Keeping It Irregular

Irregular is a literary club night, which runs, yes, irregularly, and is put on by Canongate publishing. Canongate’s Francis Bickford told us, “When we started Irregular in 2009 we wanted to host the kind of club that we couldn't find in the city at the time, something that brought together books and performers in an after-hours way. Edinburgh's Yellow Café from the 1990s and London's Bookslam were definite inspirations, places where you could hear writers, poets and musicians in a relaxed environment, with a drink by your side, and then maybe have a dance afterwards.” This spirit that informs Irregular will now be coming to the Spiegeltent.

Authors confirmed so far include Dan Rhodes, a “literary genius, and ex-stand-up comedian,” according to Francis, and John Wray, writer of the acclaimed Lowboy and one of Granta’s “Best of Young American Novelists”. “Our compere will be in the form of a foul-mouthed Gary Glitter-meets-Alan Ginsberg performance poet, Dave Peron (aka Glasgow's Innes Smith)” Francis says, and he also promises “some hot debuts and some veteran acts that we're keeping close to our chest”. He’s very positive about the festival too. “We're also extremely excited to be joining the programme now that Nick Barley has taken over,” he says. “He seems really keen to build on the festival's strengths, as well as make it more dynamic, opening the festival to a less, er, silver-topped, demographic”. Er, yes. If you haven’t caught an Irregular before, get yourself to this one – it’s highly recommended. [Johnny Chess]