Books EVENTS
Tuesday 5
Edinburgh The School of Poets Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 6–8.30pm. £2. Monthly workshop-type poetry session. Beginners and more experienced writers welcome.
Wednesday 6
Edinburgh ✽✽ Breathin’ Air with Howard Marks & John Sinclair Electric Circus, 36–39 Market Street, 226 4224. 7pm. £16.50. See preview.
Thursday 7 Glasgow FREE Explore Nature Through Poetry Hillhead Library, 348 Byres Road, 339 7223. 2pm. David Betteridge leads an exploration of nature-themed poetry. Part of the West End Festival.
Friday 8
Glasgow FREE Reading Allowed Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. 8pm. A monthly evening of storytelling and poetry reading. Edinburgh FREE St Philibert and the Devil in Performance Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 7–9pm. Performance of Patsy Dyer’s Elizabethan tale ‘St Philibert and the Devil’, inspired by John Clare’s ‘The Nutters’.
Saturday 9
Glasgow ✽✽ Tim Burgess: Telling Stories The Stand, 333 Woodlands Road,
0844 335 8879. 4pm. £5. The Charlatans’ frontman reads from his autobiography and answers audience questions.
Edinburgh FREE In Your Own Time Scottish Poetry Library, 5 Crichton’s Close, Canongate, 557 2876. 1.30pm. Poets from Newcastle’s Northern Poetry workshop.
Sunday 10 Edinburgh No Rhyme, No Reason The Jazz Bar, 1 Chambers Street, 220 4298. 8pm. £4 (£3). Poetry night with a showcase of themed poems and a competitive slam.
Monday 11
Edinburgh FREE Scottish Medicine: An Illustrated History National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, 623 3918. 6pm. The history of medicine in Scotland explored. An Evening With Christopher Paolini Waterstone’s West End, 128 Princes Street, 0843 290 8313. 6.30pm. £5. The fantasy author discusses the final book in his Inheritance Cycle series.
✽✽ Chris Brookmyre: When the Devil Drives The Caves, Niddry
Street South, 622 8218. 7pm. £5. Launch of the bestselling crime writer’s latest book. Tuesday 12
Edinburgh FREE Social Session with Hazel McHaffie Waterstone’s George Street, 83 George Street, 651 4736. 6.30–8.30pm.
Got an opinion? You can now Comment on all our articles at list .co.uk 72 THE LIST 24 May–21 Jun 2012
1060. Times vary. Prices vary. Highlights include a Melrose version of Mastermind, which sees Sally Magnusson rub brains with contenders Rory Bremner, John Sessions, Kathy Lette and Kirsty Wark. Hilary Mantel discusses her new novel, Bring up the Bodies, while Kathy Lette, Christopher Brookmyre, Andrew Miller, Ian Rankin and Tom Pow also appear.
Sunday 17
Glasgow FREE Lobey Dosser Day DRAM!, 232–246 Woodlands Road, 332 1622. 1pm & 3pm. A celebration of the life and good times of cartoonist and poet Bud Neill. Part of the West End Festival.
Melrose ✽✽ Borders Book Festival Harmony Garden, St Mary’s Road, 0844 357
1060. Times vary. Prices vary. Tam Dalyell discusses his memoir about life as an MP, Andy McNab makes a mysterious appearance and Alistair Darling explains about the economy (finally).
Monday 18
Edinburgh FREE Blackwell Book Group Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. The group of booklovers discusses Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending. Wednesday 20
Edinburgh FREE James Robertson Oxgangs Library, 343 Oxgangs Road North, 529 5549. 10.30–11.30am. James Robertson reads from And the Land Lay Still. Booking essential. FREE Lin Anderson: Picture Her Dead Blackwells, 53–59 South Bridge, 622 8222. 6.30pm. The novelist discusses the eighth book in her Rhona MacLeod series. Featuring a live demo of Return to Scene forensic technology. Scotsman Literary Dinner The Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor Hotel, 5–22 Grosvenor St, 620 8656. 6.30pm. £65 (£90 for premium tickets including private audience with the author and a signed book). Prestigious dinner event with special guest AS Byatt. Booking essential. The Dead Poets Slam City Café, 19 Blair Street, 220 0125. 8–11pm. £5 (£4). Local performance poets morph into their literary heroes as they remix and pay homage to classic poetry. The competition’s open to everyone, with prizes to be won and props, costumes and theatrics encouraged. Email inkyfingersedinburgh@gmail.com.
Thursday 21
Glasgow FREE Stories of Women and War Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. 5.30pm. Writers Zoe Lambert and Michelle Green discuss the impact of war and the principles behind their short story collections, The War Tour and Jebel Marra. Booking essential. FREE Scottish Writers’ Centre Debate: Wild Writing Scottish Writers’ Centre, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7–8.30pm. Share your own ideas taken from the Scottish landscape and discuss expressions of wildness in any kind of writing. Edinburgh FREE Place of Refugee: Jonathan Falla and Leila Aboulela Central Library, 7-9 George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 6.30–7.45pm. The two writers speak to BBC presenter Serena Field. FREE Chris Beckett & Southern Tenant Folk Union Pulp Fiction, 43 Bread Street, 229 4444. 7pm. The sci-fi author celebrates the recent release of his novel Dark Eden with a Q&A session and acoustic music.
HOWARD MARKS Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Wed 6 Jun
Every generation needs a figurehead to accentuate the fun side of drugs. From Thomas de Quincey to Sherlock Holmes and through to Timothy Leary, the Beatles and Bill Hicks, it’s not all been bad trips and cold turkey (if there any wags out there suggesting him, no, Richard Bacon doesn’t really count). There’s probably no cultural figure still alive who has witnessed just about every side of the narcotics world quite like Howard Marks.
It’s somewhat fitting that Mr Nice has a degree from Oxford in nuclear
physics given that he has blown apart many preconceptions about the drugs industry and even now, in his late 60s, continues to campaign for the legalisation of recreational drug use. In this event, he is joined by another core member of what used to be
called the counter culture. John Sinclair is the chap who managed proto-punk band MC5, has a wide discography of spoken word material (Fattening Frogs for Snakes is worth a listen for that title alone) and led the militant anti-racist movement, the White Panther Party. Marks and Sinclair have plenty in common, not least the fact that both served spells in prison for drug convictions. Tonight, some pots will be getting well stirred. (Brian Donaldson)
Saving Sebastian author Hazel McHaffie reads from her novel and, accompanied by Dr Shawn Harmon, debates the issues around medical ethics and stem cell research. Wednesday 13
Glasgow FREE A Literary Parade University of Glasgow, St Andrews Building, 11 Eldon Street, 330 1835. 7pm. Writers Pat Byrne, Jim Carson, Josianne Azzopardi Mamo and Mo Blake perform poetry and prose. Part of the West End Festival. Edinburgh Café Voices Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 7–9pm. £5. Lilian Ross hosts a relaxed evening of oral storytelling, poetry and music.
Thursday 14
Glasgow FREE Scottish Writers’ Centre presents In Process: Liz Lochhead on Playwriting Scottish Writers’ Centre, CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7–8.30pm. The Makar discusses the process of playwriting and the use of images in dramaturgy.
Melrose ✽✽ Borders Book Festival Harmony Garden, St Mary’s Road, 0844 357
1060, www.bordersbookfestival.org. Times vary. Prices vary. Four-day literary festival. Today you can hear from adventurer Mark Beaumont, Liz Lochhead performing a selection of her poems, stellar chef Prue Leith, Iain Banks, James Naughtie talking about the Elizabethans and war reporter Charles
Glass in conversation with Rory Bremner. See preview, page 42.
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 Locating Robert Louis Stevenson: Reputation, Genre and Influence Lauriston Castle, 2a Cramond Road South, 529 3963. 10.30am. £8. Stevenson specialist Linda Dryden discusses the writer’s legend and legacy.
Melrose ✽✽ Borders Book Festival Harmony Garden, St Mary’s Road, 0844 357 1060. Times vary. Prices vary. Sir David Frost chats with Rory Bremner about his life, while other events feature William Boyd, historian James Holland and broadcaster Jeremy Vine.
Saturday 16
Glasgow FREE A Treasure Chest of Stories The Tryst, Hillhead Baptist Church Cresswell Street, 339 1588. 3pm. A ‘journey of discovery’ with storyteller Anne Pitcher. Part of the West End Festival. Lost in Digression Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. 8pm. £5. An eclectic night of music, comedy, poetry and storytelling.
Melrose ✽✽ Borders Book Festival Harmony Garden, St Mary’s Road, 0844 357