FESTIVAL BOOKS | Previews
ALASDAIR GRAY Scotland’s literary giant on his almost-autobiography
One of the country’s finest writers and painters, Alasdair Gray has been a monumental influence on Scottish writing since long before the publication of his first and most famous novel, Lanark. Known for his eccentricity and individualistic style, his editor Alastair Braidwood told us to expect the unexpected at Gray’s Edinburgh International Book Festival event.
‘You’re never entirely sure what an Alasdair Gray live event will be like,’ he says. ‘What I can guarantee is that it won’t be dull. He couldn’t be that if he tried.’ Published by Cargo earlier this year, Gray’s latest book, Of Me
and Others, has received tremendous praise from fans and critics alike. Referred to as his ‘biography’, Braidwood explains that, much like its author, it’s a little unconventional. ‘In the foreword to the book Alasdair says that it might be described as “A Life in Prose”. It is not a normal autobiography, if it can be called that at all, but we never expected conformity from Alasdair Gray.’
However, Braidwood points out that the book acts exactly like a biography should: by providing an insight into the Alasdair Gray that often doesn’t shine through his work. ‘Putting personal bias aside, Of Me and Others is important as it shows a side to Alasdair’s life that many readers will not be aware of; a more personal and political view of the world than they may garner through his fiction.’
But what is it about Gray’s work that means it remains a staggering influence on even today’s new writers? ‘It endures because he is still relevant, artistically and politically,’ Braidwood explains. ‘The best literature travels but it must also resonate at home, and with a greater significance. That’s not something to deny, it’s something to celebrate.’ (Karyn Dougan) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 13 Aug, 1.30pm, £10 (£8).
ALEXANDER MOFFAT & ALAN RIACH The cultural side of the referendum debate DEYAN SUDJIC: WHY DESIGN MATTERS From Edinburgh student to design guru
KATE TOUGH & EMMA JANE UNSWORTH Young female authors talk 21st century life
In their book, Arts of Independence, painter Alexander Moffat and poet / academic Alan Riach argue that culture should be at the heart of the independence debate. ‘Literature and the arts give you the most essential information about what being human means,’ says Riach. ‘In the UK now, value is set in money terms. That is not enough.’ The pair are disappointed by the independence debate so far. Riach adds: ‘The trouble is no one who wants Scotland to stay ‘North Britain’ has an argument to counter independence. Instead we have soundbites from James MacMilllan, great composer that he is, saying that artists and writers supporting independence are acting like Mussolini's henchmen.’ A great supporter of pro-independence cultural group National Collective, Riach is disappointed at the lack of coverage they've received in the mainstream media. ‘There is vitality and spirit in many, many people,’ he says, ‘but there is condescension and self-belittling among many people also. Come on, pilgrims – it's a big world. Take a big bite!’ (Stewart Smith) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 12 Aug, 11am, £10 (£8).
32 THE LIST FESTIVAL 7–14 Aug 2014
‘Design isn’t an artform. It’s not about looks; it’s about meaning, it’s a way of understanding the world around us.’ Deyan Sudjic should know. Director of the Design Museum in London, he published B is for Bauhaus earlier this year, his personal A–Z of design theory and design classics. Hitchcock’s film sets, Warhol’s ‘genuine fakes’, Sudjic’s own favourite fishtail parka jacket – they’re all in there, alongside the former University of Edinburgh architecture student’s observations on national identity.
‘I was once asked [while director of Glasgow’s Year of Architecture and Design programme] if I’d ever experienced racial prejudice as “a prominent Englishman, working in Scotland”,’ says Sudjic.
‘That struck me as interesting. Was I being told I didn’t belong? My parents spoke Serbo-Croat at home, but my accent, the product of a constant diet of the BBC Home Service as a child, meant I was considered English. Accents, like passports and banknotes, all make up identity. To me, they are all design features. That’s one of many reasons why design matters.’ (Claire Sawers) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 12 Aug, 7pm, £10 (£8).
Comparisons range from Withnail and I to Girls, but Emma Jane Unsworth (pictured) isn't letting the success of her second novel Animals go to her head. She's teaming up with Kate Tough, (Head for the Edge, Keep Walking), at this year's Book Festival and together the duo will discuss the trials and tribulations of being a young woman in the 21st century. Unsworth's first novel, Hungry, the Stars and
Everything, won a Betty Trask Award and Animals has been received with just as much enthusiasm. ‘The reviews have been lovely,’ she says, ‘but the best thing is when individual girls get in touch because it's connected with them.’ The story of a young woman torn between hedonism and staid fiancé Jim, Animals is a drug-fuelled caper but the heart of the novel is the pressure that narrator Laura is under to become ‘a respectable adult’. ‘It makes me really angry,’ Unsworth says. ‘In the
novel, the pressure comes from Jim, her friends and her parents, but really when you're a woman in your 30s it comes from all over the show and I resent it, I resist it.' (Kaite Welsh) ■ Charlotte Square Gardens, 0845 373 5888, 11 Aug, 8.30pm, £7 (£5).
P H O T O © D A R R E N H A L L