Dundee Literary Festival 2016: Join the party

The Scottish books scene has been abuzz with significant birthdays over the past few years, particularly when it comes to literary festivals. Edinburgh’s bumper book festival turned 30 in 2013, while StAnza, Scotland’s international poetry festival, came of age in 2015 and can now officially drink. Now one of the younger members of the family is making it into double figures too – that celebration of words and stories in the land of jute, jam and journalism: Dundee Literary Festival.

This year’s festival, which runs from 19 to 23 October, is everything a ten-year-old’s birthday party ought to be: full of surprises, with more than a hint of the sophistication to come but absolutely no intention of giving up on good old fashioned fun any time soon. Here’s a run-down of some of the party highlights we’re most looking forward to.

The invitation

It’d (almost) be worth visiting Dundee just to pick up one of their beautiful programmes. Stroke its soft, matte pages, and enjoy Caitlin Bowbeer’s neatly surreal illustrations. Bowbeer is a graduate from Dundee’s illustration degree and her works offer the perfect example of how the festival and the university, to which it belongs, complement one another: the festival widens its own aesthetic on the occasions that it offers students and graduates the space to spread their creative wings.

The guest list

Accept the invitation and you’re in good company. Dundee has a stellar line-up of writers reading, performing and discussing their work, and the festival offers a refreshing mix of well-known names and insider tips. These include, on the opening day of the festival, Scottish novelist Jenni Fagan, author of The Sunlight Pilgrims and one of Granta’s 2013 Best British Young Novelists. She’ll be appearing alongside Deborah Smith, the award-winning translator of Han Kang's Booker International Prize Winner The Vegetarian, and Han’s protégé, Korean novelist Hwang Jungeun.

On the Thursday, we can look forward to James Kelman – as yet, the only Scottish Man Booker winner – discussing his latest novel, Dirt Road. There’s plenty on offer for poetry lovers too; Liz Lochhead promises a perfect end to the week, performing new and old work to the background of Steve Kettley on saxophone. And if you’re looking to learn something new, legendary poet Don Paterson promises a fascinating insight into Shakespeare’s sonnets. Then again, maybe you should just borrow someone else’s kid and sneak in to Philip Ardagh’s latest instalment about his children's favourite the Grunt family. If anyone asks, you didn’t get that idea from us…

Big Braw Birthday Tea Dance

It wouldn’t be a birthday without a party. And it wouldn’t be a party without a dance. On Saturday 22 October, we’ll be digging out our dancing shoes and heading down to the Bonar Hall for 3pm. Don’t forget to bring two presents: Dundee Literary Festival is celebrating alongside The Broons & Oor Willie, who are turning a magisterial 80 this year. There’ll be a live band for the dancing queens, and tea and cake (cake!) for everyone. And if you find yourself wanting to join those on the dance floor but don’t know your shimmy from your shuffle, there’ll be dancers on hand (or foot?) to help out. Oh, and there’ll be cake. Did we mention the cake?

Sleeping lions: the silent reading party

Dundee Literary Festival has an antidote to the overexcitement that any birthday party – or festival – can induce. Two days into the festival, we’ll be joining other book lovers to curl up with our favourite book and a (preferably uncaffeinated) hot drink in the festival’s edition of Dundee’s monthly silent reading party. Whether you need some time out from the festival frenzy, or really want to finish Amy Liptrot's The Outrun but never seem able to make the time, dig out that dog-eared paperback and come along to Waterstone’s Café W on Thursday 20 October at 7pm. 

Party bags: Sinéad Gleeson and Jan Carson

Short stories can be the overlooked younger sibling of the novel: genius-tinged, devilishly funny or occasionally disturbing. It’s always great to see festivals and publishers sticking up for short stories, so often dwarfed by their muscly bigger brother. At 2pm on Friday 21 October, Dundee Literary Festival not only showcases a genre often overlooked, but also shines a spotlight on the often forgotten history of Irish women writers. 

Editor of anthologies The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore, Sinéad Gleeson has twice now brought together short stories from Irish women writers down the centuries, with emerging talent sitting next to early pioneers of the genre. Alongside her will be Jan Carson, whose first short story collection, Children’s Children is guaranteed to disturb in the most delightful of ways. If you don’t leave this event with a goody bag full of new authors you’re itching to look up, we might just have to forget your invitation next year. (Disclaimer: The Skinny does not recommend the inclusion of short stories by Jan Carson in ten-year-olds’ party bags).

Blowing out the candles

If we could see wishes, then festivals might be aglow with tiny pinpricks of light. This isn’t just due to your growing wish list every time you enter the festival bookshop, or the number of authors you try to fit into your trip: rather, festivals are fertile breeding grounds for dreams. Dundee Literary Festival offers plenty of space to close your eyes and make a wish – and then open them, and start making that wish a reality.

There are workshops on poetry from Lindsay Macgregor and Rody Gorman, masterclasses on comics from illustrating legend Ian Kennedy, and a Create a Comic Workshop for little ‘uns. Fittingly, for a festival which is integrated into the University of Dundee, these few days are as much about taking the space to craft your own words (and pictures) as it is about discovering new worlds through the words of others.

The magician

Every festival has a flavour of its own, and Dundee Literary Festival gains flavour from the town in which it is rooted. The birthplace of the Broons, the Dandy and the Beano is now home to a festival which has honoured comics and illustrations from the start. The city of discovery which sent ships out into the world to return with treasures has retained its international outlook with a festival which invites translators onto the stage on their own terms.

The real magic of any literary festival is that you never quite know what you’re letting yourself in for. The playful programming from Peggy Hughes, the festival director, ensures that, in the case of Dundee Literary Festival, the confetti is flung particularly far and wide. “I quite like surprising people,” Hughes explains – and surprises are at the heart of the festival programme. We see this in the imaginative format of events: traditional readings sit alongside parties, puppetry and pop-up libraries. Then there’s the element of literature by stealth: books and comics are slipped into the most unexpected of places. This might be the middle of a dance floor, a one-time warship, or vending machine that churns out zines, not sweets.