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HITLIST THE BEST BOOKS, COMICS & EVENTS
S A M H O W Z T C C - B Y
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✽ A Series of Fortunate Comic Events Get lost in the world of comics at this
extravaganza from The Big Glasgow Comic Page, with graphic novels, fan art, back issues and more. The Arches, Glasgow, Sat 13 Dec.
✽ Rally & Broad See preview, left. The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 19 Dec;
Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 28 Dec; Counting House, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Jan.
✽ Ben Lerner: 10:04 The poet follows up hit novel Leaving the Atocha Station with
another startlingly original work. See review, page 68. Out on Wed 31 Dec from Granta.
✽ Scot:Lands There’ll be bookish delights amid the plethora of music, film and
dance at this New Year’s Day cultural tour of Edinburgh. Look out for spoken word at Neu:Land (curated by Neu! Reekie!) and storytelling at Blether:Land (presented by TRACS). See feature, page 19. Edinburgh, Thu 1 Jan.
✽ Peter May: Runaway The author of the Lewis
trilogy spins a new tale loosely based on his own personal history. See interview, page 70. Out on Thu 15 Jan from Quercus. Book signing at Central Library, Edinburgh, Thu 22 Jan.
✽ Christopher Brookmyre: Dead Girl Walking Brookmyre’s intrepid Jack
Parlabane rears his head once again in this long-awaited new novel. Book signing at The Caves, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Jan. Out on Thu 22 Jan from Little, Brown.
✽ Emma Hooper: Etta and Otto and Russell and James After landing a
six-figure deal at the 2013 London Book Fair, Hooper’s much-anticipated debut – a tale of 82-year-old Etta who decides to walk 2000 miles to see the ocean for the first time – finally hits shelves. Out on Thu 29 Jan from Fig Tree.
11 Dec 2014–5 Feb 2015 THE LIST 67
RALLY & BROAD Cabaret of spoken word goes from strength to strength
‘W e knew we wanted poetry and spoken word, but . . . even more so,’ says poet and spoken word performer Jenny Lindsay of her and Rachel McCrum’s fast-growing literary platform Rally & Broad, before going on to outline its manifesto-cum-shopping list of ideas. ‘Music, tunes and lyrical delight, in all possible forms. A platform for new writers alongside established acts. Proper fees for all performers. Bigger audiences for spoken word by promoting the heck out of it. Authors, poets, dancers, theatremakers, musicians, all sharing a stage for the evening. Gender- balanced billing. Politically engaged work.’
It’s been going well so far. The pair met in 2011 and started R&B in Edinburgh the next year, with that self-funded night having come so far that it co-hosted Kate Tempest’s book launch last month. Now with a bit of funding behind it, they’ve inaugurated a monthly Glasgow night which will run into next year. ‘Key to our plans is making the scene sustainable,’ says Lindsay. ‘We’ve
both seen too many acts disappear from the Scottish scene, often to London, due to a lack of appreciation of the importance of supporting Scottish spoken word artists and promoters.’ There will also be masterclasses and hopefully a tour in 2015 . This month will end 2014 in particularly busy style, with two touring dates as part of Home Straits, the finale of Scotland’s Year of Homecoming; Never Mind the Fullstops at the Bongo Club, pitting Team Rally (Jenny Lindsay, Paula Varjack, Toby Mottershead) against Team Broad (Rachel McCrum, Michael Pedersen, Chrissy Barnacle) in a literary quiz battle; and nick-e melville, Zara Gladman & The Wee Terrors, Sam Small, Leo Glaister and Becci Wallace at the Hangover Special in Glasgow. (David Pollock)
Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 19 Dec; Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 28 Dec; Counting House, Edinburgh, Sat 17 Jan.