All's Right at Aye Write!

Glasgow’s annual Aye Write! Book festival will take place this year from Friday the 5th to Saturday the 13th of March, and as always it will be held in The Mitchell Library, an obviously great setting for authors and their work.

Some of the big names appearing are sold out already – Germaine Greer, Brian Keenan, William Boyd, Carol Ann Duffy and Tom Leonard for example. Leonard and Duffy will also be appearing at the tribute event for Liverpudlian poet Adrian Mitchell on the 6th of March, and if you’re a fan of Mitchell’s work, there are still tickets available. In fact, there are plenty of great events still available, as there always are in events of this size. A couple of very promising events are quite similar: The Strathclyde University Writing Showcase, a chance to see readings by the best new creative writers from that venerable institution is on the 6th of March. What I imagine is the natural enemy of that event, The Glasgow University Writing Showcase, is at the other end of the programme (do they have to be separated to avoid fighting?) on the 13th of March. They’re both free events - so go to both and see who’s better!

Other events of note include the now-traditional Scottish Poetry Slam Championship Final, held at 9pm on the 5th of March, which is always an entertaining evening. Then there’s the Gutter Magazine Showcase on the 6th of March, a chance to hear readings from contributors to Scotland’s newest literary periodical, and fans of new Scottish writing will also want to check out Suhayl Saadi reading from and discussing his new book Joseph’s Box on the 7th of March. Also on the 7th of March, historian Paul Preston will be speaking about his book ‘We Saw Spain Die’, about journalism during the Spanish Civil War - a follow up to the popular event on that conflict last year. The no-doubt soon to sell out David Dimbleby will feature in an event on the 9th of March, based around his book of the TV series Seven Ages of Britain – book now to have a chance of getting a ticket.

The always sparky Louise Welsh will launch her new book Naming the Bones on the 10th of March, and another crime writer, Denise Mina, will feature with the exceptionally talented writer and artist Bryan Talbot as they discuss their work on Graphic Novels on the 12th. Or you might want to check out an event on at the same time when Dan Rhodes (author of Little Hands Clapping, who we interviewed last month) and Alan Bissett (author of Death of a Ladies Man, and ‘Falkirk Personality of the Year’, it is said) appear together. And there’s much more besides… grab a programme and get yourself to an event, because if there isn’t something to interest you at Aye Write, you’re either not a reader or dead inside – which amounts to the same thing. [Keir Hind]