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HITLIST HITLIST THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
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✽ Louise Welsh ✽ StAnza Some of the world’s finest poets The ever-popular Glasgow author delivers converge on St Andrews for a week of a lecture entitled ‘Robert Louis Stevenson and poetic goodness. See preview, left. Various the Theatre of the Brain’. If that wasn’t intriguing venues, St Andrews, Wed 5–Sun 9 Mar. enough, let us hit you with the event’s subtitle: ‘An Exploration of.
It’s all been leading up to the final – and
✽ Scottish Poetry Slam Championship ✽ Louise Welsh here it is! The best slam poets perform the best The ever-popular Glasgow author delivers slam poetry, just for you. Òran Mór, Glasgow, a lecture entitled ‘Robert Louis Stevenson and Sun 16 Mar. the Theatre of the Brain’. If that wasn’t intriguing enough, let us hit you with
STANZA Scotland’s most renowned poetry festival
T his year will see over 40 festivals celebrating literature, storytelling and poetry across Scotland. Speaking of poetry, the most renowned is StAnza, the annual international festival that takes over St Andrews each chilly March. After the closure of the Byre Theatre last year, the festival decamped to the Town Hall for its main base of operations. Part of the magic of StAnza, however, is how poets and poetry permeate the entire town, from coffee shops to street corners.
St Andrews natives (sort of) Jacob Polley and Carly Brown are both appearing at the festival in 2014 (Fraser Gallery, Fri 7 Mar, and Byre Theatre, Thu 6 Mar, respectively). For Cumbrian-born, award-winning poet and St Andrews lecturer Jacob, ‘StAnza is a major literature festival and to have it happen very happily and successfully in this small Fife town is something to make a noise about.
I think WN Herbert, who last year published Omnesia, an extraordinary double volume of poems, is pretty unmissable, and I’m intrigued to see Alexander Hutchison and Brian Turner discuss David Jones and Isaac Rosenberg. Both these events happen on Friday 7 March, so I’ll be spoilt that day.’ Carly Brown, originally from Austin, Texas, and now studying English literature at St Andrews, is the current Scottish Slam Champion and has been volunteering at StAnza since she began her degree. ‘StAnza is unique because it brings so many diverse international poets together in one place. St Andrews is so manageable and small, you can see many poets and events in one day. Plus, I got my start in Slam Poetry from winning the StAnza slam last year!’ (Rachel McCrum)
StAnza, various venues, St Andrews, Wed 5–Sun 9 Mar.
✽ 21 Revolutions the event’s If you missed the subtitle: exhibition and reading ‘An Ex- series, don’t fret: now plora- the stories and artworks tion of. of 21 Revolutions are available in book form. Contributors Muriel Gray, Louise Welsh, Zoe Strachan, Karen Campbell and Elizabeth Reeder share their work. See Big Picture, page 11. Glasgow Women’s Library, Glasgow, Sat 8 Mar; Creative Scotland, Edinburgh, Fri 14 Mar.
✽ Issue One Comic Book Symposium Love comic books? So do these 100
creators, retailers, publishers, reviewers and general comic book fans. Join them to discuss the history and future of graphical narratives. CCA, Glasgow, Mon 17 Mar.
✽ Rally & Broad Our favourite clamjamfray of spoken word and tunes – now in
Glasgow! Martin O’Connor brings the experience, Sam Small the new blood, and Becci Wallace the musical accompaniment. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Wed 26 Feb.
✽ Tintin in Scots Following last year’s translation of Tintin into Scots, translator Susan Rennie discusses her process and previews her next project, The Wee Prince (better known as The Little Prince). The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, Wed 12 Mar.
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