NEWS
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Announcements, lineups and opinion
COCKTAIL MADNESS DESCENDS ON EDINBURGH Edinburgh Cocktail Weekend has grown into Edinburgh Cocktail Week (Mon 15–Sun 21 Oct) after the success of the event last year. The week features a programme of events and parties across the city with 80 bars taking part. New this year is Edinburgh’s i rst cocktail village, a massive masterclass hub in Festival Square, with £4 signature cocktails from 15 pop-up vendors like Smokehead Whisky and Edinburgh Gin.
MAJOR INSPO IN GLASGOW A massive, free, inspirational event for Scottish young people is to be held at the SSE Hydro on September 12. The initiative run for schools across the country aims to ‘ignite the imaginations of our future generations’ and has been dubbed ‘TEDX meets the Fringe’. Speakers will share their captivating life-stories about how they made it in their industry. Those involved include Gavin Oattes, Christian MacLeod, Darren Connell and many more.
MCILVANNEY PRIZE 2018 The McIlvanney Prize, named after celebrated Glaswegian author William McIlvanney (pictured, centre), is back for another year to reward the best crime i ction in Scotland. The winner of the prize for Scottish crime book of the year will be announced on September 21 at the opening gala of the Bloody Scotland festival in Stirling, followed by a torchlight procession to open the event. Big names appearing on this year’s longlist are Christopher Brookmyre and Liam McIlvanney.
VISA PROBLEMS HINDER BOOK FESTIVAL Dozens of authors who were set to appear at Edinburgh’s International Book Festival had their visas refused due to systematic failures in the UK’s visa system. Book Festival director Nick Barley says the problem is serious and has called for an immediate i x to be made as the current situation is putting ‘culture in the UK at risk’. The problem is centred on the UK’s permit- free festival visitor visa that only includes 45 approved cultural events, including the Fringe, but not the Book Festival.
FRINGE FIRST WINNERS Every year The Scotsman awards its prestigious Fringe First prizes to the best new writing that premiered at the festival. Winners this year included Ulster American, a play by David Ireland that examines gender and identity politics; Cora Bissett’s What Girls Are Made Of; My Left / Right Foot, the musical co-produced by Birds of Paradise and National Theatre of Scotland; and Underground Railroad Game (pictured, bottom), an exploration of the age of slavery at the Traverse.
UPDATE
In issue 746, we recorded the unfortunate cancellation of the Green Day gig planned for
Bellahouston Park in July 2017. We are pleased to hear ticket holders were refunded and staff of the
promoter, PCL, were paid.
1 Sep–31 Oct 2018 THE LIST 13
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