Aye Write! 2016 brochure
Transcription
Aye Write! 2016 brochure
10–20 MARCH 2016 Inclu d Wee ing W Fami rite! ly D Pull-o ay ut Mervyn King • Joan Bakewell • Limmy • George Monbiot • Kate Tempest Phil Redmond • Rev Richard Coles • Janet Ellis • Alexei Sayle • Frances Quinn A.C. Grayling • Irma Kurtz • Irvine Welsh • Maggie O’Farrell • Jon Ronson AYEWRITE.COM ayewrite Aye Write BUY TICKETS AT WELCOME FUNDERS WWW.AYEWRITE.COM A WELCOME FROM COUNCILLOR ARCHIE GRAHAM I hope you love the new look Aye Write! and Wee Write! programmes just as much as we do here at Glasgow Life! Thanks to our supporters Freight Design for creating such an attractive programme to showcase our festivals. The programme is still just as fresh and vibrant as ever and I am sure you will agree there are some really interesting books and appearances at this year’s festivals. We couldn’t achieve such a fantastic programme for Aye Write! and Wee Write! without you and I want to thank you for your continued support of your book festivals. Our funders, sponsors and partners are critical to helping us make sure the festivals go from strength to strength and I want to extend our thanks and acknowledgements to them all on this page. Glasgow is a thriving Cultural city and the sheer commitment that comes from you and our partners to make these festivals as wonderful as they are truly makes Glasgow a great place to live and visit. This year we are launching our Wee Write! Reading and Literacy Fund – small change can make a big difference and we can achieve so much more for our children and young people’s future potential with more investment in them now. Any contribution you feel you can make would make a considerable difference to children in our City. Archie Graham — Chair of Glasgow Life SPONSORS PARTNERS Partners: Poetry Ireland, Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival, WOW 24/7, Gaelic Books Council, Doig’s, Citizen M, Play, Talk, Read, St Enoch’s Centre, SPT Subway, Glasgow Science Centre, Makar Gin, Edinburgh Gin, Mirrorball, Federation of Writers (Scotland), Scottish Writers Centre, Scottish Opera, Edwin Morgan Trust, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Edinburgh International Book Festival Thanks to the Steering Advisory, Programming and Community Engagement Groups Jim Carruth, Louise Welsh, Eleanor Logan, Eleanor Bell, David Kinloch, Willy Maley, Chris Dolan, Paul Docherty, Simon Biggam, Bob McDevitt, Lorraine Wilson, Adrian Searle, Andrew Forteath, James Aldridge, Aly Barr, Andrew Webb, Jenny Clark, Gordon Boag, Margaret Houston, Dawn Vallance, Alix McDonald, Maria-Elena Heather, Mari Binnie, Ann-Marie Burns, Katrina Brodin, Laura Tulloch, Zoe Strachan, Andy Robin, Lynda Scott, Jill Miller, David Laing, Andrew Olney, Gordon Anderson 2 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT SPRING SPEAKEASY Scottish Writers’ Centre Thursday 10 March | 18.00 – 19.30 | FREE Dust off those works in progress and put on your best prose for a night of literary readings in English, Gaelic and Scots. Submissions will be accepted at info@ scottishwriterscentre.org.uk with ‘Speakeasy’ as a subject line. An SWC member of staff will contact you to set up your time slot. LAUNCH OF FROM GLASGOW TO SATURN Friday 11 March | 16.00 – 17.00 | FREE WWW.AYEWRITE.COM RESTART SHOWCASE Wednesday 16 March 10.00 – 12.00 | FREE Playwright and director John Binnie has been working with Restart groups in Bridgeton and Maryhill. With this event the participants will share some of their personal writing with family, friends and guests. ST MUNGO’S MIRRORBALL POETRY OPEN MIC Thursday 17 March | 18.00 – 19.00 | FREE Glasgow’s Poetry Network host their popular open mic session, an opportunity for budding and established poets to read their own work. So whether you have a number of poetry collections out or are reading in public for the first time this is for you. INFORMATION FOR ALL Friday 11 March | 17.00 – 18.30 | FREE READING FOR HEALTH Friday 18 March | 16.30 – 17.30 | FREE Increasingly, access to Information is seen as a right – and information is power – but what happens to those that are left behind? Join this debate with Strathclyde University’s Information and Library Studies PhD students. Macmillan @ Glasgow Libraries is an award winning programme that has seen cancer health information points being rolled out to all Glasgow Libraries. Glasgow Libraries have curated collections on dementia and mood boosting books. NHS 24 provides trusted information with a new website. Come along to this session and hear more about the health resources available through Glasgow Libraries and how you can access them. CREATIVE CAFÉ Sunday 13 March | 16.30 – 18.00 | FREE Join author Doug Johnstone as he leads a session on creative writing and storytelling. SUDDEN FAME Sunday 13 March | 18.00 – 20.30 | FREE This is a spoken word event where members of the Federation of Writers (Scotland), members of writers’ groups and the public, are provided with an opportunity to perform their work within 3 minute slots. A special optional ‘hone your performance skills’ session will be offered the week before. For more info and to book a slot, email [email protected] JOURNEYS Have you ever encountered a new path, or crossroads? Did you end up where you wanted to go? Monday 14 March | 13:00 – 14:30 FREE This workshop, led by playwright and director John Binnie, provides an opportunity for adult literacy learners to explore roads travelled and develop their creative writing skills. Wednesday 16 March | 13:00 – 14:30 FREE Join learners from Glasgow’s diverse communities, including refugees and asylum seekers, new and settled migrant communities as they reflect on their journeys. Friday 18 March |13:00-14:30 FREE Come and join us for this lively event to share the personal journeys of writers taking part in Glasgow’s Learning programmes across the city. Contact Glasgow’s Learning on 0800 027 6402 to book. REMEBERING SANDY HUTCHISON Friday 18 March | 19.30 – 20.30 | FREE An event of words and song celebrating the life of Alexander Hutchison, the award winning Scottish poet and translator, who died in November 2015. Join with his family, friends and fellow poets as we remember the life and lines of a son of Buckie, who worked in Canada and USA before settling in Glasgow. Simply one of the leading poets of his generation. BIG BOOK QUIZ Saturday 19 March | 18.00 – 19.30 | FREE Come and join us as the Glasgow Book Group Network battle it out for Aye write Quiz Team 2016. Don’t miss Amazing Objects-Inspiring Stories at the Glasgow Museums Resources Centre (South Nitshill) on Sat 19 & Sun 20 March 1 – 3pm. Find creative inspiration from objects from around the world! Contact in advance to book your free ticket: 0141 276 9300 SPECIAL TICKET OFFERS We’ve got a special offer on tickets for two new festival strands this year: Aye Con: buy all six Aye Con events for just £35 (saving £10) – call 0141 353 8000 and ask for ‘Aye Con Festival Pass’ Aye Write! Introduces: buy all six Aye Write! Introduces events for just £30 (saving £6) – call 0141 353 8000 and ask for ‘Aye Write Introduces Festival Pass’ AYE WRITE! 2016 | 3 FREE EVENTS Join us for a showcase of literary talent from writers published in From Glasgow to Saturn, the magazine of University of Glasgow’s renowned Creative Writing programme. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 4TH FEBRUARY THURSDAY 10TH MARCH JON RONSON So you’ve been publicly shamed 18.30 – 19.30 | £9 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The shamed are people like us – people who, say, made a joke on social media that came out badly, or made a mistake at work. Once their transgression is revealed, collective outrage circles with the force of a hurricane and the next thing they know they’re being torn apart by an angry mob, jeered at, demonized, sometimes even fired from their job. Jon will be here talking about the updated paperback version of his powerful and hilarious, yet deeply honest book about modern life, which is full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it. MERVYN KING THURSDAY 10TH MARCH KEZIA DUGDALE MSP The Books That Made Me 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 For the first of our The Books that Made me slots this year we are pleased to welcome the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Kezia Dugdale was born in Aberdeen, and studied Law at the University of Aberdeen before completing a Masters in Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Kezia held a variety of jobs including working in pubs, coffee shops and a call centre, before joining the N.U.S. as a public affairs officer. Immediately before being elected in 2011 she worked as a policy adviser for George Foulkes at Holyrood. Join Kezia as she discusses some of the key books that have entertained and inspired her. Chaired by Clare English Mervyn King, the former Governor of the Bank of England (2003 – 2013), proposes revolutionary new concepts to answer a central question of our time: are money and banking a form of Alchemy or are they the Achilles Heel of a modern capitalist economy? Most accounts of the recent crisis focus on the symptoms and not the underlying causes of what went wrong. But those events comprised only the latest in a long series of financial crises since our present system of commerce became the cornerstone of modern capitalism. Alchemy explains why, ultimately, this was and remains a crisis not of banking but of ideas. The End of Alchemy 19.30 – 20.30 | £15 4 | AYE WRITE! 2016 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 10TH MARCH JAMES HARKIN & ANDREW HOSKEN Inside Islamic State 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Winner of a Fringe First for new writing, performance poet Luke Wright delivers a hurricane of a performance in this story of shattered friendship, class ceilings, and the hollow reality of the New Labour dream. At university, the mercurial Johnny Bevan ‘saves’ Nick, smashing his comfortable, middle class bubble and firing him up about politics, music and literature. Twenty years later, as their youthful dreams disintegrate with the social justice they hoped for, can Nick save Johnny from himself? With humour and humanity Luke challenges the rise of New Labour and David Cameron, and the abandonment of those left behind. Never out of the headlines, these two new books try to shed some light on the methods and ideology of Islamic State. Based on three years of on-the-ground reporting from every side of the Syrian conflict, Hunting Season is James Harkin’s quest to uncover the truth about how and why Islamic State came to target Western hostages. In Empire of Fear BBC reporter Andrew Hosken delivers the inside story on Islamic State. Through extensive first-hand reporting, Hosken builds a comprehensive picture of IS, their brutal ideology and exterminationist methods. Join the authors for what should be a fascinating discussion. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. BEE ROWLATT In Search of Mary 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 GRAHAM HANCOCK Magicians of the Gods 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 In Search of Mary: The Mother of All Journeys. Toddler in tow, Bee Rowlatt embarked on an extraordinary journey in search of the life and legacy of the first celebrity feminist: Mary Wollstonecraft. From the wild coasts of Norway to a naked re-birthing in California, via the blood-soaked streets of revolutionary Paris, Bee learned what drove her hero on and what’s been won and lost over the centuries in the battle for equality. On this biographical treasure hunt she found herself consulting a witch, a porn star, a quiet Norwegian archivist and the tenants of a blighted council estate in Leeds – getting much more than she bargained for. Graham Hancock’s multi-million bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods remains an astonishing, deeply controversial, wide-ranging investigation of the mysteries of our past and the evidence for Earth’s lost civilization. Twenty years on, Hancock returns with the sequel to his seminal work filled with completely new, scientific and archaeological evidence, which has only recently come to light… The evidence revealed in this book shows beyond reasonable doubt that an advanced civilization that flourished during the Ice Age was destroyed in the global cataclysms between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 5 THURSDAY 10TH MARCH LUKE WRIGHT What I learned from Johnny Bevan 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 10TH MARCH THURSDAY 10TH MARCH MOHAMMAD SARWAR My Remarkable Journey 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 Mohammad Sarwar’s autobiography is an inspirational account of how a boy from rural Pakistan rose to fame, fortune and political power. Born into hardship and persecution in Punjab in 1952, Sarwar’s life changed after arriving in Glasgow, where he transformed a corner shop to a cash-andcarry business with a turnover of more than £200 million anually. From business he moved into politics, becoming MP for Glasgow Govan, then Glasgow Central. No stranger to controversy – he voted against Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq, and was famously caught in a News of the World sting in 1997 for allegedly bribing an election rival – he has also been heavily involved in charity humanitarian work in Pakistan. Chaired by Bob Wylie. JAMES CRAWFORD Lost Buildings – from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Buildings are just like us. They can be born into wealth or poverty. They have parents – gods, kings, emperors, governments, visionaries and madmen – and friends and enemies. They have jobs, duties and responsibilities. They can succeed and fail. They can live. And they can die. Moving from the very beginnings of civilisation, right up to the digital horizons of cyberspace James Crawford will present a fascinating illustrated talk based on his incredibly well received book Fallen Glory which pieces together the stories of twenty of the world’s most fascinating lost and ruined structures, stories which are packed with drama and intrigue. Chaired by Francis McKee. In association with Festival of Architecture 2016. REIF LARSEN & ANNA GERBER The Future of Fiction? 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 OWEN O’NEILL Licking the Matchbox 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Reif Larsen will be in conversation about his latest digital book, Entrances and Exits with Anna Gerber, Creative Director Edition’s at Play. The digitally native book was commissioned by Visual Editions and released as part of Editions At Play, a new bookstore for books that cannot be printed, made with Google Creative Lab. Reif will kick off the conversation by drawing on his experience of working on digital books from the point of view of storyteller, sharing his experiences with adapting The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet into an app and more recently working with Google on Editions At Play. More information at : www.entrances-exits.com. Chaired by Craig Steele Owen O’Neill has been performing stand-up comedy all over the world for twenty eight years. His speciality is the one man show, heavily influenced by Spalding Gray and Eric Bogosian. He is also an accomplished actor and playwright who holds the record for the fastest sell-out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has won numerous awards and guested on Late Night with Conan O’Brien – twice! He’ll be reading from and talking about his latest book, Licking the Matchbox, a poignant, hilarious and emotionally charged collection of poems and stories. 6 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM FRIDAY 11TH MARCH LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Of Love and Desire 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 In 2014, Cara Ellison, a ‘cyberpunk hair-dyed Attenborough’ rather flippantly pledged to the internet she’d leave home, become itinerant and travel around the world to live with and write about some of the most interesting game developers and their cultural outlook. Her book Embed With Games talks about the way our game creators express the culture around them. The book has an exclusive introduction from Kieron Gillen, a cover from Irene Koh. She will be joined by Keza MacDonald one of the most respected gaming journalists around. Her work has been published by IGN, Edge, VG/247, Eurogamer and The Guardian. Chaired by Craig Steele. Craig Robertson Introduces MATT JOHNSON & MICHELLE DAVIES 18.00 – 19.00 | £6 STUART COSGROVE Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Matt Johnson is a former soldier and Police Officer. He was at the Libyan People’s Bureau when PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed. Whilst undergoing treatment for PTSD, he was encouraged to write about his experience of murders and terrorism. Wicked Games, his debut novel, is the result – a fast paced and authentic tale of modern day policing. Michelle Davies has been writing for magazines for twenty years, including Elle, Heat and Grazia. Gone Astray, her debut novel is written from the point of view of DC Maggie Neville, a Family Liaison Officer who is juggling an investigation and a crisis in her own life. Well known from his many appearances on TV and Radio (especially his opinionated weekly stint on BBC Radio Scotland’s Off the Ball), Stuart Cosgrove is appearing at Aye Write! this year as the author of Young Soul Rebels a compelling and intimate story of Northern Soul, Britain’s most fascinating musical underground scene. The book takes the reader on a journey into the iconic clubs that made it famous – The Twisted Wheel, Wigan Casino and the Blackpool Mecca and celebrates both the great unknown records that built its global reputation and the cratedigging collectors that travelled to America to unearth these hitherto unknown sounds. Chaired by Neil Murray – National Theatre of Scotland. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 7 FRIDAY 11TH MARCH A warm welcome back to Aye Write! for the bestselling author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin with his new collection of love poems, Of Love and Desire. Written over a lifetime, it captures loves many forms – from rapture, infatuation, urgency, to sorrow, heartache and disillusion. Poetry was de Bernières’ first and greatest literary love, a passion evident in the musicality and emotion of his poems, which are full of stories and the truth of lived experience. Don’t miss what will be a spellbinding evening with this master poet and storyteller. CARA ELLISON & KEZA MACDONALD Inside the Minds of Gamers and Game Creators 18.00 – 19.00 | £6 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM FRIDAY 11TH MARCH FRIDAY 11TH MARCH LIMMY Daft Wee Stories 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 Daft Wee Stories is Limmy’s first book. It is a collection of stories. There are short stories. There are longer stories. There are stupid stories. There are thoughtful stories. There are upside-down stories. There are normalway-up stories. There are weird stories. There are less weird stories. There are really weird stories. There is nothing else like it. Come and hear Limmy read from and talk about the book. You could maybe even ask him a question. Brian Limond is an actor, writer and comedian, the star of Limmy’s Show. Chaired by Janice Forsyth this event will be recorded by BBC Scotland for broadcast. THE BOOKSHOP BAND 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 We are pleased to welcome to Aye Write! for the first time, The Bookshop Band. They are Ben Please and Beth Porter, who write songs inspired by books and play them in bookshops and at book festivals. Their performances are inextricably linked to the books themselves, as the band take it in turns to describe where the inspiration for each song came from. They have toured all over the UK, Ireland and Europe and have appeared regularly on radio and television. They are incredibly prolific songwriters and in 2016 will be releasing the equivalent of an album of new material a month! 8 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BARNEY HOSKYNS Woodstock: Small Town Talk 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Think ‘Woodstock’ and the mind turns to the seminal 1969 festival that crowned a seismic decade of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. Renowned music critic and rock journalist Barney Hoskyns recreates Woodstock’s community of brilliant dysfunctional musicians, opportunistic hippie capitalists and scheming dealers drawn to the area by Dylan and The Band. Central to the book is the broodingly powerful presence of Albert Grossman manager of Dylan, The Band, Janis Joplin and Todd Rundgren and Big Daddy of a personal fiefdom in Bearsville that encompassed studios, restaurants and his own record label. Chaired by Nicola Meighan. ALEX GORDON & MAGGIE DUN The Heyday of Scottish Newspapers 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Join us for a look behind the headlines of the biggest stories of the last fifty years in Scottish Journalism told by the people who were there and who broke the stories. Alex Gordon’s Jinx Dogs Burns Now Flu is a hilarious book in which some of the best stories are the ones that didn’t make it to print. Bill Anderson was the much-respected editor of The Sunday Post and Bill’s widow Maggie will be here to talk about his autobiography, a fascinating account of his childhood in working-class Scotland in the 1930s and 40s and of his time at the best-read newspaper in the world. Chaired by Margaret Clayton. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH CHRISTOPHER BEANLAND Brutalist Concrete 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 In September 2014, the Scottish Independence referendum, the United Kingdom came close to being separated after three centuries. Then after a conclusive No vote, the SNP took almost every seat in Scotland at the 2015 general election. In this book Tam Dalyell, one of our most principled and well-respected politicians, offers a personal reflection on why the UK is on the brink of the most serious constitutional crisis in its history. Dalyell also offers his thoughts on where we find ourselves now and suggests ways forward which will inform debate as the UK moves into a new political era. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. No modern architecture movement has aroused so much awe and so much ire as Brutalism and Glasgow has seen its fair share of examples of the form. Christopher Beanland has written about architecture for Independent, Guardian and Telegraph and his book Concrete Concept takes architecture admirers on a tour of the world’s most impressive, celebrated and controversial Brutalist buildings. Featuring 50 existing international examples, built between the 1950s and the 1970s, it skips from one country to the next to illustrate why concrete buildings grew to become both the most hotly contested and fashionable architectural style in history. In association with Festival of Architecture 2016. TASHA KAVANAGH & LAURA POWELL Unsettling, Obsessive Fiction 12.00 – 13.00 | £6 SARAH SHEPHARD Women in sport 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 A pair of eerie and deeply moving novels that will appeal to fans of books that leave you emotionally drained and just a little bit spooked. Tasha Kavanagh was shortlisted for the 2015 COSTA First Novel Award for Things We Have in Common, a tale of loneliness and teenage obsession. Laura Powell is a graduate of the Faber Academy Novel Writing Course, and has seen several of her poems and short stories published in literary magazines and anthologies. The Unforgotten is an unforgettable tale of love and loss. There’s a battle being fought. It’s raging on the sports fields, in the newsrooms and behind the scenes at every major broadcaster. The warriors are women in sport and in this book their battles will be broken down to discover if, and how they can ever be won. Why do the most successful female athletes earn less than their male counterparts? Why are girls still growing up believing that sport is ‘for boys’? Join Sarah Shepherd, Features Editor at Sport magazine, as she discusses all of the issues contained in her candid and revealing book. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 9 SATURDAY 12TH MARCH TAM DALYELL A Fractured Union 12.00 – 13.00 | £10 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH SATURDAY 12TH MARCH PAUL VALLELY The Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism 13.30 – 14.30 | £10 ANDY BECKETT Promised You A Miracle: UK 80–82 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 With a series of potent gestures Pope Francis has proved himself a Pope of Surprises. He declared a mission to restore authenticity and integrity to a Roman Catholic Church bedevilled by sex abuse and secrecy, in-fighting and arrogance. But there is a hidden past to this modest man with the winning smile. His decade as leader of Argentina’s Jesuits left the religious order deeply split. And his behaviour during Argentina’s Dirty War, when military death squads snatched innocent people from the streets, raised serious questions. Paul Vallely has an international reputation as a commentator on religion, society and political issues. In Promised You a Miracle, Guardian Journalist Andy Beckett takes a focussed look at Britain in the first three years of the ‘80s. A time of hope and of dread: of Cold War tension and imminent conflict, when crowds in the street could mean an ecstatic national celebration or an inner-city riot. During the first precarious years of Margaret Thatcher’s government the country was changing, leaving the kinder, more sluggish postwar Britain decisively behind and becoming the country we have lived in ever since: assertive, commercially driven, outward-looking and often harsher than its neighbours. Chaired by Anna Day. JAMES REBANKS The Shepherd’s Life 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 JASON WOOD & IAN HAYDN SMITH New British Cinema 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 From James Rebanks, the Herdwick Shepherd, comes The Shepherd’s Life, a story of the Lake District and its people. He, and his family, have lived and worked in and around the Lake District for generations, their way of life ordered by the seasons and the work they demand. These modern dispatches from an ancient landscape tell the story of a deep-rooted attachment to place, describing a way of life that is little noticed and yet has profoundly shaped this landscape. James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd’s year, offering a unique account of rural life and a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. Chaired by Sara Davies. Over the past couple of years the success of British films at international film festivals, as well as the numerous awards bestowed on films such as 12 Years a Slave, have demonstrated that British cinema has undergone a genuine renaissance. Film-makers such as Clio Barnard, Richard Ayoade, Steve McQueen, Jonathan Glazer, Carol Morley, Yann Demange, Peter Strickland and Ben Wheatley gave interviews for this book and provide a valuable insight into their work and working methods. Join the authors for a lively debate about the current state of the British film industry. Chaired by David Archibald. 10 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH OWEN HOPKINS Breaking the Mould of British Architecture 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 Whether you’re Jean Genet or Jimmy Boyle, Oscar Wilde or Henri Charriere, prison can provide inspiration to write. We are joined today by two people who understand that process intimately. Sarah Leipciger was born in Canada and now lives in London where she teaches creative writing to prisoners. The Mountain Can Wait is her first novel. Best-selling author Noel ‘Razor’ Smith has spent over 30 years in prison. He has been convicted of everything from armed robbery to prison escape. The Criminal Alphabet is an authoritative dictionary of criminal slang – an absorbing journey, through words, into the heart of the criminal world. The history of architecture is a story of continual innovation and at certain points within that story comes an architect whose vision completely defies convention. Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture focuses on twelve such figures from the history of British architecture, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh, James Stirling RA, Sir John Vanbrugh, Sir John Soane RA, Cedric Price, FAT and Zaha Hadid RA. Owen Hopkins is a writer, historian and curator of architecture. He is the Architecture Programme Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts. In association with Festival of Architecture 2016. PAUL DU NOYER Conversations with McCartney 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 LITIR CHUN AN T-SAIGHDEIR GUN AINM (Letters to an Unknown Soldier) 15.00 – 16.00 | £6 In 1989, Paul Du Noyer was contacted by Paul McCartney’s office and asked to interview the star as they had met once before and enjoyed a good rapport. In the years that followed, Paul continued to meet, interview and work for Paul McCartney on a regular basis, producing magazine articles, tour programmes, album liner notes and website editorial. Conversations with McCartney is the culmination of a long association with McCartney and his music, coupling McCartney’s own, candid thoughts with observation and analysis. Paul du Noyer has written for NME, Q, Mojo and was Associate Editor at Word from 2002 until its demise in 2012. BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and CLÀR Book launch! Writers of all ages stepped back in time to 1914 – 18 and the First World War to create deeply personal letters to family members and loved ones. Each letter is unique. Some of the writers will be present to share the story and emotions within their Letter to the Unknown Soldier. Chaired by Alan Campbell. Leabhar ùr! Chuir sgrìobhadairean – òg agus sean – iad fhèin ann an suidheachadh dhaoine aig àm a’ Chiad Chogaidh a’ sgrìobhadh litrichean gu càirdean is luchd-gràidh. Tha gach litir sònraichte a rèir suidheachadh àraid gach neach. Innsidh cuid de na sgrìobhadairean an sgeul air cùl na litreach aca fhèin. Bidh Ailean Caimbeul sa chathair. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 11 SATURDAY 12TH MARCH SARAH LEIPCIGER & NOEL ‘RAZOR’ SMITH Prison – Inside and out 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH SATURDAY 12TH MARCH RUTH DAVIDSON MSP The Books That Made Me 16.30 – 17.30 | £10 KEVIN MACNEIL & BENJAMIN WOOD The Island as Festival or Refuge 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Ruth Davidson is the Leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Glasgow regional list. She has studied at both Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities and has worked as a BBC journalist and signaller in the Territorial Army. She joined the Conservative Party in 2009, and was elected leader in 2011. Ruth will be discussing the books that have made a big impact on her life. Chaired by Claire English. Kevin MacNeil is an award-winning novelist, poet, editor and screenwriter from the Outer Hebrides. The Brilliant & Forever is his third novel and is set on an island like no other, where an annual festival provides the setting for an energetic, laugh-out-loud satire on what we value in culture and in our lives. The Ecliptic is the mesmerising new novel from Benjamin Wood. On a forested island off the coast of Istanbul stands Portmantle, a gated refuge for beleaguered artists. There a curious assembly of painters, architects, writers and musicians strive to restore their faded talents. What is ‘The Ecliptic’, and how does it relate to their abandoned lives? Chaired by the novelist Rodge Glass MARCUS BERKMANN Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Years of Star Trek 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 PAUL KAVANAGH, MURDO FRASER & RUTH WISHART Do We Take Our Politicians Too Seriously? 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Published to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the most iconic sci-fi series of all time and boldly going where several other people have been before, Marcus Berkmann’s book maps the course of the series from its first five-year mission (rudely curtailed to three), through the dark years of the 1970s, the triumphant film series and The Next Generation, to the current ‘reboot’ films. With wit, insight and a huge pile of DVDs, he seeks to answer all the important questions. Why did Kirk’s shirt always get torn when he had a fist fight? And what’s the worst imaginable insult in Klingon? (Your mother has a smooth forehead.) Behind the politics and power, the soundbites and scandals our elected representatives can be eccentric, pompous, fallible and fair game for the satirist’s pen. Join three distinguished guests to discuss the state of political satire in Scotland; Paul Kavanagh whose Wee Ginger Dug columns from The National are collected in Barking up the Right Tree; Murdo Fraser an MSP and author of The Rivals: Montrose and Argyll and the Struggle for Scotland; and respected journalist and broadcaster Ruth Wishart. 12 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH WALTER STEPHEN A Dirty Swindle: True Stories of Scots in the Great War 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Adam Roberts is considered one of the UK’s most important writers of SF. In his latest novel The Thing Itself Adam turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters’ The Thing. Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they come to hate each other, and learn that they are not alone. Event supported by Glasgow University. Walter Stephen provides an uninhibited look at the misery and toil of World War I through a collection of twelve stories. Providing a Scottish perspective, he takes a look at reports from home and abroad with scepticism, delving deeper to unveil the unencumbered truth. Recalling Siegfried Sassoon’s words, Stephen reveals the failures of those in command as The Great War became known as A Dirty Swindle. The varied accounts chronicle the progress of troops from recruitment to training to the frontline, as well as revealing a side of Field Marshal Haig never seen before. Chaired by Michael Malone. CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE Black Widow 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 JANET ELLIS The Butcher’s Hook 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 Twists abound in the brilliant new psychological thriller from Aye Write! favourite Chris Brookmyre, starring his legendary character Jack Parlabane. Diana Jager is clever, strong and successful, a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing. Then she meets Peter. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident, a nightmare end to their fairytale romance. But Peter’s sister Lucy doesn’t believe in fairytales and tasks maverick reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling Black Widow… Actress and presenter Janet Ellis will discuss her debut novel, The Butcher’s Hook, a brilliantly dark and unexpected tale of a young girl in 18th-century London determined to take her life in her own hands, at any cost… Janet Ellis is best known for presenting the BBC children’s television programmes Blue Peter and more recently as a regular guest on The Wright Stuff. Chaired by Peggy Hughes. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 13 SATURDAY 12TH MARCH ADAM ROBERTS Science Fiction’s Greatest Question – ‘Are We Alone in the Universe?’ 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 12TH MARCH SATURDAY 12TH MARCH JAMES YORKSTON & COLIN MACINTYRE An Evening of Novels and Songs 19.30 – 21.00 | £12 Two fine Scottish songwriters have released novels to great acclaim and we are very pleased that they have agreed to share a stage at Aye Write! to read from their books but also play a few songs and talk about the relationship between their fiction and songwriting. Colin MacIntyre of Mull Historical Society’s The letters of Ivor Punch is an original and multi-faceted island set novel that won the EIBF’s First Book Award. James Yorkston has released twelve albums and was an early member of the Fence Collective. His debut novel Three Craws is a beautifully evoked portrait of contemporary rural life in Scotland for those dealt a meagre hand. Chaired by Fiona Shepherd. LIZ LOCHHEAD, JIM CARRUTH, & GERRIE FELLOWS The Hunterian Poems 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Edited by Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University, The Hunterian Poems collects works by Scotland’s national poets Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan and Glasgow’s poet laureate Jim Carruth along with many more of Scotland’s best poets writing in Gaelic, Scots and English including Stewart Conn, Meg Bateman, Gerda Stevenson, Elizabeth Burns, David Kinloch and Aonghas MacNeacail. The paintings, beautifully reproduced in the text, include works by J.D. Fergusson, Cadell, Peploe and Joan Eardley. Join us for what will be a fascinating enquiry into the relationship between the literary and visual arts. MASON CROSS, DOUGLAS LINDSEY & MARK LEGGATT Crime Beyond These Shores 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 JOAN BAKEWELL Stop the Clocks: Thoughts on What I Leave Behind 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 For this event we are bringing together three crime writers from Scotland who have chosen not to head down the Tartan Noir route of setting their books here but instead have given their books a more international flavour. Mason Cross has enjoyed tremendous success in a short space of time and his latest Winterlong is the third instalment of his U.S. set Carter Blake series. Mark Leggatt’s Names of the Dead follows Connor Montrose from Paris to Morocco and finally to Tehran on a nail-biting, action packed ride. Douglas Lindsay, author of the recently filmed The Legend of Barney Thompson has chosen Estonia for his latest, Song of the Dead a new series introducing detective Ben Westphall. Now in her eighties, Joan Bakewell one of Britain’s finest and most spirited women looks back on her varied, sometimes breathless life: she has been a teacher, copywriter, studio manager, broadcaster, journalist, the government’s Voice of Older People and chair of the theatre company Shared Experience. Joan has written four radio plays, two novels and an autobiography The Centre of The Bed. Her latest, Stop the Clocks is a book of musings, in which she talks of the present, of her family, of friends and literature – and also of what she will leave behind. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. Event sponsored by the Open University. 14 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH NEIL MACKAY & BEN MCPHERSON Chilling Thrillers 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 The rich diversity of Scotland’s railway network has never before been the subject of a specialist atlas. This book showcases 181 topographical and railway maps, telling the story of the country’s railways from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Researched and written by David Spaven – who co-wrote the best-selling Mapping the Railways – this beautiful atlas allows the reader to understand the bigger story of the effects of the railway on the landscape and the impact of Scotland’s distinctive geography on the pattern of railway development over a period of nearly two hundred years. Sunday Herald columnist Neil Mackay’s The Wolf Trial is inspired by an extraordinary true case – the firstever documented account of a serial killer in world history. Set in 16th Century Germany in a society still trapped by a medieval mindset, the townsfolk clamour for the killer to be tried as a werewolf. Ben McPherson was born in Glasgow but is now a columnist for Aftenposten, Norway’s leading quality daily newspaper. His novel A Line of Blood is a chilling psychological thriller about family, the ties that bind us, and the lies that destroy us. SUSAN CAMPBELL Ronnie: A Dog Owner’s Guide to Fulfillment 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 ROSEMARY GORING & AJAY CLOSE Historical Fictions 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 When Susan and Colin Campbell settled down to married life without children, they instinctively felt it was the right time for them to adopt a dog. Ronnie, a big-hearted Lurcher-Cross, bounced into their lives and transformed them in unimagined ways, healing past wounds, introducing them to new friends and pointing them in the direction of life changing opportunities. This book is the candid, funny and moving story of how one stress busting, four-legged intervention, with a VERY waggy tail, changed everything. Long-time friend of Aye Write! Rosemary Goring returns with her new novel. Dacre’s War tells the story of personal and political vengeance in the aftermath of the battle of Flodden, set against the backdrop of the Scottish and English borders, a land where there is never any chance of peace. In Ajay Close’s A Petrol Scented Spring, a newlywed tries to discover the haunted past of her husband, a prison doctor. She comes to suspect the answer lies with a hunger-striking suffragette who was force-fed and held in solitary confinement. But what really happened between Hugh and his prisoner patient? AYE WRITE! 2016 | 15 SUNDAY 13TH MARCH DAVID SPAVEN The Railway Atlas of Scotland 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH SUNDAY 13TH MARCH CRAIG ROBERTSON, ANNA SMITH & ANNE RANDALL Great Glasgow Crime 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 Explore the nooks and crannies of Glasgow through the eyes of three of the city’s best crime writers. Craig Robertson’s In Place of Death, looks at the world of urban explorers and the killers preying on them. In Anna Smith’s Rough Cut, illegal diamonds and the seemingly accidental death of a Pakistani bride open a story of secrets and danger. In Anne Randall’s Silenced by a murderer who buries his victims alive has escaped from prison and is on the run in Glasgow… Chaired by the crime writer Douglas Skelton. ROHAN GUNATILLAKE Mindfulness for Modern Lives 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 In This is Happening, Glasgow based Rohan Gunatillake, creator of the best-selling buddhify app, argues that to lead more mindful, calm and happy lives, switching off is the last thing we need to do. Instead he gives you the ideas, principles and techniques to bring awareness, composure and kindness to wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Filled with over sixty practical exercises which you can plug into your life straight away, the book’s mobile mindfulness approach presents a way to get the benefits from meditation however busy your life is. Chaired by Daniel Gray. CATHERINE CZERKAWSKA The Jewel 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 ANDREW DEMPSTER Hills with attitude, not altitude! 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 Catherine Czerkawska is a multi-award-winning novelist and playwright who lives in Ayrshire. Her new book, The Jewel, is a luscious historical novel about Robert Burns’ wife, Jean Armour, set during the dramatic years of their courtship in Mauchline, their married life at Ellisland and in Dumfries, and Robert’s early death, all against a background simmering with political intrigue and turmoil. Join Catherine in The Burns Library at The Mitchell for what promises to be a unique take on Scotland’s most famous literary son. Join Andrew Dempster for an illustrated talk about his new guidebook to his favourite hills under 2,000 feet. This first volume focuses on hills on the Scottish mainland, including some that are rarely climbed, as well as some that are well-known and iconic, all of which have great character and offer a distinctive hillwalking experience. Andrew has almost 40 years’ experience of walking, scrambling and backpacking in the Scottish Highlands and Islands. He has climbed the Corbetts, all the Munros twice and has written the only guidebook to the Grahams (mountains 2,000–2,500 feet in height). 16 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH AMY LIPTROT & DAN BOOTHBY The Island as Sanctuary 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 We’ve often had authors talking about their latest book being turned into a film or a TV series but this is the first time Aye Write! will have an author talk about their book becoming a game. Chris Brookmyre’s 2013 novel Bedlam has been released as a first person shooter by RedBedlam and he’ll be here to discuss the unusual genesis of the game with Burnistoun’s Rab Florence and Kirsty Strain, who provided the voices for the characters. Chaired by Allison Gardner. TOM BLASS AND DONALD MURRAY North Sea Tales 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 CATRIONA LEXY CAMPBELL Shrapnel 15.00 – 16.00 | £6 Saturnine and quick-tempered, the formidable North Sea is a playground, a theatre of war and a cultural crossing-point which it has shaped the world in myriad ways, Tom Blass’s The Naked Shore takes us around the edges of the North Sea meeting fishermen, artists and bomb disposal experts. Tom will be joined by Donald S. Murray whose Herring Tales follows a journey from the western edge of Norway to Shetland and from the Outer Hebrides to the Baltic coast of Germany. Telling tales of the fish that was of central importance to the lives of our ancestors, noting how both it – and those involved in their capture – were celebrated in the art, literature, music and folklore of northern Europe. Simultaneous translation facilities available Gaelic author Catriona Lexy Campbell has adapted her late father Norman’s superb novel Shrapnel into a stage play which is currently touring Scotland. Broadcaster Mark Wringe will host a discussion with Catriona Lexy, the director Muireann Kelly, and Calum MacDonald, one of the actors, about the challenges of writing for dramatic purposes. Tha an sgrìobhadair Catrìona Lexy Chaimbeul air Shrapnel, an leabhar cliùiteach aig a h-athair Tormod, ath-sgrìobhadh airson an àrd-ùrlair. Anns an t-seisean seo bidh an craoladair Mark Wringe a’ conaltradh ri Catrìona Lexy, Muireann Kelly, stiùiriche an dràma agus Calum Dòmhnallach, aon de na prìomh actairean mu na dùbhlain an cois a bhith a’ toirt ficsean ainmeil beò air an àrd-ùrlar. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 17 SUNDAY 13TH MARCH In her extraordinary memoir The Outrun, Amy Liptrot returns to Orkney after more than a decade away, she is drawn back to the sheep farm where she grew up. Back on the land that was once home, memories of her childhood merge with her recent life in London and the hedonistic cycle of drinking that gradually consumed her. Dan Boothby had been drifting for more than twenty years when, after a lifelong obsession with Gavin Maxwell’s Ring of Bright Water trilogy, he moved to Maxwell’s former home, a tiny island off the west cost. Beautifully written and frequently leavened with a dry wit, Island of Dreams is a charming celebration of the particularities of place. CHRIS BROOKMYRE, KIRSTY STRAIN & RAB FLORENCE The Creation of Bedlam 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH SUNDAY 13TH MARCH MARGARET MACMILLAN History’s People 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 BEN STEWART WITH FRANK HEWETSON The Extraordinary Story of the Arctic Thirty 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Join Margaret MacMillan, the author of The War that Ended Peace, as she discusses her new book History’s People. What difference do individuals make to history? Instead of great concepts such as industrialisation or globalisation it’s often real people, leaders in particular, and the decisions that they make that change our lives irrevocably. What is the role of personality in these explorers, rulers and politicians? Is it possible to find or discern patterns in different types of personality – tyranny, risk-taking, curiosity, reluctance to act? This book interrogates the past to ask very big questions about the role of individuals and their behaviour. In September 2013, 30 men and women from 18 countries – the crew of Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise – decide to draw a line in the ice and protest the drilling in the Arctic. Their protest was met with brutal force and they were charged with piracy and faced 15 years in Russia’s prison system. Ben Stewart, who spearheaded the campaign to release the Arctic 30 and has written the book Don’t Trust, Don’t Fear, Don’t Beg, tells an astonishing tale of passion, courage and survival. He will be in conversation with Frank Hewetson, one of the Arctic Thirty. Chaired by Roland Gulliver. ROWLAND WHITE Into the Black 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 ANDY WIGHTMAN & MALACHY TALLACK Our Relationship with the Land 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Into the Black is a trip to the high frontier of space exploration and the dangers it brings. On 12th April 1981 a revolutionary new spacecraft blasted off from Florida on her maiden flight. NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia was the most advanced flying machine ever built –the world’s first real spaceship. Yet less than an hour after its spectacular departure it was clear that all was not well. Tiles designed to protect Columbia from re-entry were missing from the heatshield. Into the Black is a gripping high stakes cold-war story and a celebration of a machine that, hailed as one of the seven new wonders of the world, rekindled our passion for spaceflight. Andy Wightman’s updated book, The Poor Had No Lawyers, asks fundamental questions about Scottish land. Who owns Scotland? How did they get it? What happened to all the common land in Scotland? Has the Scottish Parliament made any difference and can we get our common good land back? In Sixty Degrees North Malachy Tallack explores land and lives touched by the sixtieth parallel which marks a borderland between the northern and southern worlds. This circle of latitude also slices though Shetland, where Malachy has spent most of his life. Join both authors for a hugely topical discussion about our relationship with and ownership of the land. 18 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH JACK AND JOHN SUTHERLAND Stars, Cars and Crystal Meth 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 When his widowed father – once a formidable high court judge – drifted into vagueness if not dementia, Adam Mars-Jones took responsibility for his care. Trapped in the flat where the family had always lived, the two men entered an oblique new stage in their relationship. Kid Gloves featured in many Books of the Year lists at the end of 2015. In 1990, Cathy Renzenbrink’s brother was knocked down. Sitting by his unconscious body in hospital, Cathy and her parents willed him to survive. The Last Act of Love is the story of what happened to Cathy and her brother, a heart-breaking yet uplifting testament to a family’s survival and the price we pay for love. Ben Rowlands, Aamer Anwar, Naomi McAuliffe AYE RIGHTS! IAIN OVERTON Gun Baby Gun 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 There are almost one billion guns across the globe today – more than ever before. There are 12 billion bullets produced every year – almost two bullets for every person on this earth. And as many as 500,000 people are killed by them every year worldwide. Gun Baby Gun takes the award-winning investigative journalist Iain Overton on a shocking and eye-opening journey to over 25 countries. He unearths some hard truths about the terrible realities of war and gun crime. Harrowing and sobering, it’s a riveting exposé that anyone with even the smallest interest in how the world really works will want to read. Chaired by Neil MacKay. chaired by Prof. Willy Maley We have all watched in horror as thousands of people have been displaced from their homes by war and famine. Come and join this debate on human rights with particular reference to the refugee crisis. Ben Rawlence is a former researcher for Human Rights Watch and the author of City of Thorns, in which he interweaves the stories of nine individuals to show what life is like in the Dadaab refugee camp. Aamer Anwar is a lawyer who is noted for his campaigning on a range of issues including for the closure of the Dungavel Detention Centre. Naomi McAuliffe is Programme Director for Amnesty in Scotland. Supported by Glasgow University. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 19 SUNDAY 13TH MARCH Jack Sutherland has led a truly remarkable life. A confirmed alcoholic in his early teens, by his twenties he was PA and bodyguard to the likes of Michael Stipe, Ru Paul and Mickey Rourke. His work exposed him to many lethal addictions; marijuana, ecstasy and perhaps most damaging of all crystal meth. On the verge of death and weighing only nine stone, Jack is saved by his father, one of the literary world’s most esteemed personalities – John Sutherland, Professor of English at UCL, and a former Chair of the Man Booker Prize. Join father and son as they discuss this extraordinary book with grim but ultimately inspiring honesty. Chaired by Rodge Glass. CATHY RENTZENBRINK & ADAM MARS-JONES Fathers and Brothers Disappearing 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 13TH MARCH SUNDAY 13TH MARCH TOM DEVINE The Tannahill Lecture 19.30 – 21.00 | £12 Restless Nation: Scotland 1999 to 2016 and Beyond. There can be no relationship in Europe’s history more creative, significant, vexed and uneasy than that between Scotland and England. Tom Devine’s seminal new book explores this extraordinary history in all its ambiguity, from the seventeenth century to the present. Scotland and England have broadly benefitted from each other’s presence – for long periods nobody questioned the union which joined them. But as Devine makes clear, it has for the most part been a relationship based on consent, not force, on mutual advantage, rather than antagonism – and it has always held the possibility of a political parting of the ways. DENISE MINA, JAMES OSWALD, BROOKE MAGNANTI & LEYE ADENLE Noir at the Bar 19.30 – 21.00 | £10 Based on a popular format imported from the States, Noir at the Bar Glasgow is delighted to bring its occasionally chaotic, always entertaining series of author appearances – along with a special pop-up bar – to Aye Write and the Mitchell Library. Run by crime writers Russel D McLean and Jay Stringer, Noir at the Bar is an evening of readings, drinks and the occasional, often unexpected, surprise. We’re pleased to welcome back Noir at the Bar Veterans Denise Mina and James Oswald, along with new guests including Brooke Magnanti, Leye Adenle, Emma L Clapperton for a memorable evening that will delight fans of crime fiction. 20 | AYE WRITE! 2016 Adrian Searle Introduces JEM LESTER & LARA WILLIAMS 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Jem Lester was a journalist for nine years and saw the Berlin Wall fall – and though there, he denies personal responsibility. He was also the last journalist to interview Fred Zinnemann, before the director died. He denies responsibility for that too. He does however claim full responsibility for his debut novel Schtum which tells of the complex relationship between a single father and his autistic son. Lara Williams is a graduate of the Manchester Writing School and has published short fiction in McSweeneys, Guardian and NME. She also played drums for the band Pins. Her debut collection Treats is a break-up album which mixes wry humour with a pervading sense of alienation. ADAM WHITE Motown: The Sound of Young America 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 When the Motown Revue played Glasgow in 1965 Scotland got a first-hand taste of the Detroit-based independent record company which had become a hugely successful production line of suave, sassy and sophisticated music. Adam White’s book is packed with fresh insights gleaned from scores of interviews with key players, revealing the workings of the Motown machine which delivered hit after hit in the 60s, 70s and 80s for Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Jackson 5, the Temptations and many more. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM TUESDAY 15TH MARCH GEORGE MONBIOT How Did We Get Into This Mess?: Politics, Equality, Nature 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 DAVID F. ROSS with Bobby Bluebell, Theresa Talbot & Colin McCredie The Rise & Fall of the Miraculous Vespas 18:00 – 19.00 | £9 Join David F.Ross, author of the critically acclaimed The Last Days of Disco in conversation with BBC presenter, Theresa Talbot (author of Penance) for the launch of his new book The Rise & Fall Of The Miraculous Vespas. Described by Stuart Cosgrove as ‘a madcap romp through the 1980s with Ayrshire’s greatest band. It captures a world of indie rock and attendant wallopers with hilarious élan’. Featuring a special guest appearance by the Miraculous Vespas manager, Max Mojo (played by Colin McCredie) and a live acoustic performance of the band’s legendary hit single, by Bobby Bluebell. Sue Reid Sexton, needed to escape from her hectic household to create some space to write. So she got into her campervan and drove. In Writing on the Road: Campervan Love and the Joy of Solitude Sue explores her journeys over the last few years, and the inspiration they brought. In Facing Forwards, Lorraine Wilson tells of her journey through Europe in 2015. Following years of poor health, financial meltdown, heartbreak and bereavement, she needed to take time and reassess her priorities and decided to travel – it became a life-changing three months… EDWARD LUCAS Cyberphobia: Identity, Trust, Security and the Internet 18:00 – 19.00 | £9 Edward Lucas is a senior editor at the Economist. He is a regular contributor to the Today programme and Newsnight, where his expertise includes energy, cybersecurity, espionage and the politics and economics of Eastern Europe. In his book Cyberphobia he lays bare the issues surrounding internet security and with our ever increasing dependence on smart-phones this threat is unlikely to diminish. He also explores the most successful defensive cyber-strategies, options for tracking down transgressors and argues that we are moving into a post-digital age where once again faceto-face communication will be the only interaction that really matters. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 21 TUESDAY 15TH MARCH The UK’s Leading political and environmental commentator talks about where we have gone wrong, and what we can do about it. How Did We Get into this Mess?, collects George’s journalism over the last seven years, which looks at: the devastation of our environment, the crisis of inequality, the corporate takeover of Nature, our obsessions with growth and profit and the decline of the political debate over what to do. While his diagnosis of the problems in front of us is clearsighted and reasonable, he also develops solutions to challenge the politics of fear. Supported by Strathclyde University. SUE REID SEXTON & LORRAINE WILSON Journeys of Solitude and Rediscovery 18:00 – 19.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM TUESDAY 15TH MARCH TUESDAY 15TH MARCH ALEX GRAY & BILL DALY More Great Glasgow Crime 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Alex Gray is the co-founder of the Bloody Scotland crime festival which takes place in September. We are always pleased to see her here at Aye Write , especially when she has a brand new DCI William Lorimer book out – The Darkest Goodbye. Bill Daly originally comes from Renfrew and spent forty years living away from Scotland, he returned to Glasgow in 2015. Black Mail, the first book in the DCI Charlie Anderson series, is a contemporary, Glasgow-based, crime novel that explores a world of drugs, blackmail, violence and murder. It was followed by Double Mortice and he will be here reading from the third in the series, Cutting Edge. Chaired by Michael Malone. GRAEME MACRAE BURNET & PETER ARNOTT Murdering the Genre 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 We think you’ll enjoy this pair of smart literary mysteries that defy the conventions of traditional crime novels. Graeme Macrae Burnet has lived in Prague, Bordeaux, Porto and London. His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae concerns a triple murder in a crofting village in 1860’s Wester Ross. Peter Arnott is a successful playwright whose plays have been performed in London, Moscow, Melbourne and New York. Moon Country is a wild and woolly Scottish Western, a family road movie, a slightly insane hermeneutic treatise on nationhood and belonging, and a definitely lunatic quest for personal redemption. JACKIE KAY A Modern Classic 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 THE REVEREND RICHARD COLES How I Went From Pop to Pulpit 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 To celebrate the publication of the Picador Classic edition of her novel Trumpet (with a new introduction by Ali Smith), we are pleased to welcome back the fabulous poet, playwright, novelist, children’s author and broadcaster, Jackie Kay. Jackie is going to read from a selection of her work including her recent collection of short stories Reality, Reality and her most recent collection of poetry, The Empathetic Store. Fathomless Riches is warm, witty and wise memoir of popular BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live presenter and former member of the Communards, the Reverend Richard Coles. It is an extraordinary book in which he divulges with searing honesty and intimacy his pilgrimage from a rock-and-roll life of sex and drugs in the Communards to one devoted to God and Christianity. The result is one of the most disarmingly frank and utterly charming biographies of recent times, and one which has the power to console as well as shock. Chaired by Peter Ross. 22 | AYE WRITE! 2016 FAMILY DAY 5 MARCH 2016 Family Day. A mix of Free and Ticketed events WEEWRITE.CO.UK ayewrite Aye Write SATURDAY 5TH MARCH BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THE CROCODIAMOND 10am – 11am | £5 SHARK IN THE PARK ON A WINDY DAY 10.15am – 11.15am | £5 Join Debi Gliori, the best-selling author and illustrator of No Matter What, Stormy Weather, The Trouble with Dragons and the Witch Baby series (among others), and musicians from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, for an interactive art and music filled session. Debi has recently been working with pupils from Sandaig Primary, Glasgow to create images to accompany the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s performance of The Crocodiamond. Come along to hear some of the music which inspired her and to get drawing yourself. In partnership with Edinburgh International Book Festival and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Nick Sharrat has won numerous awards for his fantastic illustrations and has illustrated over 200 books, including over 40 for Jaqueline Wilson. Join Nick to hear about his latest, brilliantly bold and bright picture book, ‘Shark in the Park on a Windy Day’, his first ever collection of crazy poems ‘Vikings in the Supermarket’, and pick up top drawing tips too from ‘How to Draw the World of Jacqueline Wilson’. There will be lots of drawing, plenty of inventive word play and an abundance of silliness. Age 4 – 10 years Families with children 5 – 8 years FAERIE GLEN 10am – 10.45pm & 11am – 11.45am | £5 Come to the Mitchell Library’s Faerie Glen where Jasper the Elf looks forward to meeting you. There will be a story to hear, games to play and faeries to catch! Activities delivered by Experiential Play. Ages 3 – 6 years STAY & PLAY WITH EARLY YEARS SCOTLAND 10.15am – 11.15am, 12noon – 1pm, 1.45pm – 2.45pm | £5 Enjoy time playing together, while discovering lots of ways to support and encourage your child’s learning with play activities that enable young minds to grow. Ages 0 – 5 years 24 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THUMBLE TUMBLE AND THE OLIPHEIST 10.15am – 11.15am | £5 BADGER THE MYSTICAL MUTT 1.30pm – 2.30pm | £5 Thumble Tumble features the adventures of a little witch and is set in Arran. Hear about witches, deer folk and sea dragons, then join a treasure hunt to find ingredients for the witches potion. Witch costumes welcome! Meet the toast-crunching canine star of the children’s series of books. The legendary pooch will be live and in the fur, attempting some skew-wiff magic* and shaking his giant maracas, with high-fives, high paws, paw-tographs and lots of cheeky tail-wagging. Authors McNicol & Jackson will read from series one. Expect plenty of mayhem, mischief and music. It’s sure to be Pawesome! Families of all ages GORILLA LOVES VANILLA 10.30am – 11.30am | £5 Age 4 – 7 years MAC AND BOB: THE PARTY SURPRISE 11.45am – 12.45pm | £5 Mac the farmer and his dog Bob are invited to a party. They love parties! But first they have a big problem to solve. Join Mac, played by author Alan Windram, for this lively interactive event, with lots of fun, storytelling, visuals and singing, and plenty of audience participation. Look out for the flying carrots! Age 3 – 7 years FROM THE VILLAGE OF LUMP TO THE LAND OF OOO 12noon – 1pm | £5 Join award-winning author Barry Hutchison, as he explores fantasy worlds from the land of Ooo to the village of Lump. Shriek in fear (and laughter) as he unleashes the terrifying Shark-Headed Bear-Thing, Swivel-Eyed Ogre-Thing and Moon-Faced GhoulThing, then test your knowledge as he takes you through his ‘Algebraic A-Z’ of the Cartoon Network series. Fun for adults, children, and shape-shifting dogs of all ages. KNIFE AND PACKER 12noon – 1pm | £5 Come along and meet the duo behind the amazingly disgusting Fleabag Monkeyface series! Knife and Packer will perform a high energy madcap show based on their hilarious books. The duo love meeting their readers and fans and can’t wait for this visit to Glasgow! Age 5 – 8 years GIANTS AND PEACHES WITH WITCHES AND BEASTIES! 1.30pm – 2.30pm | £5 Macastory’s Ron and Fergus bring you stories inspired by the tales and characters of the great Roald Dahl… in a highly interactive performance of theatrical storytelling, perfect for young story enthusiasts and families alike. We’ll meet nasty old witches, quarrelsome giants and an enormous peach with a surprise inside! With interactive performance, shadow puppetry, song and drama, Macastory create an hour of highly engaging entertainment that will have young readers enthused and raring to read! Suitable for families all ages BIG GAELIC BEASTIES! 1.45pm – 2.45pm | £5 Learn about some of the greatest Big Beasties of traditional Gaelic storytelling lore, such as the Water Horse, the Urisk, King of the Otters and the FiveHeaded Giant! Take part in a rambunctious adventure through Highland Bens & Glens as the King’s Son and Daughter, guided by their magical Two-Tailed Cat, set out to find and save their parents from the grip of the Five-Headed Giant & get their breakfast! Age 8 – 11 years THE SCIENCE OF STAR WARS 1.45pm – 2.45pm | £5 “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” Star Wars conjures up images of spaceships, superweapons, and all sorts of visions of the future. Author Mark Brake and TV science presenter Jon Chase probe the fantastic frontier between movie magic and cutting-edge science in a high energy session for all the family, inspired by one of the most successful epics in entertainment history. Prepare to find out just how strong the force is. Age 7 + Ages 7 + years AYE WRITE! 2016 | 25 SATURDAY 5TH MARCH Award winning picture book author Chae Strathie; think ‘Jumblebum’ and ‘The Loon on The Moon’, is a regular fixture at book festivals with his lively, fun sessions. Chae will preview his very latest book ‘Gorilla Loves Vanilla’, a deliciously funny tale set in Little Sam’s Sundae ice-cream shop. Find out why Gorilla just loves plain old vanilla! BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM DRAW IT, COLOUR IT: CREATURES! 3.15pm – 4.15pm | £5 TODDLERS TALES 11.45am – 12.30pm | FREE Take part in our fabulous mass draw and colour event using images from Macmillan publishers ‘Draw It, Colour it: Creatures’ book which features drawings from some of the best loved children’s book illustrators. Led by students from Glasgow’s School of Art, this lively session will spark your imagination and creativity. Toddlers Tales is a fun, interactive, activity for parents, carers and children aged 3-5 years to enjoy together giving them the opportunity to enjoy physical play and help the child build vocabulary and knowledge. All ages SATURDAY 5TH MARCH CORPSE TALK! 3.15pm – 4.15pm | £5 Adam Murphy’s comic ‘Corpse Talk’ series sees famous people from the past dug up to offer an undead chat show! Learn how to design and produce your own undead-infested comic in this hands-on workshop. For comic fans 9 years plus! THE SCIENCE OF DOCTOR WHO 3.30pm – 4.30pm | £5 Space and time, Cybermen and Daleks, Utopias and killer computers: take a fun-filled journey through the fantastic worlds of The Doctor. With raps, facts and much merriment and mirth, join author and communicator of science, Mark Brake and Science Rapper Jon Chase to explore the Universe of Doctor Who. Age 7 + BIG FRIENDLY FUN 3.30pm – 4.30pm | £5 A feast of Dahl inspired fun to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the master storyteller’s birth. Create your very own Dahlesque character, take part in crafts and play Dahl Bingo. Do you know your Rhyming stews from your Wonka sweets? Test your knowledge in our Roald Dahl trivia quiz, especially designed for twits, witches and Charlies to enjoy! Age 7 – 11 years DROP IN & FREE ACTIVITIES THE BIG FRIENDLY CORNER All Day – drop in | FREE Time between events? Relax and chill in our Big Friendly Corner. Recite Revolting Rhymes, devour Dahl’s books, colour-in, make bookmarks and more… BOUNCE & RHYME 10.30am – 11.15am & 1.45pm – 2.30pm FREE Action songs, rhyme-time and stories for parents/ carers and little ones to enjoy together. Ages 0 – 2 years 26 | AYE WRITE! 2016 Ages 2 – 3 years CODERDOJO@WEE WRITE 1pm – 4pm | FREE If you like writing stories but wish you didn’t have to choose just one way for a story to end, join this workshop. Discover how to use computer code to write a story with lots of different endings, which you can put online for your friends to read. Age 12 – 16 years PLAY, TALK, READ BUS 10am – 4pm | FREE situated outside The Mitchell Jump aboard the Play, Talk, Read bus Benji, to listen to stories, join in with rhymes and get involved in some messy play. Ages 0 – 5 years THE ROAMING STORYTELLER Popping up and around throughout the day FREE Our wandering minstrel, Renita Boyle, will entertain and amuse with stories and silly songs throughout the day! Where will she pop up? What will she sing? Keep a look out and you are sure to be hooked! All ages BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 17TH MARCH RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS The Seven 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Leila Aboulela’s work has been translated into 14 languages and has won several prizes including; The Caine Prize for African Writing and the fiction prize at The Scottish Book awards. Her new novel The Kindness of Enemies moves back and forth between present day Scotland and nineteenth century Russia. Told with Aboulela’s inimitable elegance and narrated from the point of view of both the narrator, Natasha and the historical characters she is researching, The Kindness of Enemies is both an engrossing story of a provocative period in history and an important examination of what it is to be a Muslim in a post 9/11 world. Chaired by Kate Tough. On Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, the seven members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s military council declared themselves to be the provisional government of an Ireland free from British rule. In doing so, each of them had knowingly signed his own death warrant. In the decades that followed, these men were eulogized and used as political weapons by many, but today there is an increasing recognition that it’s time for an honest discussion of the Easter Rising and its legacy. Esteemed columnist and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards examines how Ireland’s founding fathers came to espouse violence and asks whether they had a coherent vision for Ireland or if they were, as some allege, a collection of fanatical misfits and failures. Chaired by Peter Geoghegan. HOLLIE MCNISH Nobody Told Me 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 ED HAWKINS Inside Football’s Slave Trade 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 There were many things Hollie McNish didn’t know before she was pregnant. How family and friends would react; that Mr Whippy would be off the menu. These were on top of the many other things she didn’t know about babies: how to do a poetry gig with your baby as a member of the audience; how drum’n’bass can make a great lullaby. And that’s before you even start on toddlers. But Hollie learned. And she’s still learning, slowly. Nobody Told Me is a collection of poems and stories on raising a child in modern Britain, and of finding secret places to scream once in a while. Chaired Chitra Ramaswamy. From South America and Africa, kids as young as 13 are leaving poverty-stricken families for a new life in Europe, having been sold the vision of untold riches and the trappings of professional football. This is football’s slave trade – the beautiful game turned ugly. Having spent their family’s life savings, only a few of the hopefuls have the chance of getting a professional contract. With no money to go home the Lost Boys often find themselves with crime as their only means of survival. Award-winning sports writer Ed Hawkins new book The Lost Boys is investigative journalism at its best: shocking, moving, and hoping to make a real difference. Sponsored by Turcan Connell. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 27 THURSDAY 17TH MARCH LEILA ABOULELA The Kindness of Enemies 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 17TH MARCH SCOTLAND_EASTER RISING_Scotland & the Easter Rising Qrk 21/12/2015 17:00 Page 1 From the Introduction by Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley On Easter Monday 1916, leaders of a rebellion against British rule over Ireland proclaimed the establishment of an Irish Republic. Lasting only six days before surrender to the British, this landmark event nevertheless laid the foundations for Ireland’s violent path to Independence. It is little known that James Connolly, one of the rebellion’s leaders, was born in Edinburgh’s Cowgate, at the time nicknamed ‘Little Ireland’, or that another key figure in the events of Easter 1916 was a young woman from Coatbridge, Margaret Skinnider. These and other surprising Scottish connections are explored in Scotland and the Easter Rising, as Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley gather together a rich grouping of writers, journalists and academics to examine, for the first time, the Scottish dimension to the events of 1916 and its continued resonance in Scotland today. ALLAN ARMSTRONG • RICHARD BARLOW • IAN BELL • ALAN BISSETT JOSEPH M BRADLEY • RAY BURNETT • STUART CHRISTIE • HELEN CLARK MARIA-DANIELLA DICK • DES DILLON • PETER GEOGHEGAN PEARSE HUTCHINSON • SHAUN KAVANAGH • BILLY KAY • PHIL KELLY AARON KELLY • JAMES KELMAN • KIRSTY LUSK • KEVIN MCKENNA WILLY MALEY • RICHARD B McCREADY • NIALL O’GALLAGHER I came to realise [James Connolly] was of primary importance, and that his life is at the heart of the radical history of Britain and Ireland. JAMES KELMAN The Irish past summons us provided we keep it as tutor not as jailer. The Scottish future can remain one of ideals provided we blunt their agency for hurt… As the contributors to this book show, Scotland’s interaction with Dublin’s Easter Rising takes various possible forms from then and now, above all in the genius of Connolly, child of our capital city who so long denied its paternity… The Easter Rising was tragedy, comedy and poetry, games deadly serious and seriousness turned into game. From the Afterword OWEN DUDLEY EDWARDS ALISON O’MALLEY-YOUNGER • ALAN RIACH • KEVIN ROONEY Luath Press Ltd. 543/2 Castlehill The Royal Mile Edinburgh EH1 2ND www.luath.co.uk HISTORY AND POLITICS UK £12.99 US $24.95 Jim Carruth introduces THURSDAY 17TH MARCH HELEN MORT & REBECCA PERRY 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Jim Carruth, welcomes two distinctive new poetry voices to Aye Write! Helen Mort was born in Sheffield in 1985. In 2014, she completed her Doctorate and her BlogSpot `Poetry on the Brain` was one of the Picador `Best Poetry Blogs` choices. Her latest collection Division Street was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards and the T.S. Eliot Prize. Rebecca Perry was born in London. She graduated from Manchester’s Centre for New Writing in 2008. Her first book-length collection, Beauty/Beauty, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, is shortlisted for the 2015 T.S. Eliot Prize. Presented in association with St Mungo’s Mirrorball. Edited by Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley with an afterword by Owen Dudley Edwards Featuring a mix of fiction, memoir, poetry and essays, this book provides a thought-provoking and necessary negotiation of historical and contemporary Irish-Scottish relations, and explores the Easter Rising’s intersections with other movements, from Women’s Suffrage to the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. FRONT COVER IMAGE: THE SHELL OF THE G.P.O. ON SACKVILLE STREET (LATER O'CONNELL STREET), DUBLIN IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 1916 RISING – WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND; BACK COVER IMAGE: JAMES CONNOLLY ADDRESSES A MAY DAY RALLY IN UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK, COURTESY OF THE US LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • DESIGN: TOM BEE MICHAEL SHAW • IRVINE WELSH • OWEN DUDLEY EDWARDS scotland and the easter rising The story of the Rising is still being told, and in these pages the reader will find much to ponder, much to discuss, and much to disagree with. scotland anD the easter rising Fresh Perspectives on 1916 Edited by Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley with an afterword by Owen Dudley Edwards James Kelman, Kirsty Lusk, Sean Bell, Dr Maria-Daniella Dick & Willy Maley SCOTLAND AND THE EASTER RISING 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 In the year when we will be commemorating the centenary, Scotland and the Easter Rising, brings together writers, journalists and academics to reflect on the part played by Scotland in The Easter Rising, a defining moment in Irish history. But 1916 also matters for Scotland, for the Irish in Scotland, and for Irish-Scottish relations. Edinburgh-born James Connolly was one of the leaders of the Rising, and a signatory to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916. Join this distinguished panel of contributors to the book for what promises to be a lively discussion. RICHARD GORDON & DAVID FARRELL Tales from the Dugout, and from a Taxi 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 KAT ARNEY AND OLIVER JAMES Understanding Genetics 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Broadcaster and Journalist Richard Gordon’s Tales from the Dugout is a collection of memories gathered from managers, players, referees and supporters which encapsulates the unique environment of the technical area and reveals how even minor exposure to it can transform characters unrecognisably. Currently assistant manager at St. Mirren, David Farrell’s football career has taken him to 12 clubs and given him a unique insight into the realities of the game. In Taxi for Farrell his stops at Hibernian, Partick Thistle, Clydebank, Albion Rovers and Gretna deliver footballing tales told by someone who has reclaimed the term journeyman as one of pride. The language of genes has become common parlance. We know they make your eyes blue, your hair curly or your nose straight. The media tells us that our genes control the risk of cancer, alcoholism or Alzheimer’s and gene-based advances in medicine hold huge promise. So we’ve all heard of genes, but how do they actually work? Is it all in our genes or is it all due to our upbringing? Join Kat Arney, authour of Herding Hemingway’s Cats: Understanding How Our Genes Work and Oliver James Not In Your Genes: The real reasons children are like their parents, as they unravel the truths and contradictions of nature verses nurture. 28 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM THURSDAY 17TH MARCH 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 FRIDAY 18TH MARCH PATRICK HARVIE MSP The Books That Made Me 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 In today’s The Books That Made Me slot is Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green Party Co-Convenor. Patrick was elected as a regional MSP for Glasgow in May 2003. Before Parliament he worked in the sexual health field, for PHACE Scotland (now part of the Terrence Higgins Trust) and had brief stints at a recycling charity, a phone line for teenagers, and the Inland Revenue. He’s been involved with issues from asylum and civil liberties to sexual health and food policy and was a very high profile presence throughout the Yes campaign in the independence referendum. He’s a science fiction fan so expect there to be some SF in his choices of his favourite books. Chaired by Clare English. GRAHAM FAGEN & LOUISE WELSH Come into the Garden, and Forget about the War 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Graham Fagen, one of Glasgow’s most accomplished artists, discusses his new exhibition ‘Come into the Garden, and forget about the War’ with Louise Welsh. Graham’s exhibition represented Scotland at the 56th International Art Exhibition, the Venice Biennale in 2015 and will be opening at Hostpitalfield, Arbroath on 19 March. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 29 THURSDAY 17TH FRIDAY 18TH MARCH DAVID AARONOVITCH Party Animals: Growing Up Communist In July 1961, just before David Aaronovitch’s seventh birthday, Yuri Gagarin came to London. The Russian cosmonaut was everything the Aaronovitch family wished for – a popular and handsome embodiment of modern communism. In writing his book Party Animals David looked back through his own memories of belief and action, he also found himself studying old secret service files, uncovering the unspoken shame and fears that provided the unconscious background to his own existence. Only then did he begin to understand what had come before – both the obstinate heroism and the monstrous cowardice. And the elements that shape our fondest beliefs. Chaired by Ruth Wishart. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM FRIDAY 18TH MARCH FRIDAY 18TH MARCH IAN BUXTON Glasgow Vs Edinburgh in the Great Gin Tasting Contest 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 We’re in the middle of a new Gin Craze. Scarcely a day goes by without an established brand offering a fresh take on their established styles or, more likely, a new boutique distillery opening its doors – from Adnams to Zuidam; Beefeater to Bombay and London to Plymouth (and beyond). Ian Buxton has been to Aye Write! before with his whisky books, but he’s changing his drink for 101 Gins to Try Before You Die, an authoritative guide to the world of gin. There will be a tasting too pitting the Edinburgh Gin Distillery against Makar Glasgow Gin. SINÉAD MORRISSEY PRIZE WINNING POETRY 18.00 – 19.00 | £6 Aye Write! welcomes TS Eliot Prize winner, Sinéad Morrissey, to read at the festival. Sinéad’s fifth collection of poems, Parallax, won the prestigious award in 2014. After periods living in Japan and New Zealand she now lives in Belfast, where she has been writer-in-residence at Queen’s University, Belfast. Chaired by Jim Carruth. SIMON SCARROW & BEN KANE Roman Tales 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 DANNY DORLING & OWEN HATHERLEY Austerity and Inequality 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Two of the leading writers of fiction based in the Roman Empire discuss their latest books In Ben Kane’s Hunting the Eagles five long years have passed since the annihilation of three legions in the wilds of Germania. The bones of 15,000 soldiers now moulder in the Teutoburg Forest. Demoted, battle-scarred and hell-bent on revenge, Centurion Tullus and his legionaries begin their fightback. Simon Scarrow’s veteran Roman soldier heroes face a cunning and relentless enemy in Britannia. Roman Britain, AD 52. The western tribes prepare to make a stand. But can they match the discipline and courage of the legionaries? Chaired by Douglas Skelton. Since 2008 the top 1% of the population has grown richer while the rest find life increasingly tough. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has turned into a chasm. In Inequality and the 1%, Danny Dorling lays bare the true cost of the division in our society and asks what have the superrich ever done for us? In his witty polemic, The Ministry of Nostalgia: Consuming Austerity award-winning critic Owen Hatherley questions the ways we have adopted the gospel of luxurious poverty: from ubiquitous ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters, the commercialization of thrift, the added value of artisanal, and the selling of a ‘make do and mend’ aesthetic. 30 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM FRIDAY 18TH MARCH Thatcher Stole My Trousers 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 ROSIE NIXON & JENNY COLGAN Retail Therapy in Fiction 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Rosie Nixon’s The Stylist is a fast-paced, fun-packed rummage through the ultimate dressing up box! When Amber Green, a shop assistant in an exclusive London boutique is plucked from obscurity and mistakenly offered a job working with Mona Armstrong, the infamous, jet-setting ‘stylist to the stars’, she hits the ground running, helping to style some of Hollywood’s hottest (and craziest) starlets. In Jenny Colgan’s The Little Shop of Happily Ever After, Nina is given a back-room computer job when the beloved Birmingham library she works in turns into a downsized retail complex. Then a new business nobody else wants catches her eye: owning a tiny little bookshop bus up in the Scottish highlands. Alan Bissett introduces DAVID SAVILL & ALEC CONNON 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Two debut novels with a distinctly political edge to them. Having worked as a teacher in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, David Savill went on to work for the BBC, contributing to Panorama, The World at One and PM. They Are Trying to Break Your Heart, follows the story of a Bosnian man who seeks the truth about his childhood friend as a Human Rights Researcher discovers her own truths. In Alec Connon’s The Activist what begins as a typical gap year for Thomas Durant leads to his involvement and participation in animal rights activism, from his first steps into the life of an activist in Vancouver, to his battles with the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 31 FRIDAY 18TH MARCH ALEXEI SAYLE In his memoir Thatcher Stole My Trousers, one of our most enduringly popular comedians chronicles a time when comedy and politics came together in electrifying ways. He recounts the opening season of the Comedy Store, his experiences with Alternative Cabaret, the Comic Strip and the Young Ones, and his friendships with the comedians who, like him would soon become household names. This unique and beguiling blend of social history and memoir is funny, angry and entertaining, it is a story of class and comedy, politics and love, fast cars and why it’s difficult to foul a dwarf in a game of football. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH SATURDAY 19TH MARCH JOANNA BLYTHMAN & BEE WILSON Are We What We Eat? 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 METAPHROG Discover the Curse of The Red Shoes! 12.00 – 13.00 | £6 What really goes into the food we eat? Journalist and broadcaster Joanna Blythman felt she had unanswered questions about the food we consume every day. Swallow This is a fascinating exploration of the food processing industry and its products – which give an utterly eye-opening account of what we’re really swallowing. Bee Wilson’s First Bite draws on current research from both neuroscience and psychology, and the author’s experience parenting three children and visiting numerous school canteens, as well as talking to dieticians, biologists and consumer researchers, to look at where our food habits come from; and what it would really take to change them for the better. Multiple award-nominated Metaphrog (John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs) are one of Scotland’s best established and acclaimed graphic novelists. They will discuss their career to date and their genredefying graphic novel, The Red Shoes and Other Tales, a dark and dazzling collection of timeless adaptions from Hans Christian Andersen. SARAH TURNER AND CHITRA RAMASWAMY The Lowdown on Motherhood 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 Sarah Turner (The Unmumsy Mum) writes candidly about motherhood like it really is andhow it is sometimes absolutely fine to not know what you are doing. The lessons she’s learnt while grappling with two small boys – from birth to teething, 3am night feeds to toddler tantrums will have you roaring with laughter and taking great comfort in the fact that it’s definitely not just you… Chitra Ramaswamy is an award-winning journalist whose Expecting: The Inner Life of a Pregnancy is a memoir exploring each of the nine months of Chitra’s pregnancy, and contains elements of narrative nonfiction, travel and nature writing and biology. 32 | AYE WRITE! 2016 LGBT COMIC MART 12 – 5pm A unique opportunity to buy comics and chat with a host of comic writers and artists from throughout the UK about their work. We’ll also be offering live illustration opportunities for budding artists of all ages. CHRIS BRUCE The Five-a-side Bible 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 If you play football, the chances are you play 5-a-side – it’s by far the most popular version of the game in the UK. But it’s much more than that: it’s an unbeatable fitness regime, it’s a social club, it’s an elite sport, it is what we do when we get too old for ‘jumpers for goalposts’. The Five-a-side Bible tells the whole story. There’s sports science, the low-down on tactics and nutrition, how to use warm-ups and warm-downs. But there’s also the fun side of fives: crazy team names, outlandish excuses for not playing, kit disasters and a bucket list of the world’s most iconic 5-a-side pitches. Chaired by publisher Martin Greig. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH FRANCES QUINN in conversation with Alysa Levene Quinntessentially Great Baking 13.30 – 14.30 | £10 DEAN BURNETT The Idiot Brain 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 Neuroscientist and a stand-up comedian Dr Dean Burnett’s The Idiot Brain tells us everything we ever wanted to know about our grey matter. From attention mechanisms to memory processing, the neuroscience of sleep and the psychology of superstition, the surprising workings of the brain and the bemusing behaviours these cause in everyday life. Unpredictable and entertaining, Burnett explains why memory is like a doting mother, why tall people are more intelligent, why criticism is more powerful than praise, how glass of wine can refresh your memory, and why you can’t be ‘a little bit OCD’. St Kilda: The Last and Outmost Isle combines the results of the most detailed archaeological survey of the islands ever undertaken, complete with rare and previously unpublished images of the archipelago and its people. Authors George Geddes and Angela Gannon spent over nine months living and working on the islands as part of an eight-year project to research its rich and diverse history. George Geddes will be discussing their survey in a wonderful illustrated talk. Chaired by Russel McLean. Outspoken Arts Scotland & Unthank Comics presents STEVE ORLANDO The Midnighter 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 Steve Orlando’s first book ever was poorly drawn, in a fifth-grade classroom, pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed for trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including VIRGIL, Undertow and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. He recently published Midnighter as well as taking part in Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Steve will be talking and answering questions about his work and what the world of comics looks like for LGBT creators and characters. Afterwards, Steve will join us for a panel discussion with local writers and illustrators. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 33 SATURDAY 19TH MARCH Frances Quinn wowed the judges with her imaginative showstoppers and extraordinary baking skill to win The Great British Bake Off. Her book is wittily titled Quinntessential Baking and it’s a treasure trove of inspirational ideas to bring a spark of creativity and a teaspoon of wonder into your kitchen. Frances’ combination of ideas and ingredients gives you straightforward master recipes or ‘building blocks’, and she explains how to apply a little magic to turn them into beautiful bakes. She will be in conversation with Alysa Levene, whose new book is Cake: A Slice of History. GEORGE GEDDES St Kilda: The Last and Outmost Isle 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH SATURDAY 19TH MARCH MAGNUS MACFARLANE-BARROW The Shed that Fed a Million Children 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 In 1992, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow had an idea that would change his life – and radically change the lives of others. Magnus tells how a series of miraculous circumstances and an overwhelming display of love from those around him led to the creation of Mary’s Meals; an organisation that could hold the key to eradicating child hunger altogether. This humble, heart-warming yet powerful story has never been more relevant in our society of plenty and privilege. It will open your eyes to the extraordinary impact that one person can make. ALAN GRANT, FRANK QUITELY & METAPHROG The Many Faces of Scottish Comics 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 Four leading comic creators get together for a lively discussion on their contributions to the history of Scottish comics and the rise of the graphic novel. Veteran writer and editor Alan Grant became famous with Judge Dread and Batman. Star artist Frank Quitely (New X-men, All-Star Superman) has teamedup with the top industry writers. Pioneering graphic novelists John Chalmers and Sandra Marrs, aka Metaphrog (The Red Shoes and Other Tales) broke new ground with their quirky Louis series. Join them for what promises to be a fascinating exploration of the state of comic art and a look at Scotland’s lasting impact. Chaired by Stuart Kelly. PROFESSOR A.C. GRAYLING Progress in Troubled Times: Learning from The Age of Genius 15.00 – 16.00 | £10 GILLIAN SLOVO & HELEN FITZGERALD Topical, Page-turning Thrillers 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 Best-selling author A.C. Grayling explains how, fuelled by original and unorthodox thinking, war and technological invention, the seventeenth century became the crucible of modernity. A century which saw the execution of a king, the painstaking observation and astronomy of Galileo, Descartes’s attempt to square the new philosophy with religious belief and Newton, the man who understood gravity and the laws of motion, still fascinated to the end of his life by alchemy. By the end of that tumultuous century ‘the greatest ever change in the mental outlook of humanity’ had irrevocably taken place. Gillian Slovo has published a family memoir and 13 novels including the Orange Prize-shortlisted Ice Road. Her latest, Ten Days takes an unflinching look at how lives are ruined and careers are made when small misjudgements have profound effects on frustrated communities and damaged individuals. This game-changing novel is as gripping as it is culturally significant. Helen Fitzgerald has worked as a criminal justice social worker for over ten years. Her last novel, The Cry was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year. Her latest, Viral looks at the contemporary nightmare scenario of our most personal moments being shared online. 34 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH SVETLANA STEPHENSON Gangs of Russia 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Willie Rennie is the current Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. He was brought up in Strathmiglo, and studied at Paisley College of Technology, and Glasgow College. He became the MP for Dunfermline and West Fife in February 2006 and was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011. Willie will be telling us about the key books that have influenced and entertained him over the years. Chaired by Clare English. In Gangs of Russia, Svetlana Stephenson explores the secretive world of Russian gangs since their spectacular rise in the 1990s. Using in-depth interviews with gang members, law enforcers, and residents in the city of Kazan, together with analyses of historical and sociological accounts from across Russia, she presents the history of gangs both before and after the arrival of market capitalism. Contrary to predominant notions of gangs as collections of maladjusted delinquents or illegal enterprises, Stephenson argues, Russian gangs should be seen as traditional, close-knit male groups with deep links to their communities. MEG ROSOFF Jonathan Unleashed 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 Louise Welsh Introduces Meg Rosoff grew up in (a suburb of) Boston and moved to London in 1989. Her first novel, How I Live Now, sold over one million copies and was recently made into a film. Her novels have won or been shortlisted for twenty international awards. Meg will be discussing her first novel for adults, Jonathan Unleashed. (a story of) Jonathan Trefoil doesn’t remember life being this confusing back in the good old days before everyone expected him to act like a person. Will he get out of advertising, meet the girl of his dreams and figure out the gender of his secret crush? Given how it’s going so far, probably not. ANDREW MICHAEL HURLEY & LORNA GIBB 16.30 – 17.30 | £6 Louise Welsh introduces two debuts with a gothic feel. In Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Loney, two brothers and their family visits the same sacred shrine on a desolate strip of coastline known as the Loney every year. Many years later the Loney reveals its dark secrets. Lorna Gibb’s A Ghost’s Story presents the mysterious spirit writings and biographical outpourings of Katie King, this famous and enigmatic spirit celebrity. Is she a profound and curious consciousness guided into this realm by the faith of true believers, or the cheap trickery of parlour cheats and exploitative swindlers? AYE WRITE! 2016 | 35 SATURDAY 19TH MARCH WILLIE RENNIE MSP The Books That Made Me 16.30 – 17.30 | £10 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH SATURDAY 19TH MARCH PAUL MASON & NICK SRNICEK PostCapitalism 18.00 – 19.00 | £10 Paul Mason is one of Britain’s most recognisable voices on the economy, culture and politics. He is the award-winning Economics Editor of Channel 4 News. In his ground-breaking book, Postcapitalism, Mason shows how, from the ashes of the recent financial crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy. Moving beyond capitalism, he shows, is no longer a utopian dream. Nick Srnicek’s book, Inventing the Future (written with Alex Williams) envisages a post-capitalist economy which is capable of advancing living standards, liberating humanity from work, and developing technologies which free us from biological and environmental constraints. MATTHEW GREEN & HARRY PARKER The Anatomy and Psychology of a Soldier 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 Fiction and non-fiction combine in this event exploring what it is to be a soldier and the cost it brings. What happens when soldiers come back from war, having lost their friends and killed their enemies, having seen and done things that have no place in civilian life? In Aftershock, Matthew Green tells the story of veterans’ journey from frontline to the reality of return. Harry Parker’s Anatomy of a Soldier is a novel of patriotism, trauma, stoicism, and profound humanism – that will immediately take its place as a classic of men at war and the repercussions at home. Harry served in Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2009. Presented in association with S.M.H.A.F.F. ROBERT NEWMAN The Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 DAVID BELBIN, DAVID MARK, LUCA VESTE Northern Powerhouse Crime 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 In this witty, fact-packed A-Z, Robert Newman takes the reader on a whirlwind tour from caring, sharing vampire bats to intelligent slime-mould; from pacifist baboons to Richard Dawkins wrestling naked with his postman; from the invisibility cloak of the Hawaiian bobtail squid to Francis ‘DNA’ Crick’s belief that life on earth began with alien spaceships. The host of a popular Radio 4 series, the first comedian (with David Baddiel) to play Wembley Arena and the only comedian ever credited in a paper published in the science journal Nature, Newman explores how stunning scientific breakthroughs have turned received ideas of evolution upside-down. Join three crime writers from the North of England as they discuss their novels. In David Mark’s Dead Pretty the murder of two girls in Hull and the dropping of the murder charge against the prime suspect is the catalyst for a story of revenge and betrayal. David Belbin’s Nottingham set The Great Deception sees dark political intrigue mixed with gritty urban crime, conjuring a potent cocktail where violence, scandal and betrayal go to the very top of the British establishment. In Luca Veste’s Bloodstream, a killer stalks couples in Liverpool believing secrets and lies within relationships should have deadly consequences… Chaired by Russel McLean. 36 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SATURDAY 19TH MARCH RM HUBBERT, LOKI, KATE TOUGH AND MACGILLIVRAY Neu! Reekie! in the Gutter 19.30 – 21.00 | £12 GAELIC NEW WRITERS SHOWCASE 19.30 – 20.30 | £6 Scotland’s favourite avant-garde noisemakers, Neu! Reekie! will be here for a unique collaboration with Glasgow’s Gutter magazine for an evening of music, poetry, film and fiction. Scottish guitarist and singer/songwriter RM Hubbert, is known for his innovative, flamenco-inspired guitar style and evocative solo albums. Loki is a Scottish rapper and hip hop recording artist, who has made regular media appearances as a social commentator. There will be an animation showcase by Ross Hogg and film from the visual artist Rachel MacLean. Gutter will be represented by author Kate Tough and performance artist and poet MacGillivray. All held together by Neu! Reekie! Founders Michael Pedersen & Kevin Williamson. A chance to hear from Scotland’s finest new Gaelic writers – the stars of tomorrow – both in fiction and poetry. Chaired by broadcaster Mark Wringe, the event showcases the work of recipients of the Gaelic Books Council/Scottish Book Trust Gaelic New Writers Awards. Participating will be Niall O’Gallagher, Calum MacLeod, Sandy Jones and Christine Stone. Cothrom èisteachd ri grunn sgrìobhadairean Gàidhlig ùra còmhla, is iad an sàs an dà chuid ann am ficsean agus bàrdachd. Bidh Niall O’Gallagher, Calum MacLeòid, Sandaidh Jones agus Cairistìona Stone an làthair, is iad a’ riochdachadh iomairt Chomhairle nan Leabhraichean/Urras Leabhraichean na h-Alba, Duaisean nan Sgrìobhadairean Ùra. Bidh an craoladair Mark Wringe sa chathair. PHIL REDMOND From the Small Screen to the Book Shelf 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 CLARE MORRAL & JULIE MYERSON Turbulent Fiction 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Phil Redmond, the acclaimed writer and creator of Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks will be here discussing his debut thriller, Highbridge. Three years ago, Janey Nolan was murdered in the centre of town and today, no one knows who did it. Sick of waiting for the powers that be to rid the streets and school gates of dealers, druggies and parasites, Janey’s brothers want to avenge her death. While Sean decides to explore the routes and corridors of political power, Joey chooses more direct action in and among the alleys and pathways of the neighbourhood itself. But can the brothers find Janey’s killer without bringing more danger to their town? Clare Morrall, author of the Man Booker Prizeshortlisted Astonishing Splashes of Colour, creates a startling vision of the future in a world not so very far from our own, in her latest novel When the Floods Came. In a world prone to violent flooding, Britain, ravaged 20 years earlier by a deadly virus, has been largely cut off from the rest of the world… The Stopped Heart is the finest novel to date from Julie Myerson. During a ferocious storm, a red-haired stranger appears in the garden of a small farming cottage. This devastating novel deals beautifully with profound loss, sexual longing, love and true evil. Chaired by Stuart Kelly. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 37 SATURDAY 19TH MARCH Simultaneous translation facilities available BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH SUNDAY 20TH MARCH JOHN MOORE Glasgow: Mapping the City 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 Maps can tell much about a place that traditional histories fail to communicate. John Moore gives fascinating insights into topics such as: the development of the Clyde and its shipbuilding industry, the villages which were gradually subsumed into the city, what lies underneath the city streets, the growth of Glasgow during the Industrial Revolution, the development of transport, the city’s green spaces, the health of Glasgow, the city as a wartime target, and its regeneration in the 1980s as the host city of one of the UK’s five National Garden Festivals. GILES WATERFIELD The People’s Galleries: Art Museums in Britain 1800 – 1914 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 The People’s Galleries traces the rise of art museums in Britain through to World War I. This richly illustrated book argues that these regional museums, such as Kelvingrove, represented a new type of institution: an art gallery for a working-class audience, appropriate for the rapidly expanding cities and shaped by liberal ideals. As their broad appeal weakened with the new century, they adapted and became more conventional. In his illustrated talk, Giles will study the patrons and the public, the collecting policies, the temporary exhibitions, and the architecture of these institutions, as well as the complex range of reasons for their foundation. JO MARCHANT The Science of Mind Over Body 12.00 – 13.00 | £9 The field of mind-body medicine is plagued by wild claims that mislead patients and instil false hope. But that doesn’t mean the mind plays no role in health. By taking a scientific approach to understanding how our mental state influences our physiology, can we finally live in tune with our bodies in a way that is based on evidence, not fantasy? In her book Cure, Dr Jo Marchant delves deep into the latest scientific research and offers a new and thought-provoking view of what it means to be human. Chaired by Margaret McCartney G.P. 38 | AYE WRITE! 2016 Chris Dolan Introduces MARY PAULSON ELLIS & CATHERINE SIMPSON 12.00 – 13.00 | £6 Mary Paulson-Ellis has an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and was awarded the inaugural Curtis Brown Prize for Fiction. Her short stories and non-fiction have been published in New Writing Scotland, Gutter and the Herald. The Other Mrs Walker, a detective story with no detective, is a beguiling and intensely moving debut. Catherine Simpson has been shortlisted in the Mslexia Novel Award and her work has featured in various anthologies. Her debut Truestory looks at what happens when sacrifice slithers towards martyrdom. By turns happy and sad, ultimately it is a tale of hope. BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH ROB DOYLE AND STUART EVERS Sublime Short Stories 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 John is one of the UK’s best-known chefs. He is the host and judge of BBC1’s MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and Junior MasterChef and presenter of A-Z of Cooking on BBC2. John has also hosted Have I Got News For You and Saturday Kitchen, and has made numerous guest appearances on BBC Breakfast, Loose Women and National Lottery Stars. My Kind of Food is a very personal cookbook from John, full of the food that he loves to cook and eat, recipes that he makes away from the cameras and professional kitchens. Don’t miss this Sunday afternoon session with two of the finest young short story writers around. Stuart Evers, the author of the critically acclaimed, prizewinning collection Ten Stories About Smoking returns with twelve unforgettable stories of parental love and parental mistakes. Your Father Sends His Love is a book of vulnerability, duty, betrayal, loss, anger, fear and joy. Lost and isolated, the characters in the masterful stories in Irish author Rob Doyle’s This is the Ritual play out their fragmented relationships in a series of European cities. Desperate, uncertain, immersive, at times dreamlike, this collection introduces an unmistakable new literary voice. TREVOR ROYLE Culloden 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 The Battle of Culloden has gone down in history as the last major battle fought on British soil: a vicious confrontation between Scottish forces supporting the Stuart claim to the throne and the English Royal Army. But this wasn’t just a conflict between the Scots and the English, the battle was also part of a much larger campaign to protect the British Isles from the growing threat of a French invasion. In Trevor Royle’s lively and provocative history looks afresh at the period and unveils its true significance, not only as the end of a struggle for the throne but the beginning of a new global power. ELIZABETH BUCHAN, KATE WILLIAMS AND ISABELLE GREY Dangerous Women 13.30 – 14.30 | £9 Come along to this fascinating literary discussion about powerful and subversive women with bestselling writers Elizabeth Buchan, Kate Williams and chaired by crime writer Isabelle Grey. Throughout history, men have tried to repress and silence women, the accusations being, from St Jerome onwards, that they are weak-minded, puny and sexually incontinent. Clearly Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Charlotte Bronte and Violette Szabo would not agree. Nor do many writers whose novels have portrayed women as powerful, influential and subversive – not necessarily in the way that men recognized. This event will appeal to readers of historical romance and contemporary domestic noir, through to stalwart non-fiction fans. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 39 SUNDAY 20TH MARCH JOHN TORODE My Kind of Food 13.30 – 14.30 | £10 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH SUNDAY 20TH MARCH IRMA KURTZ My Life in Agony 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 JACK COOKE Urban Tree Climbing 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 As Cosmopolitan’s professional agony aunt for the last forty years, Irma Kurtz has had to deal with the most intimate problems of successive generations of readers, while having to keep up with the changing mores and attitudes in British and American society. In these memoirs, she looks back on the seismic transformations that have taken place over the last four decades from mother-daughter relationships through to eating disorders, office politics and those perennial areas of interest: love and sex…, as well as her own hectic and often difficult life as a single mum from America living in London. Chaired by Janet Smyth. In this charming, witty and exquisitely illustrated companion, Jack Cooke explores the city through its canopy; teetering on the edge of an oak’s branches, scurrying up a Scots pine, spying views from the treetops that few have ever had the chance to see. He takes us through the parks, over the canals and rivers and into secret gardens in his journey sometimes only ten foot above the street. Part guidebook, part meditation on the consolations of nature, The Tree Climber’s Guide is as uniquely odd, alluring and motley as the trees themselves. It is a journey into the tangle of bark and branches that surround us. MATT HAIG Reasons to Stay Alive 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 JAMES MACDONALD LOCKHART Raptors: A Life in Birds 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 What does it means to be truly alive? When he was 24, Matt Haig’s world caved in. He could see no way to go on living. This is the true story of how he came through crisis, triumphed over an illness that almost destroyed him and learned to live again. A moving, funny and joyous exploration of how to live better, love better and feel more alive, Reasons to Stay Alive is more than a memoir. It is a book about making the most of your time on earth. ‘I wrote this book because the oldest clichés remain the truest. Time heals. The bottom of the valley never provides the clearest view. The tunnel does have light at the end of it, even if we haven’t been able to see it… Words, just sometimes, really can set you free.’ Presented in association with S.M.H.A.F.F. Of all the birds of the British Isles, the raptor reigns supreme, sparking the imagination like no other. In this magnificent hymn to these beautiful animals, James Macdonald Lockhart explores all fifteen breeding birds of prey on these shores – from the hen harrier swimming over the land in the dregs of a May gale on Orkney, to the ghostly sparrowhawk displaying in the fields around his home in Warwickshire. Join James for a talk that will change how we think of our own skies. 40 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH DR MELANIE WINDRIDGE & DR LUCIE GREEN An Illuminating Look at Light 15.00 – 16.00 | £9 Erwin James spent his teenage years drifting, his petty crime culminating in the terrible events for which he was jailed for life in 1984. James struggled to come to terms with the enormity of his crimes. Then he met Joan, a prison psychologist, who helped him to confront the painful truth of his past. Her sessions transformed his life. Encouraged to read and to educate himself, over the next twenty years Erwin James would go on to receive a BA in History, and become a regular columnist for the Guardian. In Redeemable he tells his remarkable story. WILLIAM DAVIES The Happiness Industry 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 ANDREW DICKSON The Globe Guide to Shakespeare 16.30 – 17.30 | £10 Why was a Buddhist monk at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos lecturing the world’s leaders on mindfulness? Why do many successful corporations have a chief happiness officer? What can the chemical composition of your brain tell a potential employer about you? In the past decade, governments and corporations have become increasingly interested in measuring the way people feel. Join William Davies on World Happiness Day (No, really!) as he talks about The Happiness Industry, a shocking and brilliantly argued warning about the new religion of the age: our emotions. 2016 commemorates 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare and Andrew Dickson’s book is the ultimate guide to his life and work. With full coverage of the thirty-nine plays, including a synopsis, full character list, stage history and a critical essay for each, this comprehensive guide is both a quick reference and in-depth background guide for theatre-goers, students, film buffs and literature-lovers alike. The Globe Guide to Shakespeare also explores Shakespeare’s sonnets and the narrative poems, combined with fascinating accounts of Shakespeare’s life and theatre, exploring in colourful detail each play’s original performances. Chaired by Graham McLaren – National Theatre of Scotland. AYE WRITE! 2016 | 41 SUNDAY 20TH MARCH Explore star light with two of Britain’s leading physicists. Dr. Melanie Windridge’s Aurora: In Search of the Northern Lights explores the visual beauty, legends and science of the northern lights – including the developing threat of space weather – and challenging the popular paradigm of how the lights are formed. In 15 Million Degrees, Dr. Lucie Green takes us on a journey of millions of miles from inside the Sun to the Earth discovering how the Sun works (including what it sounds like), the latest research in solar physics and how a solar storm could threaten everything we know. ERWIN JAMES Redeemable 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH SUNDAY 20TH MARCH LUCY RIBCHESTER & JENNI FAGAN Sophomore Fiction 16.30 – 17.30 | £9 ANDREW LOWNIE Stalin’s Englishman 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 We have a whole strand dedicated to debuts at Aye Write! this year, but what happens after your first novel has won prizes and critical acclaim? These two novelists are in the enviable position of following up their successful debuts. Lucy Ribchester’s follow up to The Hourglass Factory, The Amber Shadows is a mysterious novel about keeping secrets set at Bletchley Park. Jenni Fagan‘s The Panopticon saw her chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young British Writers and her new novel The Sunlight Pilgrims tells the story of a small Scottish community living through what people have begun to think is the end of times. Chaired by Peggy Hughes. Guy Burgess was the most important, complex and fascinating of ‘The Cambridge Spies’ – Maclean, Philby, Blunt – all brilliant young men recruited in the 1930s to betray their country to the Soviet Union. In this first full biography, Andrew Lownie shows us how even Burgess’s chaotic personal life of drunken philandering did nothing to stop his penetration and betrayal of the British Intelligence Service. Through interviews with more than a hundred people who knew Burgess personally, and the discovery of hitherto secret files, Stalin’s Englishman brilliantly unravels the many lives of Guy Burgess in all their intriguing, chilling, colourful, tragi-comic wonder. ALISTAIR MOFFAT Scotland: A History from Earliest Times 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 ANDREW MCMILLAN & DAVID KINLOCH Outspoken Poetry 18.00 – 19.00 | £6 From the Ice Age to the recent Scottish Referendum, historian and author Alistair Moffat explores the history of the Scottish nation. As well as focusing on key moments in the nation’s history such as the Battle of Bannockburn and the Jacobite Risings, Moffat also features other episodes in history that are perhaps less well documented. From prehistoric timber halls to inventions and literature, Moffat’s tale explores the drama of battle, change, loss and invention interspersed with the lives of ordinary Scottish folk, the men and women who defined a nation. Andrew McMillan’s Physical contains poems which are hymns to the male body, male friendship and male love, muscular, sometimes shocking, but always deeply moving. Raw and urgent, this collection was shortlisted for a number of prestigious awards including the Guardian First Book Award and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. Andrew will be reading with David Kinloch who teaches creative writing at the University of Strathclyde and is the author of five poetry collections. A recipient of the 2004 Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Award, he is a founder editor of the influential poetry magazine Verse. Presented in association with Outspoken Arts. 42 | AYE WRITE! 2016 BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM SUNDAY 20TH MARCH MOSTAFA SALAMEH Dreams of a Refugee – From the Middle East to Mount Everest 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 SCOTLAND’S FIRST MINISTER, NICOLA STURGEON MSP The Books That Made Me 19.30 – 20.30 | £10 One night Mostafa dreamt that he was standing atop Mount Everest reciting the call to prayer. With no prior experience or training, he decided he would follow his vision and climb – he went on to become the first Jordanian Palestinian ever to reach the North Pole and summit all seven highest peaks in the world. As a devout Muslim, Mostafa is committed to spreading the message of tolerant Islam and working to turn Arab youth away from radicalization. Mostafa is a model for multiculturalism: born Palestinian, raised in Jordan and Kuwait and identifying as Scottish, his wife is a Catholic. Dreams of a Refugee tells the remarkable story of Mostafa’s journey. Nicola Sturgeon is Scotland’s first female First Minister. Born in Irvine in 1970 and educated at Greenwood Academy, she studied law at the University of Glasgow. Before entering the Scottish Parliament as a regional MSP in 1999 she worked as a solicitor in Glasgow and is currently MSP for Glasgow Southside. She became SNP Leader on November 14, 2014 and was sworn in as First Minister on November 20, 2014. Nicola will be telling us about the reading habits of a First Minister along with selecting some of her most cherished books. Chaired by Clare English. KIMBERLEY CHAMBERS, EMMA KAVANAGH & CLAIRE MCGOWAN Criminal Neighbours 18.00 – 19.00 | £9 LYNNE FEATHERSTONE Equal Ever After: The fight for same-sex marriage 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 An English woman, a Welsh woman and an Irish woman walk into a crime novel… No.1 bestselling author Kimberley Chambers lives in Romford and has been a disc jockey and a street trader. Her latest novel Tainted Love is an explosive tale of East-end families and secrets. Claire McGowan grew up in Northern Ireland and now teaches creative writing. A Savage Hunger is the fourth novel to feature forensic psychologist Paula Maguire. Emma Kavanagh was born and raised in South Wales. She spent many years working as a police psychologist and The Missing Hours is her latest gripping psychological thriller. 29 March 2014 was the day that same-sex marriage became legal in England, with Scotland following on 16th December 2014. After decades of campaigning, the day had finally arrived when two people of the same sex were able to get married and enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples. As Equalities Minister in the coalition government, Lynne Feather worked tirelessly with activists, lawyers, campaigners and civil servants to achieve a change in the law that would be of epochal importance to the gay community. This event is presented in association with Outspoken Arts. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall AYE WRITE! 2016 | 43 SUNDAY 20TH MARCH BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM APRIL/MAY SUNDAY 20TH MARCH SUNDAY 20TH MARCH LLIAM PATERSON Edwin Morgan Song Cycle 19.30 – 20.30 | £12 SASKIA GOLDSCHMIDT The Hormone Factory 19.30 – 20.30 | £9 Lliam Paterson – Scottish Opera’s Composer in Residence – presents two new works inspired by Edwin Morgan, Glasgow’s first Poet Laureate. The dramatic song cycle ‘Spirit of the Place’ takes the listener on a journey through memories of Glasgow: the sight of starlings swarming over George Square mingling with the sounds of ships on the Clyde. Lliam will be joined by soprano Marie Claire Breen and mezzo-soprano Laura Margaret Smith for this world premiere. A new piano work will also be featured, inspired by Morgan’s epic poem ‘The New Divan’, a response to his service in the Mediterranean during the Second World War. This performance is kindly supported by The Edwin Morgan Trust. A riveting thriller about greed, power, hormones, illicit sex, and women… and the monstrous megalomaniac who believes he can have it all! Mordechai de Paauw is ruthless: in the years before World War II, the Dutch pharmaceutical entrepreneur is on the cutting edge of science and determined to develop the contraceptive pill…no matter what the cost. Testing hormonal treatments on his female workers, and sexually exploiting them, Mordechai’s secret immoral life and his successful company are threatened by the rise of Hitler and, years later, a shocking scandal involving his brash son. Will Mordechai ever find redemption, and will the women he manipulates regain control over their own bodies? APRIL/MAY IRVINE WELSH The Blade Artist Tuesday 5 April 18.30 – 19.30 | £10 44 | AYE WRITE! 2016 We waited ten years to welcome Irvine Welsh to Aye Write! and now, we can’t keep him away! Can it really be twenty years since Trainspotting? Yes indeed and just as the film of the sequel begins shooting Irvine Welsh will be here to re-introduce us to its most infamous and terrifying character, Francis Begbie in The Blade Artist. On the surface Begbie seems to have found himself, working as a sculptor in California but his dark past isn’t buried very deep and a trip home for the funeral of a murdered son he barely knew starts to go very bad, very quickly. This ultra-violent but curiously redemptive new novel is both elegant and electrifying. Chaired by Janice Forsyth this event will be recorded by BBC Scotland for broadcast. Glasgow Royal Concert Hall BUY TICKETS AT The Bricks that Built the Houses Award-winning poet and rapper Kate Tempest will be reading from and discussing her electrifying debut novel, The Bricks that Built the Houses, which takes us into the beating heart of the capital in a multigenerational tale of drugs, desire and belonging. It explores a cross-section of contemporary urban life with a powerful moral microscope, giving us intimate stories of hidden lives, and showing us that good intentions don’t always lead to the right decisions. Wise but never cynical, driven by empathy and ethics, The Bricks the Built the Houses questions how we live with and love one another. Thursday 14 April 18.30 – 19.30 | £9 MAGGIE O’FARRELL We are so pleased to welcome back one of Aye Write’s favourite novelists with the release of her dazzling new novel. This Must Be the Place crosses continents and time zones, giving voice to a diverse and complex cast of characters. At its heart, it is an extraordinary portrait of a marriage, the forces that hold it together and the pressures that drive it apart. Maggie O’Farrell’s seventh novel is an astonishing, intimate epic about who we leave behind and who we become as we search for our place in the world. This Must Be The Place Monday 23 May 18.30 – 19.30 | £9 AYE WRITE! 2016 | 45 APRIL/MAY KATE TEMPEST WWW.AYEWRITE.COM BUY TICKETS AT WWW.AYEWRITE.COM AYE WRITE 2016 CREATIVE WRITING This Aye Write! get inspired and try some writing of your own, with a special programme created in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Glasgow. Each session costs £15 plus booking fee. Full details at www.ayewrite.com/creative GIVE IT GO: POETRY WRITING 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 will help you to start your own writing journey and show you how to keep going. CREATIVE WRITING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REVISION AND EDITING 16.30 – 18.30 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil It’s often said that it’s not the writing that a reader sees on the page of a novel or short story – it’s the rewriting. This interactive workshop covers the basics of drafting and editing, looking at common mistakes and introducing the skills needed to refine a piece of writing so that it reaches its full potential. CREATIVE WRITING Linda Jackson PhD This session is for those who have been circling the poet in themselves for some time or for those who have been tentatively beginning the process of getting poems onto the page. CREATIVE WRITING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHARACTER 18.30 – 20.30 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil Characters are one of the main ingredients of a good story, and even for writers of non-fiction a key skill is the ability to bring people to life on the page. This interactive workshop covers all you need to know about building characters: how to use your imagination and observation to create them, how to give them a personality, how to give them a voice, and how to build stories out of them. SUNDAY 13 MARCH CREATIVE WRITING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DIALOGUE 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil Whether you’re working on fiction or non-fiction, dialogue is an essential tool in bringing your writing to life. The personalities in your writing – real people or made up characters – will engage your reader most when they speak, but they have to do it in a believable way. In this interactive workshop, learn the basics about creating convincing dialogue and where to use it to its best advantage. WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH FRIDAY 11 MARCH RADIO DRAMA MASTERCLASS 10.00 – 11.30 | £15 POETRY AND PERFORMANCE – INSPIRE AND ENTERTAIN YOUR AUDIENCE! 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 Learn skills and tricks for writing radio drama from Bruce Young, Head of Radio Drama for BBC Scotland (and a producer/director for many years), and Chris Dolan, with 20 years of experience. Liz Kristiansen An experimental workshop for published and prospective poets, developing skills in voice, speech and stagecraft . Plus a look at how music, dance and other art forms can enhance your poetry when spoken aloud to an audience. SATURDAY 12 MARCH GIVE IT A GO: CREATIVE WRITING 14.30 – 17.30 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil Ever wondered what it takes to become a writer? All you really need is an interest in the written word and some time to devote to it. Based around practical writing exercises and group discussion, this session 46 | AYE WRITE! 2016 WRITING TELEVISION DRAMA 12.00 – 13.30 | £15 A lively introduction to TV drama with: Ann Marie di Mambro (Coronation Street, Doctors, Eastenders and more) and Chris Dolan (screenwriter and playwright, radio dramatist, novelist and broadcaster) who run Glasgow Caledonian’s Masters Degree in Fiction Writing for Television. BUY TICKETS AT THURSDAY 17 MARCH RESEARCH FOR WRITERS 11.00 – 13.00 | £15 Ronnie Scott BA, M Phil, PhD, FSA Scot tell the whole story. The creative inspiration to be drawn from this can be an excellent springboard for writing or for simply your own interest. WRITING FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 Nikki Cameron BA PGCE MLitt From the ancient greek philosophers to 21st century psychology it’s known that writing can help improve our wellbeing. This welcoming workshop will explain the science and give you a range of techniques for you to try. All you need is a pen and a notebook. SATURDAY 19 MARCH PERFORMANCE POETRY 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 FROM PAGE TO PUBLIC 14.00 – 16.00 | £15 This session is for those who would like to get some pointers about performing prose fiction or poetry in front of an audience. Scotland now has a rich tapestry of events, regular evenings and festivals for you to make that next step. Whether it is confidence, methods, voice, mic use – whatever, come along to this class and get some solid tips on how to be charismatic on stage. Or, at least, feel proficient and ready to perform your work. Essential tips on how to navigate public appearances, book launches and interviews with confidence. Suitable for established and new writers. Linda Jackson PhD CREATIVE WRITING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT POINT OF VIEW 18.30 – 20.30 | £15 Liz Kristiansen CREATIVE WRITING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT STORY AND PLOT 16.30 – 18.30 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil Every reader wants a good story and providing one is the objective of every writer. This interactive workshop looks at ways of building stories that satisfy and entertain, from developing an initial idea through to creating a coherent, persuasive and compelling plot. David Pettigrew BA MPhil An understanding of ‘point of view’ is a key writing skill, but it is often misunderstood. This seminar will explain the different perspectives you can employ in your writing and introduce key skills in using them effectively to help your stories make the best impression on your readers. FRIDAY 18 MARCH HOUSE HISTORIES: A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO ANCESTRY 10.00 – 12.00 | £15 SUNDAY 20 MARCH GIVE IT A GO: CREATIVE WRITING 14.30 – 17.30 | £15 David Pettigrew BA MPhil Ever wondered what it takes to become a writer? All you really need is an interest in the written word and some time to devote to it. Based around practical writing exercises and group discussion, this session will help you to start your own writing journey and show you how to keep going. Ronnie Scott BA, M Phil, PhD, FSA Scot Does your house have an interesting history? Researching its ‘life story’ can be fascinating and rewarding: you can learn about the landowner, the developer, and the lives of the various occupants. You can also see how your neighbourhood grew and changed over time. We’ll look at land and property records, valuation and electoral rolls, maps, photos, newspapers and other sources to AYE WRITE! 2016 | 47 CREATIVE WRITING Research is an essential skill for all writers, whether you’re composing history or biography, chick lit or Tartan Noir. These lively workshops will show you how to carry out research both quickly and efficiently, and to find the inspiration and information you need, in the Mitchell collections and online. We’ll look at books, newspapers, magazines, maps, photographs, archives and online services. There will be plenty of chances to ask questions about research, and specific topics. WWW.AYEWRITE.COM A large print version of this brochure is available from www.ayewrite.com, or in person at the Mitchell Library box office. VENUE INFORMATION Aye Write! events take place at The Mitchell Library, North Street, Glasgow G3 7DN* BOOKING INFORMATION Tickets are non-refundable For all accessibility requirements please contact 0141 287 2999 or ask staff at the Mitchell Library during the festival. Online www.ayewrite.com (online purchases subject to £1 booking fee) By phone 0141 353 8000 (phone purchases subject to £1.50 booking fee) In person from the Mitchell Library (Mon-Thu 9am -8pm, Fri and Sat 9am– 5pm); Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Mon-Sat 10am – 6pm) City Halls (Mon-Sat 12 noon – 6pm) and Tramway (Tues – Saturday 10am – 8pm, Sunday 12 noon – 5pm, closed Moday) Fees apply per transaction, not per ticket. Please ensure you arrive at the Mitchell Library in good time to check the Information Boards for venue information before your event. For the majority of events, doors open 15 minutes before the event start time Due to the historic nature of the building we ask that patrons who are wheelchair users or have difficulty using stairs to contact the venue directly in advance of their visit so that suitable assistance can be arranged. Please phone 0141 287 2999 Aye Write! Glasgow’ Book Festival programme may be subject to additions and changes at any time. Check www.ayewrite.com or ask staff at the Mitchell Library during the festival. *Check brochure entries for exceptions PHOTO CREDITS: Ryan McGoverne (RM Hubbert, Michael Pedersen) , Mike Kemp (Adam MarsJones), Jonny Donovan (Ben Rawlence), DC Thomson (Craig Robertson), Dave Smith (Frances Quinn), Eamonn McCabe (James rebanks), Davina Bell (James Macdonald Lockhart), Garry Simpson (Jo Marchant), David Stewart (Kate Tempest), Lisa Swarna Khanna (Amy Liptrot), Chris Jelley (Andy Beckett), Mike Williams (Andy Hosken), Luke Inman (Anna Smith), North News & Pictures (Ben Kane), Richard Sakar, Guardian news & media (Brooke Magnanti), Howard Walker (Clare Morrall), Dan Massie (Colin McIntyre), Nigel Barklie (David Aaronovitch), Steve Morgan_Greenpeace (Frank Hewetson), Max Alexander (Lucie Green), Inness Morrison (Andrew McMillan), Jean Goldsmith (Meg Rosoff), Barney Jones (Julie Myerson), Agata Pysik (Owen Hatherley), Al Higgins (Rob Doyle), Emili Bendixen (Jon Ronson), Rankin (Irvine Welsh), Johnny Ring (Gillian Slovo), Norman McBeath (Mary Paulson-Ellis), Angus Bremner (James Kelman), Jennifer Matignas (Jack Cooke)