BOOKS | Highlights ALSO RELEASED
Kazuo Ishiguro
UPCOMING BOOKS Feb and Mar 2015
After the excess of celebrity autobiographies and the almanacs of the year end, the start of the year comes as something of a relief to book lovers looking for exciting releases. Canongate start the year strongly; they’re publishing i lmmaker and artist Miranda July’s debut novel The First Bad Man (19 Feb) – which promises to be just as weirdly alluring as her 2005 i lm Me and You and Everyone We Know and 2007 short story collection No One Belongs Here More Than You. They’ve also got Catherine Chanter’s chilling debut The Well and Get in Trouble, a new collection of short stories from the fantastic Kelly Link (both 5 Mar).
Elsewhere, SJ Watson fans need wait no longer. The Before I Go to Sleep author – who wrote his 2011 debut while working as an NHS audiologist – returns with new psychological thriller, Second Life (12 Feb, Doubleday). And Eben Venter’s upcoming dissection of masculinity in South Africa, Wolf, Wolf (25 Feb, Scribe) has been vaunted by two-time Booker Prize winner JM Coetzee.
Saraband – the Saltire Society Scottish Publisher of the Year for 2013-14 – publish Paris Kiss (26 Feb), the much-anticipated new novel from Glasgow journalist and author Maggie Ritchie. And Kazuo Ishiguro comes out with his i rst novel since 2005’s Never Let Me Go, The Buried Giant (3 Mar, Faber & Faber), which he’ll be talking about in Edinburgh on Thu 5 Mar. Looking ahead, there’s some treats in store for April too: hot
on the heels of last year’s The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins, Irvine Welsh’s new Edinburgh-set A Decent Ride (16 Apr, Jonathan Cape) looks set to be pretty indecent, while Curtis Sittenfeld’s take on Pride and Prejudice (7 Apr, The Borough Press) as part of The Austen Project series will have die-hard fans ready to pounce.
HIGHLIGHTS Our pick of the best book events. For complete listings, see list.co.uk/books
HITLIST GLASGOW
STANZA: SCOTLAND’S POETRY FESTIVAL
Various venues, St Andrews, Wed 4–Sun 8 Mar, stanzapoetry.org See preview, page 50.
KAZUO ISHIGURO Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Thu 5 Mar, lyceum.org.uk The Buried Giant will be Ishiguro's i rst novel in a decade. Catch The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go author in this out-of-season Edinburgh International Book Festival event.
RALLY & BROAD: DANCE WHILE THE SKY CRASHES
DOWN Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 20 Mar, thebongoclub.co.uk & Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Mar, stereocafebar.com A literary-l avoured cabaret night hosted by Jenny Lindsay and Rachel McCrum. See right for full details. See
52 THE LIST 5 Feb–2 Apr 2015
RALLY & BROAD: OH BONDAGE!
UP YOURS! Stereo, Sun 22 Feb, stereocafebar.com With Harry Giles, Jellyman’s Daughter, Rose Ruane, Jim Monaghan and Genesee.
Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 29 Mar, stereocafebar.com Featuring Utopiapocalypse (Sam Small & Bram Gieben), No More Tiger, Hannah Jane Walker, Calum Rodger and Josephine Sillars.
EDINBURGH ANDREW O’HAGAN: THE
RALLY & BROAD: DANCE WHILE
THE SKY CRASHES DOWN Bongo Club, Edinburgh, Fri 20 Mar, thebongoclub.co.uk Featuring RM Hubbert, Alan Bissett, Lynsey May (pictured), Elyssa Vulpes and the newly crowned Scottish Slam Champion.
WEE WRITE! ILLUMINATIONS
Mitchell Library, Mon 2–Sat 7 Mar, 287 2999 A week-long programme offering over 100 author events, activities and readings for children, families and school pupils of all ages.
JON RONSON: AN EVENING OF PUBLIC SHAMING
Citizens Theatre, Fri 20 Mar, citz. co.uk Why do people say things on Twitter that don’t come out right? Why do people on Twitter turn mob-like over people who say things that don’t come out right? Ronson technically hasn’t done anything wrong, but he’s been studying people who have and this evening is a powerful and funny look at the results.
RALLY & BROAD: DANCE WHILE THE SKY CRASHES
DOWN
Looking Glass Books, Wed 18 Feb, lookingglassbooks.com The author reads from his new novel, The Illuminations.
RALLY & BROAD: OH BONDAGE! UP YOURS!
Bongo Club, Fri 20 Feb, thebongoclub.co.uk With Salena Godden, Kirsty Law & Band, Kevin Williamson, Graeme Hawley and Liz Cronin.
NEU! REEKIE! – LOVERS
FALKIRK
FREEZE CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE:
Pilrig St Paul’s Church, Fri 27 Feb, 553 1876 Avant-garde spoken word, film and music fusion night describing itself as ‘playing host to the sinister and the sanguine’. With Hector Bizerk, Helen Mort, Eyes of Others, Paul Hullah and Martin Metcalfe.
DEAD GIRL WALKING Behind The Wall, Thu 26 Feb, 01324 633338 Celebrating the launch of Christopher Brookmyre’s new book, Dead Girl Walking, which sees the much-awaited return of the character Jack Parlabane. See review, page 51.
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