R A W D E
✽ Tracey Thorn One of the finest ✽ Louise Welsh pop memoirs in recent times, this has The ever-popular Glasgow author delivers everything (and the girl). See review, page 43. a lecture entitled ‘Robert Louis Stevenson and Virago. the Theatre of the Brain’. If that wasn’t intriguing enough, let us hit you with the event’s subtitle: ‘An Exploration of.
✽ The Neu! Reekie! Mega Burns ✽ Louise Welsh Bash! Arguably the pick of today’s Burns events features Jackie Kay, Kevin Williamson, punk-fusion poetry band The Bum Clocks and The ever-popular Glasgow author delivers gypsy-jazz music from Emelle. Summerhall, a lecture entitled ‘Robert Louis Stevenson and Edinburgh, Fri 25 Jan. the Theatre of the Brain’. If that wasn’t intriguing enough, let us hit you with the event’s subtitle: ‘An Exploration of.
✽ Winter Words Pitlochry’s bumper literary
festival returns with appearances from Paddy
Ashdown, Trevor Royle, Tom Pow and Tam Dalyell, plus there’s child-friendly entertainment, workshops and a book fair. Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Fri 25 Jan–Sun 3 Feb.
✽ Stuart MacBride Aberdeen’s foremost
crime scribe gets busy as he celebrates the publication of Close to the Bone, his new Logan MacRae affair. Waterstones, Glasgow, Thu 31 Jan.
P A U L L E V T T O N I
✽ Darren Shan The writer of a child-friendly zombie series comes to town. See preview,
left. Waterstones, Glasgow, Thu 24 Jan.
✽ William Dalrymple The acclaimed historian discusses his book The Return of
a King, a weighty new account of a previous conflict in Afghanistan. George Square Theatre, Edinburgh, Tue 12 Feb.
✽ Christopher Brookmyre It’s
Bedlam out there as the Paisley-born scribe delivers a sci-fi/comedy hybrid with his latest novel. See review, page 43. Waterstone’s, Edinburgh, Tue 5 Feb; Orbit.
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C H A R L E H O P K N S O N
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DARREN SHAN Making edgy horror for kids without giving them nightmares
Z ombies aren’t really subject matter for kids, are they? Only when they are being written about by Darren Shan, who is among the safest hands in literature. Since the publication of Cirque du Freak, his first children’s book in 2000, Shan has penned stories about all manner of vampires, ghouls and demons in tales such as The Demonata, The Thin Executioner and The Saga of Larten Crepsley.
Having secured himself as the Master of Children’s Horror, Shan has turned his
42 THE LIST 24 Jan–21 Feb 2013
attention to a short and sharp 12-book run called Zom-B. This series about a zombie apocalypse combines stirring action with a twisting plot while raising questions about racism, bullying and responsibility. To quote Shan himself: ‘It’s a grisly piece of escapism, and a barbed look at the world in which we live. Each book in the series is short, fast- paced and bloody. And a high body-count is guaranteed!’ (Brian Donaldson) Waterstones, Glasgow, Thu 24 Jan.