Books
Events
Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least ten days before publication to suzanne.black@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Suzanne Black.
Glasgow
* Steven Hall Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. Hall signs his debut novel. The Raw Shark 'Ihtts. which has already been hailed as an 'instant classic'.
Edinburgh
Scottish PEN 1927-2007: 80 Years in Scotland Writers‘ Museum. Lady Stair‘s Close. Lawmnarket. 529 4901. l'ntil 5 May. .Vlon--Sat l0am—5pm. Free. An exhibition celebrating 80 years of the Scottish branch of the worldwide writers association. set up by Hugh .\lacDiarmid.
Monday 1 9
Glasgow
Creative Writing Class Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700.
6- 8pm. £30 for 6 sessions. Alistair Patterson hosts a writing workshop every Monday: ‘Discover and develop the writer within'. For further info please call 07969 823712 or email
prismatic (0‘ virgin.net.
Tuesday 20
Edinburgh
German Poetry Please! Scottish Poetry Library. 5 Crichton‘s Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 7.30pm. £5 inc wine (£3). Ken Cockburn. Li/ Lochhead and Michael Schmidt choose their favourite (icrman poems in translation to discuss. The evening also features the launch of the Berlin-based magazine .\'o Man 's land. Booking essential.
Wednesday 21
Glasgow
International Poetry Day Brookwood Library. 166 Drymen Road. 942 68l l. 4.30pm. Free (ticketed). Lil. Lochhead launches the Bearsden collection at Brookwood Library. Booking essential.
Edinburgh
Rhona Cameron Waterstone‘s. I28 Princes Street. 226 2666. 6.30--i7.30pm. Free. The Musselburgh—born comedian reads from and signs copies of The Naked Drinking Club. her debut fictional foray. >I< Hugh MacOiarmid Lecture Scottish Poetry Library. 5 Crichton's Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 7.30pm. £3 (£2: PAS members free). Douglas Dunn gives the annual Poetry Association of Scotland lecture. this time on lidwin Muir. to celebrate International Poetry Day. Booking essential.
A Madman, a Mountain, and a Monastery Royal Lyceum Theatre. (irindlay Street. 248 4848. 6pm. Free. The launch of Des Dillon’s Monks. the book behind the Lyceum’s current theatre production of the same name. about a silent monk with healing powers. Louisa Waugh Word Power Bookshop. 43 West Nicolson Street. 662 9] 12. 7pm. Free. The author of Selling ()lga.‘ Stories omenan 'Ii‘aflieking and Resistanee talks about a dark international trade.
Glasgow
Look Who’s Talking: Theresa Breslin King's Theatre. 297 Bath Street. 0870 060 6648. lpm. £5.50 (£4). The local author of hit novels Divided City and The Medici Seal discusses her craft.
30 THE LIST 1:3- 29 Mar 2007
Rhona Cameron Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. See Wed 2 l.
Edinburgh
Women’s Identity: Loose Tongues and Open Mic Scottish Poetry Library. 5 Crichton‘s Close. Canongate. 557 2876. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). The all-woman poetry group Loose Tongues celebrate life with XX chromosomes. With musical interludes and open performance slots for women.
Is there a Scottish Road to Socialism? Word Power Bookshop. 43 West Nicolson Street. 662 9| 12. 7pm. Free. The Scottiin Left Review launches Is There (I Scotti.le Road to Soeiu/istnf’. edited by Professor (iregor (iall.
Glasgow
Write-On-Write-A-Thon STl '( '. 333 Woodlands Road. 337 8 I00. 10am l0pm. All day pass £25 (individual events vary). A sponsored 12-hour event of workshops. spoken word events and exhibitions for International UNESCO World Poetry Day. Please see www.scottishstory tellingcentre.co.uk for details.
Edinburgh
Antiquarian Book Fair Assembly Rooms. 54 (ieorge Street. 228 1 I55. .\'oon 6.45pm. Free. Dealers from throughout Scotland sell antiquarian and secondhand books. maps and prints.
Saturday 24
Edinburgh
Antiquarian Book Fair Assembly Rooms. 54 (ieorge Street. 228 l I55. I lam 5pm. Free. See Fri 23.
Edinburgh
Shore Poets Open Night Mai Thai. The Tun. Jackson‘s litttt‘y. l I l lloly't‘ood Road. 3l3 2797. 7.45pm. 9.2 (U ). This month the Shore Poets invite you (ninth in and share your own work with them and special guest AngUs Peter Campbell.
Monday 26
Glasgow
Creative Writing Class Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6 8pm. £30 for 6 sessions. See Mon 19.
Edinburgh
Re-writing the History of the Union: Obstacles, Objections and Opportunities llawthornden Lecture Theatre. Weston Link. The Mound. 624 6560. 12.45 -l.30pm. Professor Christopher Whatley disctisses his new book. The .S'eots and the I 'nion.
Wednesday 28 -
Glasgow
>i< Four Book Launch Borders Books. 98 Buchanan Street. 222 7700. 6pm. Free. Alan Riach of(i|asgow liniversity launches four poetry titles: .S'e/eeted Poems by Robert Burns. Robert Burns by (ierard Carruthers. xi Book o/‘Iji'es by lidwin Morgan and Beyond the Sun: Seotland's I'ai'om'ite Paintings: Poems by Edwin Morgan. See review for lidwin Morgan. page 29.
Thursday 29
Edinburgh
A Vigorous Institution: The Living Legacy of Patrick Geddes Blackwells. 53 59 South Bridge. 622 8222. 6.30pm. Free. Walter Stephen talks about his new book about the Scottish biologist and forward thinker.
Comics
EPIC
FRANK MILLER & LYNN VARLEY 300
(Dark Horse) 0000
Be-reading Frank Miller's graphic novella in its landscape format hardcover edition (it was originally serialised as a five-issue comic book in 1998/99). it's clear just how perfectly suited 300 is for the Hollywood blockbuster film adaptation that's poised for nationwide release. Beyond the superficial similarity of the elongated page format and the shape of a cinema screen. Miller's novel is thoroughly cinematic.
Graphic in more than one sense of the word. it’s both illustration heaw and text light not to mention exceedingly gruesome. Thus the story of the battle in 480BC between 300 Spartan warriors and the invading Persian Empire's gigantic 100 nation strong army is told largely in visual terms. and with frequent recourse to some truly visceral violence. Moreover. Miller's bold pen and inking and Lynn Varley's painterly colouring combined are alternately striking and moody. reminiscent of the composition and lighting of film's great cinematographers.
The storytelling's also lean and mean. As is the case with Miller's Spartan heroes: there's no room in the novella for sentin’ientality. The only let up from the paired-down. fast— paced storytelling is the sparing use of black humour, for instance when the Spartan king. Leonides. amuses himself with the very idea of behaving in a civil manner towards the enemy while his captain finishes off wounded Persians with his spear. The novella jumps right into the action. pausing only for
a brief flashback to recap how the Spartans eagerly embarked on a suicide mission. not just to save Greek civilisation but for the greater good of the glory of battle. And following the fifth chapter's red- blooded arterial spray of a climax. there‘s a one-page epilogue and final panel heralding yet more brutal action. There's little depth to the story contained within this slim volume. Subplot and subtext are in almost complete absence. As they are in the Hollywood blockbuster. (Miles Fielder)
SUPERHERO CHRIS CLAREMONT & HERB TRIMPE Captain Britain Volume 1 (Marvel/Panini) coo
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It may have stemmed from a slightly cynical. ‘lets see if we can cash in on the British market with a thinly disguised take on Captain America' but Chris Claremont may well be one of the greatest comics story tellers of his time (admittedly his recent output is old fashioned and bogged down by slavishly complex continuity). This compendium reprints a massive chunk of Captain Britain's early stories (collecting issues (—23) from Brian Braddock's transformation to the ‘Lion of London' (it's all to do with a magic amulet and some Arthurian mumbo jumbo) through his tussles with the Red Skull and team ups with Captain America and Nick Fury. There's a relentless pace and cracking titles like 'Havoc at Heathrow' or Plot on Regent Street‘ that make this an
enjoyable British spin on 70s comic heroics. But. rather evilly. they leave us on a cliffhanger. Tune in next time kids.
(Henry Northmore)
ABSTRACT SURREAL MALCY DUFF The Blackest Gnome (Missing Twin Publishing) coo
More dreams. schemes and half remembered memories from Edinl.)urgh based cartoonist Duff. This. his 31st comic book is. according to the press notes, 'inspired by the cancellation of the last black and white minstrel show in Scotland after just one complaint.‘ Following on from recent minor but intriguing curios from Duff — / Can't Draw: Pan 2 and The Cast/ate Song. The B/ackest Gnome is more of the same. Essentially a collection of beautifully drawn and detailed SCBQLJQITCZOS rather than a uniformed whole. Duff's latest opus is full of ideas of perspective. movement and (unusually for him) even colour in the final section. It's a perverse. opaque. monastic but totally bewildering experience. but one that has -— and will - continue to find a following. To order a copy of The Blackest Gnome visit missingtwinnet or email missingtwinta> hotmail.com (Paul Dale)
WMMWM