4 - 12 March 2011: The Mitchell Library - WWW

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4 – 12 March 2011
The Mitchell Library • www.ayewrite.com

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Welcome…
Welcome to the sixth Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival which gets better and better. We’re pleased to present to you a
full range of Scottish and international writing. With the Scottish elections in May, as well as the ongoing economic crisis
and recession, it’s little surprise that we look at economics, politics and the future of the nation. We’re celebrating the life
and work of Jimmy Reid with a special reading of his classic lecture on alienation and a panel on his legacy. We look back at
cultural life in the seventies including sessions on the Goodies and Kenny Everett (we’re delighted to have Graeme Garden
and Barry Cryer with us for three sessions).
Science is also a key theme: we asked Glaswegian Robin Mckie, science and technology editor for The Observer, to choose
some of the best science writing around and we’re pleased to have him chairing all these sessions. We also look at issues of
identity – here in Scotland and internationally – from James Robertson and his Saltire-winning novel through Gary Younge
to Brooke Magnanti (better known as Belle de Jour) looking at issues of online and offline identity. There are also events on
folk music, protest (including a session with Clarence Jones who wrote with Martin Luther King the ‘I have a Dream’ speech)
and much, much more. There’s serious debate and discussion as well as plenty of laughs – the perfect antidote for the
times we live in.
As ever, follow the website for further details, latest news, chairs of event, biographies of speakers and links to reviews, and
join the debates and discussions on Facebook, Twitter, the website and at the events themselves.
Karen Cunningham, Director, Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival Andrew Kelly,
Head of Libraries, Glasgow Life Programme Director
Lanark 30th Anniversary Alasdair Gray: a tribute

Exhibition and Launch of
City Read Aye Write! celebrates the 30th anniversary of Lanark, with the launch of
Alasdair Gray: Life and Lanark, an exhibition in the Mitchell’s Main Hall.
Published in 1981 to great acclaim, Lanark established Gray as one of
Britain’s leading writers, compared with – among others – Dante, Blake,
Joyce, Orwell, Kafka, Huxley and Lewis Carroll.
The exhibition offers a rare chance to see items from the Mitchell and private
collections including typescripts, proofs and original artwork.
An epic novel of Glasgow and the artist’s journey, it tells the interwoven
stories of Lanark and Duncan Thaw. Aye Write! has commissioned a special
edition of Book One in which the young Duncan Thaw grows up in post-war
Glasgow.
We have 5,000 free copies to give away – look out for the voucher in The
Herald on 5th March and collect your copy of the book from any Glasgow
library. We hope you enjoy Book One and will be inspired to read the rest of
the novel.
Look out for events celebrating Lanark and Alasdair Gray throughout the
programme. Alasdair Gray: Life and Lanark is at the Mitchell until 21st May.
Cover images top left to right: Maxine Hong Kingston © Andy Freeberg; Jo Nesbø © Hakan Eikesdal; Edwin Morgan; The Broons (The Broons characters are © D. C.
Thomson & Co. Ltd); Andrea Levy © Laurie Fletcher. Bottom row: The Goodies; Alasdair Gray; Alexander McCall Smith © Chris Watt; Shirley Williams; Tariq Ramadan.
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Friday
AUTHOR EVENTS MARCH 4
Politics/ Memoir Harris defended four young black men rending and poignant story of the
Shirley Williams arrested in Pretoria for a horrific string tragedies of the appalling trade and a
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 of political murders. In A Just Defiance, fine novel from a writer at the height
a high-stakes courtroom drama and of her powers.
a fascinating tale of men driven to
extremes for an ideal, he tells their Comedy/ Seventies
story. Graeme Garden and The
Goodies
New Fiction 19.30-21.00 £8/ £6
Jasper Fforde
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
For over a decade, The Goodies TV

Shirley Williams was born to politics: show delighted millions of viewers
the daughter of Vera Brittain and If you’ve never ventured into the with its inventive and often hilarious
George Caitlin, a leading political bizarre, beautiful and meticulously slapstick comedy. Its writers/
scientist. Elected as MP for Hitchin realised world of Jasper Fforde’s performers became household
in 1964, she was a member of the Swindon this is the book which names and major pop stars. Graeme
Wilson and Callaghan governments will transport you seamlessly into Garden discusses this unique show
and was also the Secretary of State for the heart of Thursday Next’s literary with clips from the series. Brilliantly
Education. She famously helped found adventuring. For Jasper’s worldwide funny for all ages.
the SDP in 1981 and later supported network of dedicated fans, this Sixth
its merger with the Liberal Party to Book is the Holy Grail: the cleverest,
form the Liberal Democrats. She funniest Swindon novel to ever appear
continues to contribute to public life in print. More audacious than Harry
and debate. Climbing the Bookshelves Potter, more bookish than a huddle of
tells her story and she discusses this librarians, jurisfiction agent Thursday
with Ruth Wishart. Next is back.
South Africa/ Politics New Fiction The Scottish Poetry Slam

Kevin Bloom and Peter Harris Andrea Levy Championship Final
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 21.00-23.00 £4
Live poetry competition – poetic,
Two leading South African writers In 2007 Glasgow adopted Small splenetic, apoplectic – rhymers
look at the country and its progress Island, Andrea Levy’s novel about and rappers take the mic for two
over the last twenty-five years. In Ways immigration to Britain during, and minute spells to impress the judges.
of Staying, journalist Kevin Bloom shortly after, the Second World War as Slam poets can be comic, heartfelt,
traces the path of violence from the a City Read. In The Man Booker Prize near the knuckle – all are powerful
murder of his cousin in the hills of shortlisted The Long Song, Levy tells performers. From fiery to frivolous,
Zululand to the fatal shooting of the the story of July, a slave girl who lives join us and cheer on your favourites
historian David Rattray providing an on a sugar plantation named Amity in the tense atmosphere of tonight’s
eloquent account of how the white in Jamaica during the last turbulent final. Compered by Robin Cairns.
community is coping with black years of slavery, and the early years
majority rule. In 1987 the lawyer Peter of freedom that followed. A heart-
Jasper Fforde image © Mari Roberts
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Saturday
MARCH 5
AUTHOR EVENTS
New Writing stand up comedian. His new book Livingstone in the First World War.
University of Strathclyde An Experiment in Compassion shifts Tommy’s Peace covers the post-war
Creative Writing Showcase between Stevie’s life as an alcoholic years creating a remarkable document
10.30-11.30 FREE and his sober life where he forges of Glasgow family life between the
a relationship with his girlfriend wars: from the lingering effects of
The third annual Aye Write! event and estranged son. Encompassing the war and post-war politics to
showcasing the best of creative a myriad of characters and their cultural and social aspects of the
writing talent at the University of stories, Dillon provides an emotional era, including the rise of cinema and
Strathclyde. Three undergraduates and intense insight into the world radio, the standard of dentists and
from the popular Journalism and of alcoholism whilst exploring the opticians before the NHS, the partition
Creative Writing degree, winners in themes of revenge and forgiveness. of Ireland, the General Strike, the
the university’s long-running and division of domestic labour, Clyde
prestigious Keith Wright Memorial New creative writing coastal holidays and the expansion of
Prize for creative writing, read and Scottish Writers’ Glasgow’s public housing.
discuss their work alongside members Centre Showcase
of staff. The event will be introduced 12.00-13.30 FREE Religion/ Politics
by Doug Johnstone, the current Keith Baroness Mary Warnock
Wright Literary Fellow at the university. The Scottish Writers’ Centre in 12.30-13.30 £8/ £6
collaboration with ‘Let’s Get Lyrical’
New Fiction (the joint initiative of Glasgow and In Dishonest to God: On Keeping Religion
Alexander McCall Smith Edinburgh – UNESCO Cities of Music Out of Politics, Mary Warnock believes
10.30-11.30 £8/ £6 and Literature respectively) presents that religious and theological issues
a showcase of entrants and winners should have no place in issues of
of the Scottish Writers’ Groups public morality, including euthanasia,
Competition judged by novelist assisted suicide, and abortion, and
Maggie Graham and poet David tries to clarify the foundation of
Kinloch. Submissions of short stories morality in a society largely indifferent
and poetry for the competition had to to and ignorant of religion. She argues
be inspired by a song lyric. that to value religion as the essential
foundation of morality is a profound
Glasgow History and probably dangerous mistake.
The start of Aye Write! also marks Ronnie Scott and Shawn Religions and morality must be prised
the publication of the twelfth book Sewell apart as morality is increasingly a
in Alexander McCall Smith’s The 12.30-13.30 £8/ £6 public and not just a private matter.
No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series:
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party. Tommy’s War recorded the day-to-
Alexander talks with Rosemary day experiences of Thomas Cairns
Goring about his new book as well
as bringing us up to date with the
happenings of all our favourite
characters across all of the series that
he writes – Scotland Street, Isabel
Dalhousie, Corduroy Mansions and the
Von Igelfeld novels.
New Scottish Fiction

Des Dillon
10.30-11.30 £8/ £6
Des Dillon is one of Scotland’s leading

writers and playwrights – and a
Alexander McCall Smith Image © Chris Watt
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Saturday
Eating Well/ Cookery

Nell Nelson crime fiction
12.30-13.30 £8/ £6 Women on the Dark Side:
Scottish Women’s Crime
Writing With Alex Gray, Caro
Ramsay, Louise Welsh, Denise
Mina, Alice Thompson, Karen
Campbell
14.00-15.00 and 15.30-16.30
£8/ £6 each or book both at £12
Glasgow has some of the country’s
best crime writers and Scottish
women’s crime fiction is in a golden
age. Aye Write! celebrates the best Gray. Organised in association with
of Scottish women’s crime writing Scottish PEN, part of International
and asks what makes it so distinctive. PEN, a dynamic, worldwide
Session one(14.00-15.00) features association of writers which defends
TV presenter and food writer Nell Denise Mina, Karen Campbell and freedom of expression and promotes
Nelson is passionate about good Caro Ramsay presenting their latest international understanding. www.
food and eating well. We’d all like work; session two (15.30-16.30) Louise scottishpen.org.
more energy and a stronger immune Welsh, Alice Thompson and Alex
L-R: Caro Ramsay, Alex Gray, Denise Mina
system, have better hair and skin, lose
a teeny bit of weight and improve our
mood. In Eat Well, Nelson provides Scottish History/ Politics Philosophy/ Islam
plenty of recipes and ideas to combat Andy Wightman and Ray Tariq Ramadan
the everyday health niggles we all Perman 14.00-15.00 £8/ £6
have. And you don’t even have to give 14.00-15.00 £8/ £6
up chocolate. In this session she’ll In The Quest for Meaning: Developing
make hummus and rocket pesto pasta. In The Poor Had No Lawyers, Andy a Philosophy of Pluralism, Tariq
Wightman takes the reader through Ramadan, philosopher and Islamic
Comedy/ Politics Scotland’s history to find out how scholar, calls urgently for a deep and
Steve Bell and why landowners got their hands meaningful dialogue that leads us
14.00-15.00 £8/ £6 on the millions of acres of land that to go beyond tolerant co-existence
were once held in common. He to mutual respect and enrichment.
Steve Bell is our funniest cartoonist discusses this with Ray Perman whose Spanning religious, secular, and
on politics, media and life. In a talk The Man Who Gave Away His Island: A indigenous spiritual traditions,
illustrated by his brilliant cartoons Life of John Lorne Campbell of Canna Ramadan interrogates the concepts
he covers politics from the death tells how Campbell bought the Isle that frame current debates including
of New Labour to the arrival of the to preserve part of the traditional faith and reason, emotions and
ConLibDemolition. Marvel at Gordon Gaelic culture and show that efficient spirituality, tradition and modernity,
Brown’s progress from saviour of farming methods could be compatible freedom, equality, universality, and
the world to the Rochdale disaster, with wildlife conservation and civilization, acknowledging the
ogle Silvio Berlusconi’s false breasts, sustainability. greatest flashpoints and attempting to
celebrate the end of Dubya and cheer bridge divergent paths to a common
as Obama bounds on stage, thrill at ground between these religious and
the three party leaders’ hairstyles and intellectual traditions.
gasp as Nick Clegg is buried beneath a
humping heap of toads.

Saturday
MARCH 5
AUTHOR EVENTS
in the near future of economic Psychology
Comedy and political collapse, Shteyngart’s Richard Wiseman
Barry Cryer on Kenny dystopia shows tanks in the streets, 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
Everett riots in Central Park, books as quaint
15.30-16.45 £8/ £6 artefacts, an indebted United States For the past 20 years, psychologist
about to be parcelled out to the Professor Richard Wiseman has
rising nations of Finance-London and immersed himself in the weird world
China-Worldwide, and what’s left of of supernatural science, testing
interpersonal relations summarized telepaths, spending nights in haunted
by a couple of flashing statistics on castles, and attempting to talk with
attractiveness and wealth. Shteyngart’s the dead. In Paranormality: Why We
story is one for our times from an See What Isn’t There, he cuts through
incredible writer. the hype and goes in search of the
truth behind extraordinary stories of
Memoir/ Glasgow History/ poltergeists, possession and second
Seventies sight. Along the way he shows us
Alison Gangel/ Anne Donovan remarkable things about how our
17.00-18.00 £8/ £6 brains work, how it is possible to have
an out-of-body experience or lucid
Already one of Britain’s most dream, and just why we feel the need
successful radio DJ’s, Everett rose to believe.
to national acclaim with the Kenny
Everett Video Show, showcasing Memoir
his unique, anarchic humour. Maxine Hong Kingston
Barry Cryer, one of Everett’s 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
closest working collaborators
and comedy writing partners for
over a decade, provides insights
into Everett’s work and life and
introduces classic clips from the
show.
Alison Gangel’s The Sun Hasn’t

New American Fiction Fallen From the Sky is a vibrant and
Gary Shteyngart sometimes devastating portrait of two Along with Toni Morrison and Alice
15.30-16.30 £8/ £6 sisters growing up together in 1970s Walker, Maxine Hong Kingston defines
Glasgow as their family falls apart. a generation. Her extraordinary
It’s also a tender childhood memoir books have become key texts in the
that is uplifting when Ailsa (Alison) American canon. In her remarkable
is transformed through finding an memoir, I Love a Broad Margin to My
inspirational teacher and discovering Life, she looks back on a rich and
a rare musical talent leading her to complex life of literature and political
the RSAMD and a life in music. Robert activism, set against the background
Douglas called it ‘Riveting! Kept me of her mixed Chinese-American
reading until 2 am over four nights. identity. From being imprisoned with
The depiction of staff and inmates Walker for demonstrating against the
Iraq war to her journey, without a
in the children’s home is worthy of
guide, back to the villages of her father
Gary Shteyngart’s new novel, Super Dickens’. Alison is in conversation with
and mother, this is a remarkable story
Sad True Love Story, has been a huge Glasgow writer Anne Donovan.
from one of the major writers of her
worldwide hit. Set in an America
generation.
Gary Shteyngart image © Brigitte Lacombe

Saturday
Amnesty International Comedy

17.00-18.00 FREE Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden: Hamish and Dougal
17.30-18.30 £8/ £6
Authors appearing at Aye Write!
take the time to show solidarity with
persecuted writers from around
the world, reminding us that not all
authors are free to express their own
opinions or thoughts. This event,
chaired by Amnesty International,
highlights the work of four writers,
exploring the issue of freedom of
expression. An opportunity to hear
the words of extraordinary people,
continuing a noble tradition of writers
being at the forefront of action for
human rights. Also on Sunday 6 March One of the great radio treats of our time is I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. Barry
and Saturday 12 March Cryer and Graeme Garden introduced the two Scottish characters Hamish
and Dougal in 1979 and they’ve been part of the show ever since, as well
Crime Fiction as having their own radio show and book. To celebrate the release of the
Mark Billingham and Jo Nesbø complete show on CD, they talk about Hamish and Dougal with some
19.00-20.00 £8/ £6 special performances from the show.
L-R Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden
Aye Write! WORLD BOOK NIGHT

Sarah Waters 20.30-21.30 £8/ £6
Come and hear the award-winning Sarah Waters
talk about her writing and receive a free copy of
her sensational novel FINGERSMITH on WORLD
BOOK NIGHT when one million books – by 25
Mark Billingham and Jo Nesbø are authors – are going to be given away by an army of
two of the most exciting crime writers passionate readers across the UK.
working today. Mark Billingham’s
crime novels featuring DI Tom Thorne Says Sarah Waters: `World Book Night is a really
are odysseys into the darkest reaches extraordinary thing, an idea beautiful in its simplicity
of human behaviour and are now and wonderful in its implications: a national
being televised. His latest, From the celebration of reading, of the sharing of books,
Dead, is no exception. Jo Nesbø, for literary passions and ideas. I’m absolutely delighted
many Scandinavia´s King of Crime, that Fingersmith is one of the selected novels.’
is behind the critically acclaimed
and internationally bestselling series Expect a fantastic event from the author who
about Police Inspector Harry Hole. launched her career with Tipping the Velvet and
Fast-paced, witty and compassionate, has gone on to write another four award-winning
he offers highly contemporary novels, AND go home with a free book.
entertainment, combining the
intellectual challenge of police World Book Night is supported by the Publishers
procedure novels with the explosive Association, the Booksellers Association, the Reading
excitement of the modern day Agency with libraries, World Book Day and the BBC.
international thriller. Sarah Waters’ Image, © Charlie Hopkinson

Sunday
MARCH 6
AUTHOR EVENTS
Poetry Scottish History Philosophy/ Economics
Hamish Whyte and Diana Alistair Moffat Nicholas Phillipson
Hendry 13.30-14.30 £8/ £6 13.30-14.30 £8/ £6
12.00-13.00 FREE
An almost limitless archive of history
Enjoy a tasty literary Sunday brunch lies hidden inside our bodies, carrying
with poets Diana Hendry and Hamish within Scots the ancient story of
Whyte. They’ll be reading poems their country. The mushrooming of
about food, family, people, places, love genetic studies is rewriting our history
and life from their recent collections: in spectacular fashion. In Scotland:
Late Love & Other Whodunnits (Hendry) A Genetic Journey, Alistair Moffat
and A Bird in the Hand (Whyte). As well explores the history that is printed
as performing together, they often on our genes, and in a remarkable Adam Smith is celebrated as the
write together, a collaboration Liz new approach, uncovers the detail of author of The Wealth of Nations and
Lochhead has called ‘witty and joyous’. where Scots are from and who they the founder of modern economics.
are. In so doing, he provides a vivid Yet Smith saw himself primarily as a
Quiz: WHAT SCOTS HAVE GIVEN THE DNA map of Scotland. philosopher rather than an economist,
WORLD and would never have predicted that
John Eunson Mathematics/ Science the ideas for which he is now best
12.00-13.00 FREE Alex Bellos known were his most important.
13.30-14.30 £8/ £6 Nicholas Phillipson shows the extent
How well do you know Glasgow to which Smith’s work was part of a
and Scotland and the way they have larger scheme to establish a grand
changed the world? Most people ‘Science of Man’, one of the most
will know about John Logie Baird ambitious projects of the European
(television), Alexander Graham Enlightenment, encompassing law,
Bell (telephone) and Alexander history, aesthetics, economics and
Fleming (penicillin). But what about ethics.
Scotland’s contribution to sanitation,
refrigeration, communications, Memoir
breakfast and many other fields? Candia McWilliam
Come and test your knowledge about 13.30-14.30 £8/ £6
how the inventors of Scotland have
left their unique, indelible mark on
the modern world with John Eunson,
author of Caledonia Dreaming: 100 In his bestselling book Alex’s Adventures
Scots Who Changed the World, Not in Numberland: Dispatches from the
Always for the Better!, in our special free Wonderful World of Mathematics, Alex
quiz. Bellos explodes the myth that maths is
best left to the geeks. The book covers
everything from adding to algebra,
set theory to statistics, logarithms to
logical paradoxes. In this talk about Candia McWilliam started to lose her
the history of counting, Bellos takes sight in 2006. At first she could only
you on a globe-trotting journey in dictate, and the unfamiliar process
which he tells of his interview with the unblocked a flow of memory and
world’s most numerate chimpanzee, association concerning her childhood
as well as encounters with Indian in Edinburgh, her mother’s suicide,
gurus and abacus champions in Japan. her teenage escape into another
identity, her marriages, her children
and, stalking all these, her increasing
Candia McWilliam image © Lydia Morris-Jones

Sunday
alcoholism. In What To Look For In novel, Cold Earth was about a team
Winter, she celebrates friendship, of archaeology students stuck in Comedy/ Seventies/ REGINALD
reading, love of children and the Greenland while the world faces a viral PERRIN
consolations of landscape, particularly pandemic. Her second novel, Night David Nobbs
that of Colonsay, the Hebridean Waking, is set in Colsay in the Hebrides 15.00-16.30 £8/ £6
island where she began to face up and is both a contemporary mystery
to how, falteringly, she might come story and a story of the attempts to
to see once more. Interviewed by introduce modern medicine 200 years
Clare English, presenter of BBC Radio before to the suspicious islanders. She
Scotland’s The Book Café. This event discusses her work with Robin McKie,
will be recorded by BBC Radio Café. Science Editor, Observer.
Memoir Politics/ Espionage

Jackie Kay Peter Hennessy and Keith
15.00-16.00 £8/ £6 Jeffery
15.00-16.00 £8/ £6
David Nobbs began his television
career in 1963 on That Was
The Week, That Was. He later
contributed to The Frost Report,
The Two Ronnies and Sez Lez, and
wrote the highly successful A Bit
of a Do. He has also published
seventeen novels, the latest being
Obstacles to Young Love. But his
most famous creation is The Fall
and Rise of Reginald Perrin. He talks
Our fascination with the period of the about his life and work and there’ll
David Robinson called Jackie Kay’s Soviet threat continues to provide be many clips from the Reginald
memoir Red Dust Road ‘The most some of the best historical writing. Perrin series.
moving book I’ve read all year’. From Peter Hennessy’s The Secret State:
the moment when, as a girl, Jackie Preparing for the Worst 1945-2010 looks Writing Lives
realizes that her skin is a different at the Cold War state built in response Claire Tomalin
colour from that of her beloved mum to that perceived threat, and traces the 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
and dad, to the tracing and finding of arguments used to justify the British
her birth parents, her Highland mother nuclear capability. He also explores
and Nigerian father, she discovers the threats presented by the IRA and
that inheritance is about much more radical Islamic terrorists post 9/11.
than genes: a heart-stopping story He is in discussion with Keith Jeffery,
of parents and siblings, friends and author of the major new history of
strangers, belonging and beliefs, MI6 between 1909 and 1949 which
biology and destiny, and love. provides an important examination Claire Tomalin is the distinguished
of the role and significance of award-winning author of highly
New Scottish Fiction/ Science intelligence in the modern world. acclaimed biographies of Mary
Sarah Moss and Robin McKie Wollstonecraft, Katherine Mansfield,
15.00-16.00 £8/ £6 Jane Austen, Nelly Ternan and Charles
Dickens, Samuel Pepys and Thomas
Sarah Moss’ books integrate science Hardy. Her next book, published in the
into fact and fiction. Her first, The autumn, is on Charles Dickens. She
Frozen Ship, looked at writing about talks about writing lives with Stuart
the Arctic and Antarctic. Her next, the Kelly, Scotland on Sunday.

Sunday
MARCH 6
AUTHOR EVENTS
Religion/ Literature/king james
New Crime Fiction bible
Val McDermid 17.00-18.00 David Crystal
£8/ £6 18.30-19.30 £8/ £6
In Trick of the Dark, crime writer

Val McDermid introduces a new
female investigator, Charlie Flint.
Clippings about a brutal murder
in the grounds of her old college
send Flint in search of the murderer.
As she delves deeper into the
mysterious world of Oxbridge
there’s much more to the crime
than meets the eye. Another
brilliant novel from a writer who
never fails to deliver.
2011 is the 400th anniversary of the
King James Bible – a book which
has had a profound and continuing
influence on our language. David
Crystal, our leading writer on
language, shows in Begat how the
bible’s words and phrases have over
Radio/ Books Amnesty International the centuries found independent
Behind the Scenes 17.00-18.00 life in the work of poets, playwrights,
of the Book Café See entry for 17.00 5 March. novelists, politicians, and journalists,
17.00-18.00 FREE and how more recently they have
been taken up with enthusiasm by
Join Serena Field, Producer of The advertisers, Hollywood, and hip-hop.
Book Cafe, to find out about the ‘Let there be light’, ‘New wine in
pleasures and challenges of making old bottles’, ‘Kick against the pricks’,
BBC Radio Scotland’s weekly live book ‘Wheels within wheels’, are all to be
programme. found in the book. The Mitchell is
hosting an exhibition on the King
James Bible September-December
2011: Divine Write - the King James Bible
and Scotland.
Edwin Morgan/ Scottish Poetry

James McGonigal
17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
The death of the Scottish Makar, Edwin Morgan, in 2010, brought to an end
a remarkable life that had achieved international renown as well as touching
the lives of everyone in Scotland. In Beyond the Last Dragon, written with
Morgan’s help, James McGonigal provides a unique insight into the great
poet’s life and work. Accompanied by readings from Morgan’s poems, this is a
tribute to, and celebration of, a life well lived.
Val McDermid image © Mimsy Moller; Religion/Literature Portrait of James I & VI © Glasgow (Museums)

Sunday
Memoir
Michael Frayn
18.30-19.30 £8/ £6
‘Father and son were in some ways ridiculously alike, in others

ridiculously different.’ Michael Frayn discusses with BBC Radio
Scotland’s Book Café presenter Clare English his moving memoir
My Father’s Fortune – A Life. The writer, whose novels such as Spies
and Headlong and plays such as Noises Off, Copenhagen and
Democracy, have won many awards. In this latest work, he delves
into his own family background to discover more about the
asbestos sales rep who was his father. This event will be recorded
by BBC Radio Café.
new writing
Sudden Fame: Federation of Writers
19.00-21.00 FREE
Here’s your chance to perform your work on the stage at the Aye Write! Festival and get Sudden Fame! To book a slot email
admin@writersfederation.org.uk. The event is free, but ticketed. Readers and non-reading members of the audience should
book tickets for attendance through the Mitchell Library. There’s also a market area where writing groups can sell their
anthologies and New Voices Press will have books on sale.
Gutter Magazine Showcase

Ronald Frame, Carl MacDougall and Cynthia Rogerson 20.00-21.30 £8/ £6
Gutter magazine hosts an evening with three of Scotland’s leading short story writers. Ronald Frame’s highly
praised novels, most recently Unwritten Secrets, and his Carnbeg stories, have a national and international
following. Cynthia Rogerson has published three novels, most recently the widely lauded I Love You, Goodbye, and
short stories, winning the VS Pritchett Short Story Award in 2008. Carl MacDougall (writer and presenter of Writing
Scotland) has published three acclaimed novels, collections of short stories and has edited several influential
anthologies. Chaired by Gutter’s Adrian Searle and Colin Begg.
L-R Cynthia Rogerson Image © Rachel Humphries; Carl MacDougall

Monday
MARCH 7
AUTHOR EVENTS
Community Palestine/ Memoir Lanark/ Scottish Fiction
International Women’s Day Raja Shehadeh Rosemary Goring, Stuart Kelly
Celebration 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 and Alan Taylor
10.00-12.00 FREE 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
To mark International Women’s Day,

come and celebrate the achievements
of women as artistic directors/
managers within the Glasgow and
wider Scottish Art community. Share
your experiences and listen to the
experiences of others. For further
information email mari.binnie@
glasgowlife.org.uk To celebrate the Aye Write! Lanark
project we look back with Scotland’s
Community When researching his family history, three leading literary critics at some
I Belong to Glasgow, Glasgow celebrated Palestinian author Raja of the other significant novels
Belongs to Me! (1) Shehadeh (winner of the Orwell Prize published in 1981 – a remarkable
13.30-15.00 FREE 2008) discovered a great uncle who year for Scottish fiction. How does
had also been a writer entangled Lanark stand against these three?
What makes Glasgow special to us and with the authorities, and who had Rosemary Goring of
what makes us special to Glasgow? dedicated his life to the freedom of his The Herald defends
Join learners from Glasgow’s diverse people. The quest for Najib, the details William Boyd’s A
communities, including refugees and of his life, and the route of his great Good Man in Africa;
asylum seekers, new migrants and escape is told in A Rift in Time: Travels Alan Taylor, Sunday
settled migrant communities, in a With My Ottoman Uncle. By seeing the Herald, defends Muriel
celebration of Glasgow and its people. bigger picture of the landscape and Spark’s Loitering with
the unending struggle for freedom, Intent and Stuart Kelly,
Television/ Science Shehadeh shows it is possible to look Scotland on Sunday,
Behind the Scenes of Human towards a better future, free from defends Allan Massie’s
Planet Israeli or Ottoman oppression. The Death of Men.
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
Human Planet is the first BBC natural

history series to turn the camera on
the human species. It reveals the COMEDY
extraordinary human ability to adapt Robin Ince 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
to every environment becoming the
most successful species on earth. Award-winning comedian and writer, Robin Ince,
Dale Templar, producer, and Timothy has spent years rummaging through charity
Allen, stills photographer, talk about shops, jumble sales, and even the odd skip to
the series and show some of the compile the defining collection of the world’s
most extraordinary film ever made worst – inadvertently hilarious – books. Ince’s Bad
– a breathtaking celebration of the Book Club guides you through the hinterland of
power of nature and human ingenuity, celebrity autobiography, provides a detailed study
showing us at our most beautiful, of romance sub-genres, from the equine (Diamond
adaptive, cooperative, courageous, Stud) to the gynaecological (Sign of the Speculum)
compassionate and profoundly and proves invaluable to anyone who wants to
connected to our environment. know The Secrets of Picking up Sexy Girls. By coming
to this event you join the Grand Order of Curators of
Books That Should Never Have Been.
Lanark/Scottish/Fiction L-R Rosemary Goring, Stuart Kelly, Alan Taylor.

Monday
graphic novels
Mark Millar 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
Multi award-winning writer Mark Millar has revamped the X-Men, launched a
number one Spider-Man title, brought Captain America into the 21st century
and made Superman a communist. He is the writer of the US industry’s
biggest-selling comic book of the past decade, Marvel’s Civil War. His comic
series Wanted and Kick-Ass were sold as movies before the first issues hit the
stands. He talks about his work and takes questions from the audience.
crime/ heroes Politics/ Architecture

The 2011 Tannahill Lecture Owen Hatherley
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
What is the role of the hero or heroine New Labour came to power in 1997
in Scottish crime fiction and the amid much talk of regenerating the
graphic novel? Is the genre of crime inner cities left to rot under successive
fiction in the context of contemporary Conservative governments. Over the
Scotland the best place to explore the next decade, urban environments
issues of heroism and villainy? Do we became the laboratories of the new
need heroes and villains, in Scotland? enterprise economy. In A Guide to
Come and take part in a discussion the New Ruins of Great Britain, Owen
with prizewinning, bestselling Hatherley explores the wreckage
novelists Allan Guthrie, Denise Mina of the architecture that epitomized
and Glasgow University writer-in- greed and selfish aspiration. From
residence Louise Welsh, chaired by Dr riverside apartment complexes, art
Matt McGuire of Glasgow University’s galleries and amorphous interactive
Scottish Literature unit. ‘centres’ to shopping malls, call centres
and factories turned into expensive
lofts, Hatherley maps the derelict
Britain of the last decade, an emphatic
expression of a failed politics. This
includes, he believes, Glasgow.
cloudwatching/science
Gavin Pretor-Pinney 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
In The Cloudspotter’s Guide, Gavin Pretor-Pinney showed how important it is to
look up. One day, on a beach in Cornwall, he took a break from cloudspotting
and started watching the waves rolling into shore. He soon realised that
waves are everywhere, and all life depends on them. From the rippling beats
of hearts to the movement of food through digestive tracts and signals across
the brains; from shockwaves unleashed by explosions to torsional waves
that cause suspension bridges to collapse, there were waves, it seemed,
wherever Gavin looked. In The Wavewatcher’s Companion, he provides another
remarkable book, even if he still can’t surf.

Tuesday
MARCH 8
AUTHOR EVENTS
Community Science
ADD-ART Ted Nield new Football writing
15.30pm-17.15pm FREE 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 Scots’ passion for football is creating
some of the best writing in Scotland
An informal presentation of sketches New research suggests that 470 currently. These two sessions show
– funny but poignant – developed million years ago a stupendous Scottish football writing at its best.
and supported through creative collision in the Asteroid Belt Each session is £8/ £6 with a special
workshops in the run-up to Aye bombarded the earth with meteorites price of £12 for the double bill.
Write! ADD-ART supports individuals and was responsible for the single
recovering from addictions and is greatest increase in biological
managed by the Arts and Health diversity since the origin of complex
network in Glasgow East. Friends, life. In Incoming!: or, Why We Should
family and supporters are welcome Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the
to come along and enjoy informal Meteorite, Ted Nield challenges the
performances and discussions about orthodox view that meteorite strikes
writing. Refreshments provided. are always bad news for life on earth.
He traces their history from the first
recorded strike to the video recordings
made routinely today, showing
Politics/ Economics how our interpretations have varied The Celtic Opus
The Future of Capitalism according to the age in which they fell. 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
18.00-19.30 £8/ £6
New Scottish Fiction Celtic Opus is the ultimate tribute to
Kevin MacNeil one of the world’s greatest football
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 clubs, telling the inside story of
Celtic FC from its foundation in 1888,
via Jock Stein’s heroes of 1967 to
the modern-day successes. An array
of brilliant writers, photographers,
illustrators, artists (and even
dancers) combine to highlight
the key strands of the club’s DNA
which make Celtic a unique football
With the failure of the banks, many institution. Speakers include: Joan
now question the role of the market. Is McAlpine, The Scotsman; Professor
capitalism all it is made out to be? Do After a bike crash in a foggy Tom Devine and Kevin McKenna
we expect too much from capitalism? Edinburgh, troubled young actor and Graeme Murdoch (the Opus
Given the lack of alternatives, how Robert Lewis wakes to find that life editors in Scotland).
should capitalism evolve to serve has changed for the darker. And the
people and the world better? Ha-Joon weirder. He’s still a deceitful egoist but Stuart Donald, Daniel Gray
Chang, author of 23 Things They Don’t now he’s losing control of his love life, and Rob Robertson
Tell You About Capitalism, debates his starring role in a new adaptation of 19.30-21.00 £8/ £6
these issues with Andrew Simms, New Jekyll and Hyde, and, quite possibly, his Why has Scotland produced so
Economics Foundation and author mind. Kevin MacNeil’s A Method Actor’s many of the best football managers
of Eminent Corporations: The Rise and Guide to Jekyll and Hyde explores many in the world? Rob Robertson’s
Fall of the Great British Brands, and kinds of duality – individual, social and The Management: Scotland’s Great
Anatole Kaletsky, Principal Economic cultural, and is a heartfelt tale about Football Bosses, looks at them all:
Commentator of The Times and author the search for belonging and the Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Matt Busby,
of Capitalism 4.0: The Birth of a New nature of love and desire. Dark – but Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, Tommy
Economy. Chaired By Bill Jamieson, very funny. Docherty, Jim McLean, Kenny
Executive Editor, Scotsman.
Future of capitalism L-R Andrew Simms, Ha-Joon Chang; Jock Stein and Team image reproduced courtesy of The Herald

Tuesday
History/ Film/ Seventies

Dalglish, George Graham, Walter Francis Wheen
Smith, Gordon Strachan, Alex 20.00-21.30 £8/ £6
McLeish and David Moyes. Stuart
Donald’s On Fire with Fergie follows The nostalgic whiff of the seventies
his obsession with one of the evokes memories of loons and
greats, Alex Ferguson, as he and disco, Abba and Fawlty Towers, but
his father followed Aberdeen at beneath the long hair the world was
home and away, during the 1980s. on the verge of a collective nervous
In Stramash, Daniel Gray went in breakdown, huddled over candles
search of small town Scotland waiting for the next terrorist bomb,
and its teams – from Dumfries to kidnapping or food shortage warning,
Dingwall, providing an uplifting facing Nixon’s demented behaviour
look at the country through its in the White House, Harold Wilson’s
teams. insistence that ‘they’ were out to
get him, and the trial of Rupert Bear.
Illustrated with clips from some of the
great seventies’ films, Francis Wheen,
author of Strange Days Indeed: The
New Writing Golden Age of Paranoia, reveals the
Gutter Magazine New golden age of the paranoid style.
Writers: Doug Johnstone
and Elaine di Rollo
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
Gutter Magazine hosts two of

our most exciting young literary
talents. After the successes of
Tombstoning and The Ossians,
Doug Johnstone’s Smokeheads is
a dark thriller set on Islay, soaked
in whisky and black humour.
Elaine di Rollo’s widely acclaimed
debut, A Proper Education for Girls,
was shortlisted for the Saltire First
Book Award. Her second, Bleakly
Hall, is set in a crumbling Scottish
hydropathic retreat between the
wars and features her trademark
wit and another compelling,
meticulously researched historical
setting. With live music. Chaired
by Colin Begg and Adrian Searle.
Elaine di Rollo image © Marc di Rollo

Wednesday
MARCH 9
AUTHOR EVENTS
Community History/ Biography Music/ Protest/ Politics
I Belong to Glasgow, Glasgow Giles Milton and Martin Dorian Lynskey
Belongs to Me! (2) Davidson 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
15.30-17.00 FREE 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
Join community creative writers in a

celebration of what makes Glasgow
special to us and what makes us
special to Glasgow.
Community
Sue Reid Sexton
16.00-17.00 FREE
What was it like to live and work in the Dorian Lynskey’s 33 Revolutions Per
Sue Reid Sexton’s new novel, Mavis’s Third Reich? In Wolfram: The Boy Who Minute is an astounding history
Shoe, is about the trauma of the Went to War, bestselling author Giles of protest music, told through 33
Clydebank Blitz during the Second Milton tells the story of his father- momentous songs. The book captures
World War, as seen through the eyes in-law, Wolfram Aïchele, who was some of the energy that is generated
of a young girl. It is also about the nine years old when Hitler came to when musicians take risks. Even when
universal devastation of war and the power, spending his formative years they fail, Lynskey believes those
terrible loss it inflicts. in the shadow of the Third Reich. In endeavours leave the popular culture
The Perfect Nazi: Uncovering My SS a little richer and more challenging.
Grandfather’s Secret Past and How Hitler Contrary to the frequently voiced idea
Memoir Seduced a Generation, Martin Davidson that pop and politics are awkward
Sarah Brown attempts to come to terms with bedfellows, it argues that protest
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 the devastating revelation that his music is pop, in all its blazing, cussed
German grandfather, Bruno Langbehn, glory. He talks about this and plays
Sarah Brown gave up a successful had been a high-ranking officer in some of the music.
career in business to serve the the SS and tries to understand how
country and champion countless Langbehn and millions of others like Identity/ Politics
charities at home and abroad. him were seduced by Hitler’s regime. Gary Younge
A passionate campaigner for 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
women and children, she
mobilised hundreds of thousands As borders disappear,
of people through her early cultures mingle and
adoption of Twitter where her communication across
legion of followers engaged continents becomes easier, relations
with her on everything from between people should become
repression in Burma to diversity less fraught. But increasingly people
in British fashion. In her memoir are recoiling into refuges of religion,
Behind the Black Door, Sarah nationality, race and region either to
shares the secrets of life behind defend themselves or attack others
the most famous front door in – and sometimes both. In Who Are
the world – from balancing trips We – and Should it Matter in the 21st
to school plays with trips to the Century? Gary Younge argues people
White House to what it feels like are retreating into their personal
to support the man you love as identities as a means of survival in the
he takes the tough decisions face of a state seemingly indifferent
to stave off global financial to their lives and calls for a common,
meltdown. higher ground.
History/Biography Martin Davidson; Dorian Lynskey image © Simon Leigh

Wednesday
Geography/ Maps Scottish History/ walter scott/

Rachel Hewitt Identity
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 Stuart Kelly
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
Rachel Hewitt’s Map of a Nation
tells the story of the creation of the
Ordnance Survey map – the first
complete, accurate, affordable map
of the British Isles – and the men
who dreamt and delivered it from its
inception in 1791, right through to the
OS MasterMap of the present day. One
of the great untold British adventure
stories, it’s a delicious account of
political revolutions, rebellions, and
regional unions that altered the shape
and identity of the United Kingdom.
His name and image are everywhere

– from Bank of Scotland fivers to the
Politics/ History/ Martin Luther King monument in Glasgow city centre
Clarence B Jones 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 – yet who reads Walter Scott these
days? In Scott-Land: the Man Who
Invented a Nation, Stuart Kelly explores
the enigma of Scott and the disparity
between his influence and his status,
his current standing and his cultural
legacy in a voyage around Scotland.
Glasgow Art
Sarah Lowndes
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
Since 1996, no fewer

than 10 artists associated
with Glasgow have been
nominated for the Turner Prize and
five have won, most recently Susan
Philipsz. What makes Glasgow such a
vibrant place for the visual arts? Sarah
Lowndes, author of Social Sculpture:
When the words ‘I have a dream’ were spoken on the steps of the Lincoln The Rise of the Glasgow Art Scene,
Memorial in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr brought the plight of African looks back at the rise of the Glasgow
Americans to the public consciousness and firmly established himself as art scene through the decades, from
one of the greatest orators of all time. In Behind the Dream: The Making of the community art to Thatcher, New Wave
Speech that Transformed a Nation, Clarence B Jones, co-author of the speech, to Teenage Fanclub and looks at the
tells its remarkable story and of his time with King, collaborating with the background from which the art of
great minds of the time, hammering out the ideas that would shape the civil the last 40 years has emerged. She
rights movement and inspire Americans for years to come. Clarence Jones is discusses this with Phil Miller, Arts
interviewed by Gary Younge. Correspondent, The Herald.
Rachel Hewitt image © Naomi Christie

Thursday
MARCH 10
AUTHOR EVENTS
community New Fiction
Anne Downie Manju Kapur Media/ Memoir/ Identity
16.00-17.00 FREE 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 Brooke Magnanti
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
The Witches of Pollok is a gripping tale From the acclaimed author of A
of witchcraft based on a true story Married Woman and The Immigrant
set in seventeenth century Scotland comes Custody, a moving family story
on Pollok estate in Glasgow by Anne set in India. When Shagun leaves
Downie, an award-winning writer and Raman for another man, a bitter legal
actor who has written extensively for battle ensues. Meanwhile, Ishita, a
theatre, television and radio. failed marriage behind her, finds
another chance at happiness with
Creative writing Raman, but has to fight when the
The Ragged University courts threaten the security of her
18.00-19.00 FREE new family. Prize-winning author
and one of India’s bestselling writers,
A practical workshop exploring the Manju Kapur presents an intimate
structures found in Rap and Hip portrait of marriages that disintegrate
Hop lyrics. Whilst investigating the and intertwine, with heart-rending
technical aspects, this session will help consequences.
you to create your own lyrics in the
genre of your choice. To book your Politics
place contact carrie@raggeduniversity. Niall Ferguson
com 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
Graphic Novel/ War/

Afghanistan
Rodge Glass Brooke Magnanti is a researcher
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 with a forensic science doctorate
in human identification, but is
Rodge Glass talks about his explosive better known as Belle de Jour.
and critically acclaimed new graphic Magnanti started an award-
novel, Dougie’s War. Inspired by the winning blog in 2003, and her
1970s comic strip Charley’s War, it’s the bestselling anonymous books
story of Dougie Campbell, a Scottish If in the year 1411 you had been able were adapted into a television
soldier and veteran of Afghanistan, to circumnavigate the globe, you series starring Billie Piper.
who returns home to the south side would have been most impressed Magnanti reflects on both her
of Glasgow. Having left the British by the dazzling civilizations of the research and her life as Belle de
Army, Dougie struggles to cope with Orient. By contrast, Western Europe Jour, and the questions being
his experiences of combat. Rodge will would have struck you as a miserable raised about technology and
talk about the process of creating a backwater ravaged by plague, bad ethics of online and real life
graphic novel, his collaboration with sanitation and incessant war. Yet for identities, particularly in the age
artist, Dave Turbitt, and the extensive most of the next half millennium it of digital social media such as
research undertaken with veterans of was the West that came to dominate Facebook and Twitter.
a number of recent conflicts. the Rest. In Civilization: The West and
the Rest, Niall Ferguson examines
the defining narrative of modern
world history and warns we may be
living through the end of Western
ascendancy.
Brooke Magnanti image © Richard Saker

Thursday
Culture/ folk Music Comedy/ Biography Philosophy

Rob Young Christopher Stevens on John Gray
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 Kenneth Williams 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
19.30-21.00 £8/ £6
In The Immortalization Commission:

Science and the Strange Quest to Cheat
Rob Young’s Electric Eden: Unearthing Death, one of Britain’s leading political
Britain’s Visionary Music is a seminal philosophers, John Gray, argues that an
book on British music and cultural obsession with the nature of death lies
heritage which spans the visionary at the heart of the human experience.
classical and folk tradition from the In the late nineteenth and early
nineteenth-century to the present Kenneth Williams was the stand-out twentieth centuries this framework
day. Young traces a musical voice comic actor of his generation. Beloved came under relentless pressure as
that shows the complex relationship as the manic star of Carry On films new ideas seemed to suggest that our
between town and country, progress and as a peerless raconteur on TV fate was now in our own hands. Gray
and nostalgia, radicalism and chat shows, he was also acclaimed raises a host of questions about what it
conservatism that has fed into the for serious stage roles. In Born Brilliant, means to be human.
creative and organic strand of Britain’s Christopher Stevens draws on rare
music from Edwardian composers’ material and Williams’ diaries, to trace quiz
assimilations of folk song and visionary the complex contradictions that Literally Quizzical
poetry, via folk rock of the 60s and 70s characterised an extraordinary life 20.00-21.00 FREE
to 21st century pastoral electronica. presenting the first full portrait of
the star. With clips from the films and Do you know your Austen from your
radio shows, and actor Grant Smeaton Auster? Get your team together for
Poetry in association with St reading Williams’ words, this will be a a fun quiz and pit your literary wits
Mungo’s Mirrorball fun and enlightening evening. against the literati librarians to take
Poets’ Corner open Mic the Aye Write! 2011 title. Teams of
19.30-20.30 FREE four needed – winners get a Penguin
Books Goody Bag.
St Mungo’s Mirrorball – Glasgow’s
Poetry Network – host their popular cabaret
open mic session. An opportunity for DisComBoBuLaTe
budding and established poets to 20.00-22.00 £8/ £6
read their own work. So whether you
have a number of poetry collections DisComBoBuLaTe – where literature
out or are reading in public for the and comedy collide. Let your ears
first time this is for you. A wonderful be caressed by the silken tones of
opportunity to experience and enjoy poet Magi Gibson, comedians Arnold
Glasgow’s diverse poetic voices. Brown and Michael Redmond, novelist
Alan Bissett and jazz chanteuse
Christine Bovill. Hosted by writer and
comedian Ian Macpherson. Supported
by Glasgow Arts.

Friday
MARCH 11
AUTHOR EVENTS
Community Yesterday, described by David Hare as Politics/ Economics
I Belong to Glasgow, Glasgow ‘one of the greatest memoirs of the Will Hutton
Belongs to Me! (3) twentieth century.’ Zweig, an Austrian 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6
13.00-15.00 FREE Jewish writer who committed suicide
immediately after delivering the
Join adult literacy learners in a manuscript to his publisher in 1942,
celebration of what makes Glasgow is one of the great writers now being
special to us and what makes us rediscovered by a new generation.
special to Glasgow. Anthea talks about Zweig and the art
of translation.
new fiction Philosophy/ Identity

Alison Irvine Julian Baggini The suddenness and depth of the
15.30-17.00 FREE 18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 recession has raised questions about
the workability of capitalism not
Spanning five decades, Alison seen since the 1930s. In Them and
Irvine’s new novel, This Road is Us: Changing Britain – Why We Need
Red, is based on the true stories a Fair Society, Will Hutton argues that
of some of the residents, past and reconstructing a bust financial system
present, of Glasgow’s Red Road cannot be done without a wholescale
Flats, which are scheduled for revision of the wider system and
demolition in the summer. values on which it is based. And
fairness must be placed at the heart of
the new capitalism for society’s future
Creative writing wellbeing.
The Ragged University – From
the Page to Performance nocturne: a journey in search
18.00-19.00 FREE of night
James Attlee
A practical workshop looking at the 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
transference of the written word into
performance. How can the themes
lift off the page through voice and
facial expression? This session will
take sections of poetry, prose and
dramatic works and explore the action With his usual wit, infectious curiosity
between the lines. Places are limited: and bracing scepticism, Julian
to book your place contact carrie@ Baggini’s The Ego Trick, draws on the
raggeduniversity.com history of philosophy, anthropology, The moon and the light it casts
sociology, psychology and neurology have been a muse for writers, artists,
Literature/ Translation in a fascinating quest to discover composers and visionaries throughout
Anthea Bell on Stefan Zweig ‘What and who is the real you?’. He history. But today, in our increasingly
18.00-19.00 £8/ £6 talks to theologians, priests, allegedly urbanised world, the spread of artificial
reincarnated Lamas, and delves lighting seems set to rob the moon
Anthea Bell’s name graces many books into real-life cases of lost memory, of its power. In Nocturne: A Journey
out today as translator, especially personality disorders and personal in Search of Moonlight, James Attlee
of German and French fiction. She’s transformation; and, candidly and provides a strangely illuminating
the translator of Asterix (more on engagingly, he describes his own traveller’s tale about a search for the
that tomorrow) and, most recently, experiences in his search. all-but-vanished light of the moon –
of the new edition of Stefan Zweig’s and a passionate plea to turn off the
compelling memoir The World of lights and repossess the stolen night.
Julian Baggini image © Richard H Smith; James Attlee image © Alex Ramsey

Friday
Politics locations over the years and as a

Danny Dorling travelling actor who seems to have Poetry
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 been everywhere. Arno Camenisch
(Switzerland) & Donal
Politics McLaughlin (Scotland)
Polly Toynbee and David 19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
Walker
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6
When it comes to immigration, the

population explosion, the collapse
of the family, the north-south divide,
devolution, or the death of the
countryside, common wisdom tells In The Verdict, Polly Toynbee and David
us that we are in trouble. However, Walker provide a telling analysis of
this is far from the truth. In So You Labour’s longest term in office, and
Think You Know About Britain?, leading a fascinating account of the role of
geographer Danny Dorling dissects politics in public life. They compare
the nation and reveals unexpected election promises with government
truths about the way we live today, policy, and use real-world stories and Join rising star Arno Camenisch
contrary to what you might read in incisive commentary to illustrate the and Glasgow’s Donal McLaughlin
the news. impact of Labour’s government on the (an allergic reaction to national
lives of British people. From the gleeful anthems & other stories) to celebrate
Acting/ Memoir consumerism of the boom times to seven years of literary exchange
John Cairney the misery of the economic bust, between Scotland and Switzerland.
19.30-20.30 £8/ £6 Toynbee and Walker assess the era Camenisch’s take on mountain
of Blair and Brown and ask: ‘What has communities in both Sez Ner (the
Labour done?’ name of a mountain) and Hinter
dem Bahnhof (Behind the Station)
Music/ Crime Fiction has thrilled readers and critics alike.
Christopher Brookmyre McLaughlin was nominated for
and Billy Franks the Frank O’Connor Short Story
21.00-23.00 £8/ £6 Award and the EIBF Readers’ First
Book Award for his own debut
Christopher Brookmyre is joined by collection. In association with the
singer-songwriter Billy Franks for a Swiss Consulate, Pro Helvetia and
John Cairney PhD, actor, writer, and raucous evening of tales and tunes. the University of Strathclyde.
raconteur par excellence is never more Two natural storytellers take the stage
at home than when he is standing to play a selection of the songs that
on stage in conversation with an have inspired Christopher’s novels,
audience. This evening’s conversation to tell the stories that have inspired
will be illustrated with verse, extracts some of Billy’s songs, and sometimes
from his one-man shows, stories just to sing something offensive.
from his latest book, Greasepaint NB. This event will contain a singing
Monkey, and comic comment on author. Patrons are advised to use their
his experiences in theatre, on film discretion.
Polly Toynbee image © Eamonn McCabe

Saturday
MARCH 12
AUTHOR EVENTS
Style
QUIZ Lynne McCrossan
The Broons and Oor Wullie: 11.00-12.00 £8/ £6
75th Birthday of the Broons
and Oor Wullie
10.30-11.30 FREE
Since 1936 The Broons and Oor

Wullie have kept Scottish readers
laughing at home and abroad. Now
in the second quiz to be held at Aye
Write, (open to all the family) come
and test your knowledge about our
much loved characters led by David Being made redundant from her job,
Donaldson, scriptwriter of the The Lynne McCrossan travelled and had
Broons and Oor Wullie for over three the best experience of her life. In A
decades. Free, and open to teams Girl’s Guide to Vintage, McCrossan, self-
of no more than six. Prizes for the confessed vintage junkie, selects the
winners. best shopping experience in 15 cities
across the UK. Packed with second
Scottish History/ Travel/ Politics/ the environment hand tid bits and profiles from other
Railways Robin Harper vintage lovers such as George Lamb
Julian Holland 11.00-12.00 £8/ £6 and Wayne Hemingway and showing
11.00-12.00 £8/ £6 each city’s signature style with a look
book throughout, McCrossan takes the
audience on that journey and provides
a one-stop shop for guidance on what
to wear and when. The event will
include a dress swap.
Poetry/ Scottish History

Allan Burnett
12.30-13.30 £8/ £6
Ossian, a collection of epic poems,

originally written in Gaelic and
translated by James MacPherson into
As a teacher, actor, parliamentarian, English, achieved international success
The follow up book to Discovering protestor, folkie, and, along with and has been compared with Homer’s
Scotland’s Lost Railways, Julian Tommy Sheridan and Denis Canavan, Iliad, inspiring many later writers such
Holland’s new book, Discovering one of the Scottish parliament’s as Walter Scott and Goethe. Ossian:
Scotland’s Lost Local Lines, features ‘Three Musketeers’, Robin Harper’s life How Fragments of an Ancient Myth
many lines that had closed long story is quirky, funny and brave. In his Changed Our Perception of the World is
before Dr Beeching came on the entertaining book, Dear Mr. Harper: a new edition. There’s much debate
scene in 1963, their closures hastened The Autobiography of Robin Harper, he about the authenticity of the poems,
by increasing competition from road reveals his family life, his childhood some historians believing MacPherson
transport in the 1930s and 1940s. The years in Sri Lanka and London, his wrote them himself, whilst others hold
book brings to life the golden years chance encounter with Idi Amin, the that they have roots in Irish myths,
of these railways and discovers what events that led him to join the Green not Scottish. Allan Burnett guides us
remains of them today. Party, and the inspiration behind his through the story and the poems.
iconic rainbow scarf.
Lynne McCrossan image © Brian Sweeney

Saturday
Politics/ Inequality Art/ Architecture New Fiction

Danny Dorling and Carol Craig James Macaulay on Charles Iain M Banks and Ken
12.30-13.30 £8/ £6 Rennie Mackintosh MacLeod
12.30-13.30 £8/ £6 14.00-15.00 £8/ £6
Few would dispute that we live in

an unequal and unjust world, but
what causes this inequality to persist?
Leading social commentator and
academic Danny Dorling claims in
Injustice: Why Social Inequality Persists,
that, as the five social evils identified Charles Rennie Mackintosh was
by Beveridge are gradually being Scotland’s greatest architect
eradicated, they are being replaced and arguably one of the world’s
by five new tenets of injustice: elitism most admired. He had far fewer
is efficient; exclusion is necessary; commissions than his contemporary Surface Detail is the latest in Banks’
prejudice is natural; greed is good; Frank Lloyd Wright but with a few long-running science fiction series
and despair is inevitable. Dorling bold and innovative structures, he Culture. A thrilling story of murder,
examines who is most harmed by had a profound influence on art pursuit and subterfuge as a former
these injustices and why, and what and architecture at the turn of the slave, who was murdered by her
happens to those who most benefit. twentieth century. James Macaulay’s owner, is reincarnated and seeks
He discusses this with Carol Craig, new biography is an essential and revenge against the backdrop of
author of The Tears that Made the Clyde: beautiful addition to the Mackintosh Banks’ complex fictional universe in
Well-being in Glasgow. canon and to architectural history. which the border between the real
and the virtual worlds is blurred.
MacLeod’s The Restoration Game is
Art set in the former Soviet Union where
Alasdair Gray 14.00-15.00 £8/ £6 revolution is brewing. A story of
computer games and dark secrets
Alasdair Gray is known throughout the world of the Soviet past. Both authors are
for his writing, but he is also a highly regarded widely praised: Scotland on Sunday
artist who not only illustrates and designs his called Ken MacLeod’s works ‘of science
own books, but has created many beautiful fiction so worryingly close to reality
portraits, paintings, posters and murals. In this that he may well be hailed as a
autopictography, A Life In Pictures, he gathers prophet’.
together the work that has mattered most to
him over the years, and weaves the story of his
life through and around these pictures in his
own unmistakable style. This is life as seen by
one of the millennium’s most entertaining and
wry creative geniuses.

Saturday
MARCH 12
AUTHOR EVENTS
History/ Seventies Africa, explores a range of human Hershl Sperling was one of them. Why
Dominic Sandbrook relationships: marriage, friendship, then, fifty years later, did he jump to
14.00-15.00 £8/ £6 family ties, and relations with those his death from a bridge in Scotland?
who serve us. She discusses her work In Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death
with Louise Welsh. of Hershl Sperling, Mark S Smith traces
the life of a man who survived seven
New Scottish Fiction Nazi camps, and what he had to do to
James Robertson achieve this. Hershl’s story is testament
15.30-16.30 £8/ £6 to the lasting torment of those very
few who survived the Nazis’ most
notorious death factory. The author
personally follows in his subject’s
footsteps from Klobuck, to Treblinka,
In his brilliant new history, State of to Glasgow.
Emergency: The Way We Were: Britain,
1970-1974, Dominic Sandbrook Comedy
recreates the gaudy, schizophrenic Neil Forsyth
atmosphere of the early 1970s: the 15.30-16.30 £8/ £6
world of Enoch Powell and Tony
Benn, David Bowie and Brian Clough,
Germaine Greer and Mary Whitehouse.
For those who remember the days Tracing the intertwined lives of an
when you could buy a new colour unforgettable cast of characters,
television but power cuts stopped James Robertson’s new novel, And the
you from watching it, this book could Land Lay Still, is a searching journey
hardly be more vivid. He is the perfect into the heart of a country of high
guide to a luridly colourful seventies’ hopes and unfulfilled dreams, private
landscape that shaped our present compromises and hidden agendas.
from the financial boardroom to the Brilliantly blending the personal and
suburban bedroom. the political, it sweeps away the dust Neil Forsyth takes you into the
and grime of the postwar years to world of his alter-ego Bob Servant,
New Fiction reveal a rich mosaic of twentieth- a Dundonian local businessman
Zoë Wicomb and Louise Welsh century Scottish life, deservedly who is fast becoming a Scottish
14.00-15.00 £8/ £6 winning the 2010 Saltire Book of the comic icon. He reads from Bob’s
Year Award. Robertson is interviewed recent autobiography Bob Servant:
by Iain Macwhirter, Sunday Herald. Hero of Dundee and plays a short
film visualising BBC Radio Scotland’s
History/ Biography adaptation of Bob’s first book Delete
Mark S Smith This at Your Peril – The Bob Servant
15.30-16.30 £8/ £6 Emails, which stars Brian Cox as Bob
Servant.
Toni Morrison called Zoë Wicomb

‘An extraordinary writer ... seductive,
brilliant, and precious, her talent
glitters’. Her new book, The One that More than 800,000 people entered
Got Away, set in Glasgow and South Treblinka, and fewer than 70 came out.
James Robertson image © Marianne Mitchelson

Saturday
Biography Travel Law/ Politics

Michael Holroyd Michael Jacobs Gareth Peirce
15.30-16.30 £8/ £6 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
Critically acclaimed biographer

Michael Holroyd has written the lives
of Lytton Strachey, Augustus John, Lawyer Gareth Peirce represents
Bernard Shaw, Ellen Terry and Henry individuals subject to rendition and
Irving, among others. His latest book, torture, held in prisons in the UK on
A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, the basis of secret evidence, and
Absent Fathers, is a masterfully interned in secret prisons abroad
atmospheric study of hidden lives and under regimes that continue to
family secrets featuring Alice Keppel, Stretching for over 5,500 miles, practice torture. Clients include the
the mistress of both the second and containing the highest active Birmingham Six, Judith Ward, the
Lord Grimthorpe and the Prince of volcanoes in the world, the largest family of Jean Charles de Menezes,
Wales; Eve Fairfax, Lord Grimthorpe’s salt flat, the highest lake, and peaks and Moazzam Begg. In Dispatches
abandoned fiancée and sometime rivalled in size only by the Himalayas, From the Dark Side: On Torture and
muse of Auguste Rodin; and the the Andes impress by statistics the Death of Justice, she looks at the
novelist Violet Trefusis, the lover of Vita alone. But beyond the range’s sheer British government’s involvement in
Sackville-West. Holroyd once again immensity, is its concentration of torture which, if not accounted for,
casts light on the lives of others as well radically contrasting scenery and will destroy much of the moral and
as himself. climates. In Andes, travel writer Michael legal fabric it claims to be protecting.
Jacobs journeys across seven different Gareth talks about her new book and
Amnesty International countries, attempting to uncover the looks at Lockerbie and the work of the
15.30-16.30 stories of those who have shared his Miscarriage of Justice organisation.
See entry for 17.00 5 March. fascination with the region, and to
reveal the secrets of a place steeped in
history, science and myth.
Cartoons/ Art
David Shrigley 17.00-18.00 £8/ £6
Harry Hill said ‘If you’re looking for a humour/art crossover, then
David Shrigley’s stuff is spot on’. In What the Hell are You Doing?’,
Shrigley provides a beautifully designed and darkly comic
collection of work, bringing together the best of his work, old
and new. He talks about this work in a celebration of the surreal
world of one of our finest contemporary artists, now living and
working in Glasgow.
Michael Holroyd image © Caroline Forbes

Saturday
MARCH 12
AUTHOR EVENTS
Fiction
Tall Tales
g
x
19:00-21:00 £8/ £6
n
a
c ll i
l l
a e ri
st
a fans!
Telling tales has long been part of our
culture. These leg-pulling, boasting
and astounding tales are completely
unbelievable, or are they? Here our
Graphic novels fantastic storytellers are put to the test,
A Tribute to Asterix 17.00-18.30 £8/ £6 they love to compete! The audience
will vote to decide who deserves the
Asterix the Gaul is over 50 years old in 2011. legendary leprechaun Oscar for telling
All 34 books remain immensely popular across the best tall tale.
Europe and have been made into films and
television series. Anthea Bell, translator of the NEW WRITING
Asterix books, provides a tour of the work, University of Glasgow
joined by Rob Shearman, author of the Creative Writing
2005 ‘Dalek’ Dr Who episode and huge Showcase and award of
fan and (another fan) Stuart Kelly of Sceptre Prize
Scotland on Sunday. So, come and join 19.00-21.00 FREE
Asterix, Obelix, Dogmatix and others for
ninety minutes of fun. This double bill features the best in new
writing from staff and students in the
University of Glasgow Creative Writing
course. It culminates in the presentation
of the annual Sceptre Prize to the
outstanding student from 2010.
Music
James Yorkston19.00-20.00 £8/ £6
Leading Scottish folk singer James Yorkston’s book, It’s Lovely
To Be Here: The Touring Diaries Of A Scottish Gent, offers a mix
of deadpan humour, wide-eyed wonder and the romantic
absurdity of playing music for a living. By turns poignant, witty
and philosophical, the reader experiences the never ending
highs and lows of pubs, clubs and theatres and the endless
disorientations on the merry go round of live touring. Filled
with bathos and written in Yorkston’s intimate style, the diaries
are an affecting account of liquor, sleeplessness and the beauty
of song. James will talk about his book and play music.

Saturday
REIMAGINING
AUTHOR
SCOTLAND
EVENTS MARCH 12
Jimmy Reid TRIBUTE

19.00-21.00 £8/ £6
Jimmy Reid’s death in 2010 bought to an end a remarkable
political life. His work for Glasgow and Scotland was
remarkable as was his ability to move a crowd to tears and
action. His famous alienation speech was rightly regarded as
on a par with the Gettysburg address by the New York Times.
Aye Write! pays tribute to Jimmy Reid with the reading of his
classic speech by David Hayman. Then a panel, made up of
Ruth Wishart, Professor Tom Devine, Gerry Hassan and others
will discuss his work and impact and the future of Scotland.
Aye Write! and continuity. Join this high profile and prioritising economic growth?
Reimagining panel discussion to discuss and And if we increasingly question the
Scotland debate not what went wrong, but conventional truths of the last few
A series of discussions looking how a radical Scottish politics can decades, why is there no real sign
at issues and debates for address issues of power, voices and or emergence of any coherent and
Scotland’s future. public conversation? Speakers include radical alternative? Speakers include
£4 (places are limited) Gerry Hassan, writer and broadcaster; Alf Young, journalist and commentator,
Andy Wightman, author, The Poor Had David Purdy, co-author, Feelbad Britain,
No Lawyers; Joan McAlpine, journalist Alisa McKay, Glasgow Caledonian
Monday March 7 18.00-19.15
and Scotsman columnist. University.
Where is the Public in Public
Health? Wednesday March 9 18.00-19.15 Friday March 11 18.00-19.15
Glasgow has the record as ‘the sick
man of Europe’, but has a reputation
Bread and Roses Whose Public Services?
What is the state of the arts and The public sector faces challenges and
for innovative thinking about public
culture in Scotland today? Is it still constraints unprecedented in modern
health alongside community-driven
relevant or meaningful to talk of an times. What is the best way to respond
models for change. What is the overall
artistic renaissance, and if so, what – which protects the public and is in
picture of public health in the city,
does it mean culturally and politically? keeping with progressive values? How
and how can we best aid and support
And what does it mean to be an artist will the cuts impact on Scotland? How
long lasting and fundamental change
in contemporary Scotland? How does can the dominant model of public
both in individual attitudes and at the
one find ways, spaces and places to sector reform and modernisation
level of society? Speakers are: Professor
express oneself and gain support? – which is top down and centred
Phil Hanlon, Dept of Public Health,
Speakers include Neil Mulholland, on marketisation be challenged?
University of Glasgow; Fiona Crawford,
Edinburgh College of Art, Nick Higgins, Speakers include Professor Allyson
Glasgow Centre for Population Health;
film maker and Sarah Munro, Tramway. Pollock, Edinburgh University Centre
Dr Gerry McCartney, NHS Health
for International Public Health Policy
Scotland; Isabella Goldie, Mental
Thursday March 10 18.00-19.15 and John McLaren, Centre for Public
Health Foundation Scotland.
False Economies: Restoration Policy for Regions, Glasgow University.
Tuesday March 8 18.00-19.15 and Recovery
Radical Scotland No More: What is the future of the economy
in Scotland and wider afield? After
Beyond the Politics of Caution
the global crash and bankers’ crisis,
Devolution has been a
what are the potential prospects for
disappointment to many –
the economy? Do we still remain
characterised by caution, conservatism
wedded to a politics of restoration
Jimmy Reid Image reproduced courtesy of The Herald

MARCH 5 - 12
FAMILY EVENTS
Bring your family to our fantastic Saturday 12 March 2011
weekend programme of fun-filled Julia Donaldson Zog and Co
events. Celebrate fifty years of James 10.30-11.30 £8/£6 (full) Child £3
and the Giant Peach, have some ‘Horrid’ Family Ticket (2 Adult/2 Children)
fun and enjoy Julia Donaldson’s great £14
show, Zog and Co. Plus, arts and crafts An hour of fun with the ever popular
and Pre-5 fun. Julia Donaldson who will be acting
out her fantastic stories and singing
Saturday 5 March 2011 her songs. After the show Julia will be
Bounce ‘n’ Rhyme Session signing copies of her books, including
10.30-11.30 FREE Zog and Cave Baby.
Action songs, rhyme-time and story
sessions for 0-3 year olds and their Toddlers Tales Toddlers Tales
parents or carers. Also 6 & 12 March 10.30- 12.00 - 13.00 FREE
12.00-13.00 FREE See entry 6 March
11.30 Suitable for 0-3 years. Fun activity for parents / carers and
children 3-5 years to enjoy together.
Bring books to life while engaging in Pop-Up Theatre
Count Me In 1,2,3, physical activity through stories and 14.00-15.00 FREE See entry 6 March
12.00-13.00 FREE
rhymes.
Come and join swimming ducks, Horrid Henry Gets Rich Quick
Suitable for 3-5 years.
biting fish and clock-climbing mice 14.00-15.00 FREE
plus many more for a number- Horrid Henry loves money – counting,
crunching sixty minutes of numeracy- The Brain Boggling Family
holding and spending it! Join in with
filled fun. Stories, songs, puzzles and Book Challenge
14.00-15.00 FREE money themed stories, jokes, puzzles
games. Suitable for 3-5 years. and games for a really ‘horrid’ time.
Event sponsored by the Clydesdale Bank. Think you know your Horrid Henry
from your Harry Potter? Then enter Includes a visit from Horrid Henry plus
our team Family Book Challenge and some chocolately fun.
James and the Giant Peach Suitable for 7-10 year olds.
14.00-15.00 FREE compete in fun themed and picture
Event sponsored by the Clydesdale Bank.
Take a bag of crocodile tongues, a rounds. The challenge finishes as we
young boy and some giant creepy go ‘eyes down’ for a game of our ever
crawlies. Mix them together and what popular Book Bingo. Suitable for
do you get? A most extraordinary and family teams (7 years and above).
Prizes will be awarded.
‘peachy’ adventure. Join us as we share
in the fun of James and the Giant Peach
through story, puzzles, games and Are You Coming Out to Play?
crafts. Suitable for 7-11 years. 14.00-15.00 FREE
Take a trip down memory lane with
our playtime of the past session as
Aliens Love Underpants
14.00-15.00 FREE we play hopscotch, ropes and balls,
Pants! Pants! Pants! Pants of every marbles, five stones and more. A
shape and size! Come and have a great chance for all the family to play
‘pantastic’ time with ‘Aliens Love together at this fun-filled nostalgic
Underpants’ and other tales. Stories, event. Suitable for all the family.
crafts and games, plus a special alien
‘encounter.’ Suitable for 3-6 years Pop-Up Theatre
14.00-15.00 FREE
Sunday 6 March 2011 Children will explore, create and
Bounce ‘n’ Rhyme Session perform their own work in a magical
10.30-11.30 FREE See entry 5 March drama experience by Pop-Up Theatre.
Suitable for 5-7 years Bounce ‘n’ Rhyme Session
Also 12 March 14.00-15.00 10.30-11.30 FREE See entry 5 March

Supported by
SCHOOLS PROGRAMME MARCH 5 - 12
Aye Write! 2011 will again welcome

thousands of Glasgow’s children to our
award-winning programme of events
for schools. This year’s programme is
our biggest and best yet and includes
a fantastic range of events, workshops
and activities for all ages.
The Mitchell Library will welcome

some of the best children’s authors,
poets and illustrators from across
the UK and as far afield as Australia.
Among those appearing are Julia
Donaldson, Morris Gleitzman, Nick
Butterworth, Jamie Rix and the current
Children’s Laureate, Anthony Browne
(pictured). There is also a wonderful
programme of events for nursery
children and children with additional
support needs.
Through Aye Write! we wish to

increase awareness and use of
Glasgow’s library service as a lifelong
valuable resource and promote a
culture of reading within the family.
With such a fascinating mix of humour,

verse, adventure, horror and history
we know this year’s Aye Write! schools
programme will again enthuse young
people about the joy of reading and
inspire the next generation of writers
and artists.
Tesco Bank is supporting the Aye

Write! Schools Programme in 2011.
The Bank aims to make a positive
contribution across Scotland through
its support of community initiatives.
Reading is integral to this as it
acts as a vehicle for both learning
and development. The support of
the schools programme will give
thousands of children from across
Glasgow an appreciation of reading
and experiences that will stay with
them for life. We would like to thank
Tesco Bank for their support and look
forward to working with them to
make this a memorable event.
Anthony Browne photo image © Mark Mackenzie; Troll Image © Joanne Nethercott

4-12
MARCH
AT A GLANCE
The At a Glance section contains all paid for events except for the special events done in association with the Democratic Left (page 27) and the free
community events. Please check website, www.ayewrite.com for all details.
FRIDAY 18.00-19.00 Shirley Williams: Politics/Memoir

4 March 18.00-19.00 Kevin Bloom & Peter Harris: South Africa/Politics
18.00-19.00 Jasper Fforde: New Fiction
19.30-20.30 Andrea Levy: New Fiction
19.30-21.00 Graeme Garden & The Goodies: Comedy/Seventies
21.00-23.00 The Scottish Poetry Slam Championship Final
SATURDAY 10.30-11.30 Creative writing showcase
5 March 10.30-11.30 Alexander McCall Smith: New Fiction
10.30-11.30 Des Dillon: New Scottish Fiction
12.00-13.30 Scottish Writers’ Centre Showcase
12.30-13.30 Ronnie Scott & Shawn Sewell: Glasgow history
12.30-13.30 Baroness Mary Warnock: Religion/Politics
12.30-13.30 Nell Nelson: Eating well/Cookery
14.00-15.00 Steve Bell: Comedy/Politics
14.00-15.00
Women on the Dark Side: Scottish Women’s Crime Fiction Writing: Crime Fiction
15.30-16.30
14.00-15.00 Andy Wightman & Ray Perman: Scottish history/Politics
14.00-15.00 Tariq Ramadan: Philosophy/Islam
15.30-16.45 Barry Cryer on Kenny Everett: Comedy
15.30-16.30 Gary Shteyngart: New American Fiction
17.00-18.00 Alison Gangel/Anne Donovan: Memoir/Glasgow history/Seventies
17.00-18.00 Richard Wiseman: Psychology
17.00-18.00 Maxine Hong Kingston: Memoir
17.00-18.00 Amnesty International
17.30-18.30 Barry Cryer & Graeme Garden: Hamish & Dougal: Comedy
19.00-20.00 Mark Billingham & Jo Nesbø: Crime Fiction
20.30-21.30 World Book Night: Sarah Waters
SUNDAY 12.00-13.00 Hamish Whyte & Diana Hendry: Poetry
6 March 12.00-13.00 John Eunson: Quiz: What Scots have given the World
13.30-14.30 Alistair Moffat: Scottish history
13.30-14.30 Alex Bellos: Mathematics/Science
13.30-14.30 Nicholas Phillipson: Philosophy/Economics
13.30-14.30 Candia McWilliam: Memoir
15.00-16.00 Jackie Kay: Memoir
15.00-16.00 Sarah Moss & Robin McKie: New Scottish Fiction/Science
15.00-16.00 Peter Hennessey & Keith Jeffery: Politics/Espionage
15.00-16.30 David Nobbs: Comedy/Seventies/Reginald Perrin
17.00-18.00 Claire Tomalin: Writing Lives
17.00-18.00 Val McDermid: New Crime Fiction
17.00-18.00 Behind the Scenes of the Book Café: Radio/Books
17.00-18.00 James McGonigal: Edwin Morgan/Scottish poetry
18.30-19.30 David Crystal: Religion/Literature/King James Bible
18.30-19.30 Michael Frayn: Memoir
19.00-21.00 Sudden Fame: Federation of Writers: New Writing
20.00-21.30 Ronald Frame, Carl MacDougall & Cynthia Rogerson: Gutter Magazine Showcase
MONDAY 18.00-19.00 Behind the Scences of Human Planet: Television/Science
7 March 18.00-19.00 Raja Shehadeh: Palestine/Memoir
18.00-19.00 Robin Ince: Comedy
18.00-19.00 Rosemary Goring, Stuart Kelly & Alan Taylor: Lanark/Scottish Fiction
19.30-20.30 Mark Millar: Graphic Novels
19.30-20.30 Tannahill Debate: Crime/Heroes
19.30-20.30 Owen Hatherley: Politics/Architecture
19.30-20.30 Gavin Pretor-Pinney: Cloudwatching/Science
Acknowledgments We are very grateful for the help and assistance of all involved in Aye Write, the sponsors, chairs, staff at the Mitchell, and especially the
publishers who work with us each year to bring authors to the city: Allen Lane, Berlinn, Bloomsbury, Chatto and Windus, Canongate, Constable Robinson,
Domino Records, Ebury, Faber, Five Leaves, Freight Design, Geddes & Grosset, Granta, Hachette Scotland, Harper Collins, Headline, Hodder, Jonathan
Cape, Little Brown, Luath, Macmillan, Penguin, Picador, Polygon, Profile, Random House, Sandstone, Verso, W W Norton. We’d like to thank especially Sue
Amaradivakara, Katie Bond, Laura Brooke, Caroline Brown, Emily Burns, Kate Burton, Thi Dinh, Jude Drake, Camilla Elworthy, Amelia Fairney, Suzanne Fowler,
Anna Frame, Jenny Fry, Ed Griffiths, Hannah Hargrave, Alex Holroyd, Mark Hutchinson, Bethan Jones, Ruth Killick, Emma Knight, Gavin MacDougall,

4-12
AT A GLANCE MARCH
TUESDAY 18.00-19.30 The Future of Capitalism: Politics/Economics

8 March 18.00-19.00 Ted Nield: Science
18.00-19.00 Kevin MacNeil: New Scottish Fiction
18.00-21.00 Football Double Bill: New Football Writing
19.30-20.30 Gutter Magazine New Writers Doug Johnstone & Elaine di Rollo: New writing
20.00-21.30 Francis Wheen: History/Film/Seventies
WEDNESDAY 18.00-19.00 Sarah Brown: Memoir
9 March 18.00-19.00 Giles Milton & Martin Davidson: History/Biography
18.00-19.00 Dorian Lynskey: Music/Protest/Politics
18.00-19.00 Gary Younge: Identity/Politics
19.30-20.30 Rachel Hewitt: Geography/Maps
19.30-20.30 Clarence B. Jones: Politics/History/Martin Luther King
19.30-20.30 Stuart Kelly: Scottish History/Identity/Walter Scott
19.30-20.30 Sarah Lowndes: Glasgow Art
THURSDAY 18.00-19.00 Rodge Glass: Graphic Novel/War/Afghanistan
10 March 18.00-19.00 Manju Kapur: New Fiction
18.00-19.00 Niall Ferguson: Politics
18.00-19.00 Brooke Magnanti: Media/Memoir/Identity
19.30-20.30 Rob Young: Culture/Folk Music
19.30-20.30 Poets’ Corner open Mic in association with St Mungo’s Mirrorball
19.30-21.00 Christopher Stevens on Kenneth Williams: Comedy/Biography
19.30-20.30 John Gray: Philosophy
20.00-21.00 Literally Quizzical: Quiz
20.00-22.00 DisComBoBuLaTe: Cabaret
FRIDAY 16.00-17.30 Alison Irvine: New Fiction
11 March 18.00-19.00 Anthea Bell on Stefan Zweig: Literature/Translation
18.00-19.00 Julian Baggini: Philosophy/Identity
18.00-19.00 Will Hutton: Politics/Economics
19.30-20.30 James Attlee: Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Night
19.30-20.30 Danny Dorling: Politics
19.30-20.30 John Cairney: Acting/Memoir
19.30-20.30 Polly Toynbee & David Walker: Politics
19.30-20.30 Arno Camenisch (Switzerland) & Donal McLaughlin (Scotland): Poetry
21.00-23.00 Christopher Brookmyre & Billy Franks: Music/Crime Fiction
SATURDAY 10.30-11.30 The Broons and Oor Wullie: 75th Birthday of the Broons and Oor Wullie Quiz
12 March 11.00-12.00 Julian Holland: Scottish History/Travel/Railways
11.00-12.00 Robin Harper: Politics/The Environment
11.00-12.00 Lynne McCrossan: Style
12.30-13.30 Allan Burnett: Poetry/Scottish History
12.30-13.30 Danny Dorling & Carol Craig: Politics/Inequality
12.30-13.30 James Macaulay on Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Art/Architecture
14.00-15.00 Alasdair Gray: Art
14.00-15.00 Iain M. Banks & Ken MacLeod: New Fiction
14.00-15.00 Dominic Sandbrook: History/Seventies
14.00-15.00 Zoë Wicomb & Louise Welsh: New Fiction
15.30-16.30 James Robertson: New Scottish Fiction
15.30-16.30 Mark S Smith: History/Biography
15.30-16.30 Neil Forsyth: Comedy
15.30-16.30 Michael Holroyd: Biography
17.00-18.00 David Shrigley: Cartoons/Art
17.00-18.00 Michael Jacobs: Travel
17.00-18.00 Gareth Peirce: Law/Politics
17.00-18.30 A Tribute to Asterix: Graphic Novels
19.00-20.00 James Yorkston: Music
19.00-20.00 Creative Writing Showcase: New Writing
19.00-21.00 Tall Tales: Fiction
19.00-21.00 Jimmy Reid Tribute
Rosalie Macfarlane, Moira Macmillan, Bob McDevitt, Bart Mcdonagh, Laura Mell, Dusty Miller, Caroline Newbury, Lyndsey Ng, Aidan O’Neill, Rebecca Pearson,
Tabitha Pelly, Kelly Pike, Kenny Redpath, Hannah Ross, Pru Rowlandson, Jan Rutherford, Adrian Searle, Sarah Shin, Liz Small, Susan de Soissons, Katherine
Stroud, Penelope Vogler, and Mari Yamazaki. We apologise if any credits or acknowledgments have been missed.

Booking information
Online booking – www.ayewrite.com
Telephone booking – phone 0141 353 8000
In person from the Mitchell Library, (Monday to Thursday 9am-8pm and Friday and Saturday 9am-5pm)
the Royal Concert Hall Box Office (Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm) and City Halls Box Office (Monday to
Saturday 12pm-6pm)
Free event tickets are limited and only available from the Mitchell Library in person
Tickets booked online or by phoning Glasgow’s Concert Halls Box Office will be subject to a transaction
fee. A transaction charge of £1.00 applies to all online bookings and £1.50 applies to all phone bookings.
Tickets bought in person at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow’s Concert Hall and City Halls are not subject to a
transaction fee.
75p charge per transaction for all tickets posted out, no postage charge shall be incurred if tickets are picked
up in person at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow’s Concert Hall and City Halls.
Concession prices are available to Glasgow residents who are under 18, full-time students, unemployment
benefit claimants, disabled people and those whose source of income is a DSS state retirement pension
(evidence is required).
Aye Write! Glasgow’s Book Festival programme may be subject to additions and changes at any time – please
check the website www.ayewrite.com, register for updates, or check with Mitchell staff and publicity during
the festival.
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4 - 12 March 2011: The Mitchell Library - WWW

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