Books HITLIST THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
Jo Nesbo The latest Harry Hole mystery Phantom takes the series right to the very edge. But can the Oslo scribe’s flawed ‘tec find a way back? See review, page 46. Harvill Secker.
Aye Write! Glasgow’s literary festival has another cracking line-up including Julia Donaldson, William Boyd, Ian Rankin, Zoe Strachan and Kathy Lette. See preview, page 45. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, Fri 9–Sat 17 Mar. enLIGHTen In collaboration with (g)Host) City, the next City of Literature project has the words of the Enlightenment thinkers projected onto buildings in central Edinburgh. See preview, page 48. Edinburgh, Thu 1–Sun 18 Mar.
Alan Warner He wrote Morvern Callar and the distinctly non-Mafioso The Sopranos. Now hear him talk about his next one, The Deadman’s Pedal, out in May. University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Mon 5 Mar.
Richard Holloway The former Bishop of Edinburgh hooks up with Today programme man James Naughtie to discuss his book, Leaving Alexandria. Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, Sat 10 Mar. StAnza This 15th annual poetry fest in Fife features Jackie Kay (pictured), David Hayman, John Burnside and Lavinia Greenlaw. See preview, page 49. Various venues, St Andrews, Wed 14–Sun 18 Mar.
Doug Johnstone The Arbroath-born musician and journo has a new one out, Hit and Run, featuring a reporter who accidentally knocks down a crimelord and then has to cover the story for his local paper. Blackwells, Edinburgh, Thu 15 Mar. 44 THE LIST 1–29 Mar 2012
Christopher Brookmyre In the French Twenty Years of Changing Minds In this 20th
Passions series the bestselling Paisley-born author talks of the influence Rabelais may have had on his own oeuvre. Alliance Française de Glasgow, Tue 20 Mar. anniversary event, Anne Donovan, Margaret Elphinstone and Karen Campbell deliver some readings. Glasgow Women’s Library, Thu 22 Mar.
Literary Death Match Writers, poets and performers do their thing in front of a trio of tough-nut judges, namely Christopher Brookmyre, Alan Bissett and Hannah McGill. The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Tue 27 Mar.
list.co.uk/books
FirstWrites INTRODUCING DEBUT AUTHORS
LISA O’DONNELL takes on this issue’s debut author Q&A. Her first book is a Glasgow-set tale of two young girls on a housing estate trying to survive without their recently deceased parents
Give us five words to describe The Death of Bees? Contemporary. Dark. Comic. Social. Loud. Name one author who should be more famous than they are now? Katherine Dunn who wrote the amazing Geek Love. She’s written other things, mostly about boxing I understand, but I would like to have a bigger shelf of her fictional work.
What was the first book you read? It was a book about telling the time which is weird because I’ve never been on time for anything in my life.
Which book makes you laugh? Any Human Heart by William Boyd. Narrated in the first person spanning across the 20th century, the journal of the ever evolving Logan Mountstuart had me laughing out loud but it also made me cry in places too. I guess I cried and laughed. It’s an incredible piece of work. Which dead author do you wish was still alive today? JD Salinger. I’d ask him what his secrets were and why he wouldn’t let anyone publish them. I’d also ask him ‘what’s wrong?’ He wasn’t a happy person in the end.
What plans do you have for book number two? I come from a small island in Scotland where everyone knows everything about everyone and so I love the thought of things that are actually kept secret in a world like that. My next book will focus on a big secret having repercussions for everyone who keeps it. (Interview by Brian Donaldson) ■ The Death of Bees is published by William Heinemann on Thu 1 Mar.