BOOKS | Events
FREE Weegie Wednesdays CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, weegiewednesday.org 7.30pm. Forum offering anyone with a literary interest the chance to talk about books and publishing. First timers, contact the organisers via the website. Edinburgh FREE Joan Rowe: Duty Morningside Library, 184 Morningside Road, 529 5654. 2.30–3.30pm. The writer talks about her family saga, Duty.
✽ World Book Night with Blackwell’s Blackwell’s, 53–59
South Bridge, 622 8222. 6pm. Free but ticketed. Blackwell’s celebrates with readings and chat from a host of its favourite authors, including Jenni Fagan, John Burnside and Angela Jackson. Booking essential. FREE Marsali Taylor: Death on a Longship Stockbridge Library, 11 Hamilton Place, 529 5665. 6.30–7.30pm. The author reads from her Shetland-set crime novel. A World Book Night event.
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✽ Richard Wiseman: 59 Seconds Central Library, 7–9 George IV Bridge, 242 8100. 7–8pm. Free but ticketed. Wiseman shares from his latest, an expose on pseudoscience and self-help myths. In celebration of World Book Night. See caption, page 45.
Thursday 24
Glasgow FREE World Book Night: Book Give Away Glasgow Women’s Library, 23 Landressy Street, 550 2267. 5.30–7pm. Enjoy some bookish chat as part of the biggest celebration of adult reading in the UK. Remember to pick up a copy of your free World Book Night chosen titles. FREE Sick Sick Sick: The Books of Ornery Women CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 6.30pm. MAP magazine’s reading group to get into the nitty-gritty of the Alt-Lit scene. This month’s discussion focuses on Beatriz Preciado’s Testo Junkie. FREE Peter Ross: Daunderlust – Dispatches from Unreported Scotland Waterstones, 174 Argyle Street, 248 4814. 7–8.30pm. The Scotland on Sunday columnist releases a collection of his best pieces. Edinburgh Iain Martin: Making It Happen Waterstones West End, 128 Princes Street, 226 2666. 6pm. £2. A discussion pf the RBS disaster, as detailed in Martin’s book Making it Happen: Fred Goodwin and the Men Who Blew Up the British Economy. FREE Kirsty Logan: The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales Looking Glass Books, 36 Simpson Loan, Quartermile, 229 2902. 6.30pm. The Glasgow author launches her award- winning debut book, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, with some stories, chat and wine.
Friday 25
Glasgow Britain from Above: Creative Writing Lunchtime Bites The Lighthouse, 11 Mitchell Lane, 276 5360. 12.30–1pm. Free but ticketed. See Fri 18.
Edinburgh ✽ Neu! Reekie! Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, 0845 874 3001.
7–10.15pm. £8.50. Avant-garde spoken word, film and music fusion night. This edition, Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson host Fife folktronica act the Pitctish Trail; poet and short story writer Salena Godden; and the launch of a collection from the late Tom McGrath, read by ‘assorted cultural bigwigs’. Guid Crack Club Waverley Bar, 1 St Mary’s Street, 557 1050. 7.30–10pm. Suggested donation £3. Regular
44 THE LIST 17 Apr–15 May 2014
VAL MCDERMID TURNS ON THE CHARM
‘Dark, Scottish crime writer reworks Jane Austen. It’s not the first pairing you’d think of,’ admits Val McDermid. It is one, however, that works. McDermid – best known for crime thrillers like The Wire in the Blood and Cross and Burn – has just turned out a contemporary version of Northanger Abbey that’s light, lively and full of the original’s witty charm. The second instalment of The Austen Project, after Joanna Trollope’s re-tooling of Sense and Sensibility in 2013, it’ll be followed by Alexander McCall Smith’s take on Emma later this year and Curtis Sittenfeld’s Pride and Prejudice in 2015.
Northanger Abbey may be Austen’s least popular book of the four, but McDermid’s update could help reintroduce it to a modern audience. ‘It satirises the Gothic novel,’ McDermid explains, ‘and nobody really reads the Gothic novel nowadays unless it’s for a university degree. We don’t sit down of an afternoon with Mrs Radcliffe or Thomas Love Peacock. So it’s very hard to get the point of a satire when you don’t understand what’s being satirised.’
Instead, Northanger’s bookish lead Catherine Morland – Cat in McDermid’s version – has swapped Udolpho
for Twilight, and other vampire novels. And since Bath is no longer the place to go for ‘the season’, the plot moves to Edinburgh in full festival mode. Here, Kat makes new friends of the Tilneys, who invite her to their Borders home, Northanger Abbey, a spooky setting in which her supernaturally occupied mind goes wild. It’s an infectiously enjoyable read, and a real pleasure for McDermid – though she won’t be changing genre
any time soon. ‘It was great fun,’ she says. ‘I feel like I brought a lot of good energy to it. Writing it cheered me up. But I’m quite happy back in my comfort zone with this year’s crime novel.’ (Yasmin Sulaiman) ■ Northanger Abbey is out now published by The Borough Press.
storytelling club involving song and music aplenty. Tonight, Andy Hunter and Claire Druett tell stories from both sides of the border for ‘Crossing Borders: Scotland & England’.
Saturday 26 Glasgow FREE Great & Good Govan Old Parish Church, 866 Govan Road, 440 2466. 7–9pm. An evening of poetry, comedy and music.
Edinburgh Nothing but the Poem The Saltire Society, 9 Fountain Close, 22 High Street, 557 2876. 11am–12.30pm. £5 (£4). See Tue 22. Storytelling for Forgiveness Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43–45 High Street, 556 9579. 2–5pm. £18 (members £15). Listen to and share stories to explore forgiveness at this workshop with artist and storyteller Elly Crichton Stuart. FREE Three Poets & Some Seed: Alec Finlay, Gerry Loose and Andrew Schelling Royal Botanic Garden, Arboretum Place, 248 2909. 3.30–5.30pm. The three poets share work inspired by a walk, planting seeds along the John Muir Way.
Isle of Colonsay Colonsay Book Festival Colonsay, 01951 200067. Times vary. Prices vary. Until Sun 27 Apr. The beautiful Hebridean isle plays host to its third literary festival. Names include Val McDermid, Christopher Brookmyre, Jackie Kay and Andrew Greig. As well as readings and performances, the emphasis is on meeting and chatting with the writers, and debate and good craic in the pub.
Sunday 27 Edinburgh Appletree Writing Courses The Whole Works, Jackson Close, 209 Royal Mile, appletreewriters.co.uk 10.30am–4.30pm. £40. Learn from those who have done it before, and develop the way from mind to page. Today: ‘The Secret Language of Place and Travel’ with Sheree Mack. Shore Poets Henderson’s @ St John’s, St John’s Terrace, 3 Lothian Road, 229 0212. 7.45–10pm. £5 (£3). It’s Shore Poets’ annual Open Night! Bring along a poem, and hope to grab one of the 12 open slots. Plus, the TS Eliot-prize shortlisted Alan Gillis is the evening’s featured poet.
Monday 28
Glasgow FREE Last Monday at Rio The Rio Café, 27 Hyndland Street, robin.cairns@ btconnect.com 8pm. Poetry and spoken word night for the West End, hosted by Robin Cairns. Email to request your own five-minute slot.
Tuesday 29
Glasgow ✽ Nuala Ní Chonchúir: The Closet of Savage Memories
CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. 7–8.30pm. £6 (£3; SWC members free). The up-and-coming Irish writer talks about her new Ullapool-set novel. Organised by Scottish Writers’ Centre.
Edinburgh FREE Tessa Ransford: Don’t Mention This to Anyone Stockbridge Library, 11 Hamilton Place, 529 5665. 2pm. The poet launches her new collection, which centres on India and Pakistan. SPL Poetry Workshop The Saltire Society, 9 Fountain Close, 22 High Street, 557 2876. 6–8pm. £5 (£4). Writing workshop suitable for writers at any stage in their career. Each session