Books EVENTS
Sunday 10
Glasgow Words Per Minute The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, 565 1000. 4–6pm. £5. Monthly spoken word, music, film and performance night run by Glasgow-based writer-performers Kirsty Logan, Helen Sedgwick and Kirstin Innes. This month’s guest performers are Doug Johnstone and Katy Macauley. Edinburgh FREE Spark! Creativity Showcase The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. See Sun 3.
Monday 11 Edinburgh FREE Spoken Word Night Blind Poet, 32c West Nicolson Street, 667 4268. 9pm. See Mon 4.
Tuesday 12
Edinburgh FREE Alain Claude Sulzer Word Power Bookshop, 43 West Nicolson Street, 662 9112. 6pm. The Swiss novelist discusses his work and reads from A Perfect Waiter, a moving epic of forbidden love set in an exclusive Swiss hotel in the mid-20th century. FREE Ryan’s Desert Island Poems Central Library, George IV Bridge, 242 8046. 6.30pm. Performance poet Harry Giles, the SPL’s Peggy Hughes and sci-fi versifier Russell Jones share the poems they just couldn’t live without, in a ‘multimedia extravaganza’ under the effusive guidance of SPL Reader in Residence Ryan Van Winkle. Booking essential.
Wednesday 13 Edinburgh FREE Genomics Poetry Competition: Reading Party Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6.30–8.30pm. Join winners of last year’s poetry competition – to write a poem that tackles the theme ‘Improving the Human’ – as they read from their work. Part of Edinburgh International Science Festival. FREE Poetrio Stockbridge Library, Hamilton Place, 529 5665. 6.30–7.30pm. Poetry from Irene Brown, Anne Connolly and Anna Dickie. Cafe Voices Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 7pm. £4. Jess Smith hosts a relaxed session of oral storytelling, poetry by memory, music and song. Thursday 14 Glasgow Tom Leonard CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. By donation. In an event organised by the Scottish Writers’ Centre, political poet Tom Leonard discusses recent work, shows slides and gives a short reading.
Thursday 14 Edinburgh FREE Nothing But The . . . Science Fiction Poetry Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–7.30pm. A relaxed discussion group focusing on the sci-fi overtones in poems by the late, great Edwin Morgan. No previous knowledge required.
Friday 15 Glasgow FREE The Better Crack Club Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. Regular storytelling club for adults.
Edinburgh ✽✽ Evolution: The New Classics George Square Theatre, University of Edinburgh George Square, 553 0322. 7.30–8.30pm. £10 (£8). Richard
46 THE LIST 31 Mar–28 Apr 2011
Dawkins proposes evolution as the new classics, a discipline uniting many subjects in a single vision. Part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
Saturday 16 Glasgow Turning the Next Page CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 10am–5pm. £20. A day of workshops, panel sessions and socialising. Email p.johnston@nawe.co.uk to book your place.
Edinburgh Nothing But The . . . Poem Central Library, George IV Bridge, 242 8000. 11.10am–12.30pm. £5 (£3). Informal poetry group with Lilias Fraser. FREE Science and the King James Bible: Influence, Confluence or Conflict? St Mary’s Cathedral, 23 Palmerston Place, 553 0322. 2–5pm. This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. A panel of experts explores its influence on the development of modern science, religion, atheism and fundamentalism. For ages 15 years and over. Part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. Scottish Homeopathy: Sugar Pills or Medicine Miracle? Edinburgh University Informatics Forum, 10 Crichton Street, 553 0322. 2–3pm. £10 (£8). Simon Singh examines the issues surrounding alternative medicine. Part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival.
Sunday 17
Glasgow Glasgow Book Fair Glasgow Pond Hotel, Great Western Road. 10am–5pm. £1. Secondhand and antiquarian book fair with antique maps and prints also available.
Edinburgh ✽✽ An Evening With Jon Ronson and Richard Wiseman The Jam
House, 5 Queen Street, 553 0322. 5–6.30pm. £10 (£8). Two bestselling authors join forces to explore the human mind. See caption. Part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival. FREE Spark! Creativity Showcase The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. See Sun 3. Poetry at the . . . Store The Store, 37 Guthrie Street, 220 2987. 7.45–9.45pm. £4 (£3). Monthly poetry event, this time featuring Ryan Van Winkle, Steven Waling and Matthew Stewart.
Monday 18
Edinburgh FREE Blackwell’s Book Group Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. The current book for discussion is The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. FREE Spoken Word Night Blind Poet, 32c West Nicolson Street, 667 4268. 9pm. See Mon 4.
Wednesday 20
Glasgow FREE Weegie Wednesdays The Universal, 57–59 Sauchiehall Lane, 332 8899. 7.30pm. Monthly forum offering writers, poets, publishers, booksellers, librarians, creative writing students or anyone else with a literary interest to get together socially to talk about books and publishing. Edinburgh FREE PlayGroup: Iron by Rona Munro Traverse Theatre, Cambridge Street, 228 1404. 11.30am–1.30pm. A discussion of Rona Munro’s Iron – scripts available from the Traverse box office.
JON RONSON The Jam House, Edinburgh, Sun 17 Apr
In the past, Jon Ronson has written and filmed ordinary people doing extraordinary things, extraordinary folk doing scary things and scary individuals attempting to prove just how ordinary they are. The likes of David Icke (former Coventry goalie who believes that blood-quaffing reptiles rule the world), Jonathan King (celebrity sex offender), Natascha Kampusch (empathetic Austrian schoolgirl held captive in a cellar for over 3000 days) and George Exoo (suicide facilitator) have been among his subjects through a rich and varied journalistic career. His next book, The Psychopath Test, gets its Scottish debut airing at the Edinburgh International Science Festival and his audience will hear more tales from the edge of reason, as he seeks to discover whether mental illness is rife among those walking the corridors of power. To assist in his latest simultaneously witty and terrifying journey are ex- MI5 officer turned conspiracy theorist extraordinaire David Shayler, a former Haitian death squad commandant and a pinstripe-suited man who claims to have faked a little bit of madness to avoid a heavy prison sentence but ended up being chucked into Broadmoor to share a postcode with Ian Brady and Peter Sutcliffe.
Ronson will be appearing with the festival’s guest director, Richard Wiseman, whose books include Quirkology and 59 Seconds. He wonders not whether we might all be psychopaths, but if we all have a natural telepathy. (Brian Donaldson)
Thursday 21
Glasgow FREE Behind the Scenes Mitchell Library, North Street, 287 2999. 2.30pm. Guided tour of Europe’s largest public reference library.
✽✽ FREE David Kinloch CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. The Scottish Writers’ Centre presents an evening with Glasgow-based writer and academic David Kinloch to launch his latest collection of poetry, Finger of a Frenchman. FREE Valve Journal Showcase Mono, 12 Kings Court, King Street, 553 2400. 7pm. An evening of readings from the Strathclyde University writers featured in the soon-to-be-launched Valve journal, plus live music.
Sunday 24
Edinburgh FREE Spark! Creativity Showcase The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 6pm. See Sun 3.
Monday 25 Edinburgh FREE Spoken Word Night Blind Poet, 32c West Nicolson Street, 667 4268. 9pm. See Mon 4.
Tuesday 26 Glasgow The Magic Carpet Cabaret Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. £2. A night of poetry, songs and
stories, with open mic spots. FREE Monosyllabic Mono, 12 Kings Court, King Street, 553 2400. 8pm. Mono’s spoken word performance evening with open spots – just email verseatye@yahoo.co.uk.
Edinburgh ✽✽ Melvyn Bragg St Giles’ Cathedral, Royal Mile, 225 3436. 7–9pm. £5
(redeemable against purchase of book). The walking encyclopaedia that is Melvyn Bragg discusses his latest work, Book of Books. Tickets available from Waterstone’s on George Street. FREE Inky Fingers Open Mic The Forest Café, 3 Bristo Place, 220 4538. 8–11pm. A fresh platform for people who love words, with guest performers are Colin Donati and Eliza Langland.
Wednesday 27 Glasgow Word Play Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. 8.30pm. £2. Open mic night with acoustic music, poetry and prose.
Thursday 28
Glasgow ✽✽ Iraqui Fiction CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7pm. By donation.
Readings from two Iraqi writers: Abbas Khider, who was arrested in Iraq and spent two years in prison for his political activities and refugee Kusay Hussain, who has worked with Scottish PEN member Sue Reid Sexton to produce English translations of his work.