Upcoming Events
Sarah Lowndes: Social Sculpture
Friday 20 August, 5.30pm
The Mackintosh Room, Glasgow School of Art, 168 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6RQ
This pioneering study of Scottish art documents the last forty years of cultural activity which have been instrumental in bringing Glasgow to the forefront of the global artistic forum.
Free event, all welcome.
To reserve a place, please RSVP to events@luath.co.uk or call 0131 225 4326.
Linda MacDonald: The Warriors and Wordsmiths of Freedom: The Birth and Growth of Democracy
Friday 17 September (US Constitution Day), 7pm
Caledonian & St Andrew’s Society of Seattle, Lake City Presbyterian Church, 3841 NE 123rd Street, Seattle
Free event, all welcome
and
Saturday 18 September, 5pm
Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park, WA
and
Sunday 19 September, 6pm
The Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison Street, Seattle, WA 98104-1297
($30 ticket includes whisky tasting & an autographed copy of The Warriors & Wordsmiths of Freedom)
With music, dance, storytelling and history, join Linda MacDonald to hear the full story of the Scottish influence on American democracy.
'From the fields of Bannockburn, Robert the Bruce and the Highland Charge (1314 Scotland) to the Blue Ridge of Virginia, George Washington and the Scots-Irish Patriots (1776-Revolutionary War) our Freedoms were their War Cry.'
Linda MacDonald-Lewis
For more information, go to www.BookItNorthwest.com or call (425) 820-6829.
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Edinburgh Book Festival
A number of our authors are taking part in events at the the Edinburgh International Book Festival. For more information or to book tickets visit the Edinburgh International Book Festival website. All events are held within Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, and last for one hour, unless otherwise specified.
Fergal Keane in conversation with Antonia Swinson
12 noon, Saturday 14 August, ScottishPower Studio Theatre, £10 (£8)
Epic Story of the British Empire’s Last Stand
Having tackled personal demons in his memoir All of These People, the BBC’s war reporter returns to the battlefields of history with Road of Bones: The Siege of Kohima 1944. Outnumbered, British and Indian troops went up against the brutal might of the Imperial Japanese Army. The pitiless horror of war is given the typically humane Fergal Keane treatment. In conversation with Antonia Swinson, whose father, Arthur Swinson, fought in the battle of Kohima.
James Robertson
5pm, Saturday 14 August, ScottishPower Studio Theatre (£10) £8.
An Epoch-Defining Story of Life in 20th Century Scotland
Scottish author James Robertson is set to reach a new career high with his epic novel, And the Land Lay Still, launching at the Book Festival. This monumental book charts the story of one family through the second half of the 20th century, and in writing it Robertson has created the definitive fictional representation of Scotland’s modern history. He discusses his book with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme presenter, James Naughtie.
Lin Anderson and Aline Templeton
6.45pm, Saturday 14 August, Peppers Theatre, £10 (£8)
Dark Mysteries from Two of Tartan Noir's Finest
The mystery behind dead pregnant teenage girls is the link between the latest books from these two Scottish crime writers. Lin Anderson’s The Reborn has Rhona MacLeod assisting the police in a creepy case featuring clowns, dolls and an inmate who might be orchestrating mayhem from within prison. Dead in the Water is Aline Templeton’s fifth in the DI Fleming series in which an unsolved mystery is reopened two decades after her late father worked on the case.
Lin Anderson
11am - 12.30pm, Monday 16 August, Writers' Retreat, £15 (£12).
Writing Workshop: A Web of Characters - Characterisation in Fiction
A story is a character in action. How do you create a web of characters that fascinate your reader to the extent they will come back asking for more? Crime writer Lin Anderson shows you how, and invites you to delve into her world of literary characters.
Lin Anderson
2pm, Monday 16 August, Writers' Retreat, £7 (£5).
The Writing Business: From Inspiration to Publication
Authors Caroline Dunford and Lin Anderson discuss the origins of their ideas and their journey into print. This debate, chaired by author Nicola Morgan, looks at the avenues open to modern authors and considers whether is it easier or harder to get published in the 21st century.
Stuart McHardy
7.30pm, Monday 16 August, Writers' Retreat, £7 (£5)
A Re-evaluation of Scotland's Past
Have previous analyses of Pictish society distorted and denied the real history of Scotland? This is the starting point for writer, musician, folklorist and poet Stuart McHardy in his potentially explosive A New History of the Picts. The Romans, Angles and Vikings all failed in their efforts to conquer the Picts who, McHardy contends, were the descendants of the original inhabitants of these lands and went on to help create modern Scotland.
Robert Alan Jamieson and Jon Kalman Stefansson
6pm, Tuesday 17 August, Writer's Retreat, £7 (£5)
Iceland and Shetland: Islands of the Scottish Imagination
Two highly original writers come together in an event featuring islands at opposite ends of the world. Robert Alan Jamieson’s novel Da Happie Laand is an epic, experimental novel which journeys between Shetland and New Zealand. Jón Kalman Stefánsson is one of Iceland’s hottest literary talents and with Heaven and Hell he has knocked up a tale about literature and fishing which becomes a matter of life and death.
Alasdair Gray
Wednesday 18 August, 3pm, RBS Main Theatre, £10 (£8).
A Performance of the Legendary Author's Verse Comedy
With the help of three professional actors, Lanark author Alasdair Gray presents the short prologue and the first act of his irreverent adaptation of Goethe's Faust into a comedy called Fleck. Not satisfied with Goethe’s own ending, Gray says he ‘wanted to wrench the story into my own vision of the 20th and 21st century’. He does so by inviting the Devil to lead the hero into a 21st century that Goethe never imagined.
Alasdair Gray
2pm, Friday 20 August, ScottishPower Studio Theatre, £10 (£8).
The Best of European Fiction 2010: Alasdair Gray, Igor Stiks & Michal Witkowski:
A Cultural and Intelllectual Window on Europe
Various national myths are questioned in this impressive initiative by the Dalkey Archive Press, which surveys fiction from across the continent with a selection of some thirty writers. In this event, chaired by Stuart Kelly, three of the contributors. Scotland’s own Alasdair Gray, Igor Stiks from Bosnia and Michal Witkowski from Poland discuss their work.
Lin Anderson and Aline Templeton
2pm, 23 August, Writers' Retreat
The Writing Business: Making Crime Pay
This masterclass event offers a fascinating discussion between two leading Scottish crime writers, Lin Anderson and Aline Templeton, who have themselves succeeded in making crime pay – one with books focused on the forensic aspect of crime, the other whose novels adopt a more psychological approach. Chaired by Caroline Dunford.
Emma Wood and Peter Wright
11am, Wednesday 25 August, Peppers Theatre, £10 (£8).
How Scotland's Landscape and History is Linked to Climate Change
Deforestation in the Amazon; palm oil plantations in Borneo; climate change is often blamed on events elsewhere. Yet Scotland’s own history has brought about radical changes to the landscape and our local environment. Peter Wright’s Ribbon of Wildness looks at Scotland from the perspective of a walk along its watershed, while Emma Wood’s Peatbogs, Plague and Potatoes explores the ecological impact of Scotland’s transformation into an industrial nation.
James Robertson and Alexander McCall Smith
Events for Children: Families & 9+
Saturday 28 August, ScottishPower Studio Theatre, £4
Go back in time to detective Mma Ramotswe’s young years. Alexander McCall Smith’s new book, Precious and the Puggies, translated into Scots by James Robertson, is given an exclusive early outing in this event. The English language edition isn’t out until 2011 so grab your chance to be the first to hear all about it.
Sarah Lowndes, Martin Boyce and Adam Szymczyk
8.30pm, Monday 30 August, Peppers Theatre, £10 (£8)
How Glasgow's Art Scene Rose to World Prominance
By any measure, art in Glasgow has enjoyed an astonishing period of international success since the 1990s, and Sarah Lowndes’s Social Sculpture is the first book to explore the factors which contributed to this. Now, in the light of another Glasgow-based artist winning the Turner Prize, Lowndes discusses the shifting intellectual and social backdrop to the story, with leading Glasgow artist Martin Boyce and the director of the Kunsthalle Basel, Adam Szymczyk.
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Edinburgh Fringe
Donald Smith: Between Ourselves
Burns the Video Diary (based on Between Ourselves)
13-30 August, 7pm
Scottish Storytelling Centre, The Netherbow, 43-45 High Street, Edinburgh (Fringe Venue Number 30)
Meet the real, edgy Bard in Edinburgh. He's in crisis and contradiction but at full creative stretch. This show combines film and theatre to bring you Burns in the raw - for now and for real.
Tickets: £9 (£7)
Daniel Gray: Homage to Caledonia
14, 21 and 28 August, 1.05pm
St Cuthbert's Church, 5 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EP (Fringe Venue Number 122)
Tickets: £7 (£6)
For further information, please see the Homage to Caledonia section below.
Des Dillon: Singin' I'm No a Billy, He's a Tim
5-23 and 25-30, August 3.45pm
Assembly @ George Street, Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street, Edinburgh (Fringe Venue Number 3)
Celtic-mad Tim and Rangers-daft Billy find themselves banged up in the same cell on the day of the old firm match. Can the ever watchful turnkey, Harry, keep them apart?
Tickets: £12 (£11.50)
Tickets can be purchased online by visiting www.edfringe.com, by phone on 0131 226 0000 or over the counter at 180 High Street.
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Homage to Caledonia
Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War is a landmark publication on Scotland's contribution to the seminal conflict. 2009 was the 70th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War and author Daniel Gray has spoken at numerous events throughout Scotland. Please email us for more information about any event.
Now comes the LIVE STAGE VERSION of Homage to Caledonia!
In this powerful live performance, Daniel Gray’s compellingly told stories and the stunning music of Spain from guitarist Jonathan Prag combine to evoke the atmosphere and tell an extraordinary tale. It is one of sacrifice in battle, sheer belief and drinking too much local vino.
The show will alternate story and music so that as the piece unfolds, stark facts and heroic deeds are echoed in the music of Spain and in the guitar's rendition of the songs the Brigaders used to sing around their fires at night and as they marched. As well as learning more about this unprecedented time in history, the audience will be thrilled, amused and fascinated, enriched and beguiled by the skill of the two performers.
Edinburgh Fringe Dates
14, 21 and 28 August, 1.05pm
St Cuthbert's Church, 5 Lothian Road, Edinburgh, EH1 2EP (Fringe Venue Number 122)
Tickets £7 (Concessions £6)
For more information go to Daniel Gray’s Homage to Caledonia blogspot.
Additional Homage events separate from the live stage show:
Tuesday 13 July, 7pm
William Patrick Library, 2-4 West High Street, Kirkintilloch G66 1AD
This event is free but ticketed. Tickets are available from your local library.
Monday 11 October
Dollar History Society, 7.30pm, Dollar Academy
Free event, all welcome
Monday 8 November 2010, 6.30pm
Marx Memorial Library, Clerkenwell, London
Free event, all welcome
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John Cairney
John Cairney: Greasepaint Monkey
[This book] tells the story of persistence against all odds because we care passionately about the work that we do. It is a tribute to actors. DAME JUDI DENCH
John Cairney may have been in Cleopatra, Jason and the Argonauts, and The Avengers, but he understands what is really important in the world of acting. It’s not the A-listers - they can tell their own story. John is more interested in sharing the stories of the average jobbing actor, and what it’s really like to get your hands dirty in the theatre. With over 50 years of experience, this is a real insight into the life of the everyday actor.
Dates:
Tuesday 7 September, 7.30pm
Byre Theatre, Abbey Street, St Andrews, KY16 9LA
Booking: 01334 475 000 or at www.byretheatre.com.
Thursday 16 September
East Kilbride Arts Centre, 51 Old Coach Road, Glasgow, G74 4DU
Booking: 01335 261 000
Saturday 25 September, 8pm
Carlops Village Hall, Carlops, Near Penicuik, Peebleshire, EH26 9NF
Booking: 01968 660388 or lesmorss@carlops.net.
Saturday 9 October, 7.45pm
Cumbernauld Theatre, Kildrum, G67 2NB
Booking: 01263 732 007 or bookings@cumbernauldtheatre.co.uk.
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Tessa Ransford
Tessa Ransford: Not Just Moonshine
Motherhood, destiny, nature and love - Tessa Ransford’s definitive collection, Not Just Moonshine, is a celebration of her poetry and an insight into the artistic life of a poet. This selection illustrates Tessa’s style and technique, inviting the reader to discover themes and ideas as they unfold across four decades of work.
Tessa Ransford is reading poetry alongside others at the following events:
25 July, 12 noon, Big Tent Festival in Falkland
5 August, 6pm, Blackwells Bookshop, Southbridge, Edinburgh
19 August at 1pm, Wordpower Bookshop, Edinburgh
20 and 21 August, 4pm, St John's Church, Edinburgh
14 September, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
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