Silver City Stories: Granite Noir 2024

After reviewing Bloody Scotland in Stirling and Newcastle Noir in 2023, where I had a wonderful time, I was excited to add another crime writing festival to my list: Granite Noir in Aberdeen, which has been around since 2017.

While I missed a few big names, such as David Suchet and Sophie Hannah, earlier in the week, a long weekend in the Granite city gave me enough time to really immerse myself into the many fun festival happenings. Aberdeen might be located in the north east of the country, but I was pleasantly surprised how many audience members had made their way to the events from all over the UK and even as far as Canada.

My festival Friday started at the Lemon Tree with authors Kate Simants, Lauren James and  Oisín McGann discussing a hopeful approach to climate change writing and its impact on the world. Next were Catherine Kirwan from Cork and Ruth Mancini from London, who both juggle a successful legal career with one in crime writing. In the evening I headed over to the Music Hall for an incredibly entertaining panel with Denise Mina, Louise Welsh and Charles Cumming (pic above) whose latest books are set in fifteenth-century Florence, a Scottish university campus and the world of international espionage respectively.

Saturday was a busy festival day starting with an intriguing session with ‘bold new voices’ Adam Oyebanji, Briar Ripley Page and Maud Woolf. After a relaxed lunch with local friends I was back at the Lemon Tree for ‘Mysteries in Time Gone By’ with ES Thompson (1850s), Ajay Close (1970s) and Phil Miller (1990s). In the late afternoon it was time for an Icelandic Noir panel with Corylus Books authors Sólveig Pálsdóttir and Óskar Guðmundsson. It was great to see a translated fiction panel at the festival as it is clearly popular with readers plus there are several awards in the UK, such as the Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger Award and the Petrona Award.

I then headed over to the Music Hall for a fascinating session with Glasgow-based crime writer Alex Gray interviewing Marie Cassidy, former Irish state pathologist turned crime writer. One of my favourite events of the weekend was the thought-provoking ‘night-time noir’ panel at the Lemon Tree with Scottish BPOC writers network’s Amira Al Shanti, Katalina Watt, Zebib K. Abraham and Amanda Ajomale (pic below) speaking about their writing and interests, including speculative fiction, horror, mythology and folklore.

Way too soon it was the last festival day, but Sunday had another packed programme of events in store for us starting with ‘The Queen of Codes’, a biography of codebreaker extraordinaire and distinguished musicology translator Emily Anderson by Irish writer and historian Dr. Jackie Uí Chionna. Having seen Jean Kwok and Emma Christie at Newcastle Noir last December, it was wonderful to get another opportunity to have them on a panel together (pic below) and hear more about how their life stories inform their writing.

Another Sunday highlight, the award winners panel with Callum McSorley (McIllvanney Prize 2023), Sophie White (Shirley Jackson Award 2023) and DV Bishop (CWA Historical Dagger 2023), gave us an insight into what winning a prize means for the authors receiving it. The festival’s closing event with Lisa Jewell (pic below) had been moved to a larger venue, the Music Hall, due to exceptional demand and it was fantastic to see how popular writing events, and crime writing in particular, currently are in Scotland and the UK. All the festival venues I attended had friendly, dedicated staff and the Lemon Tree and the Music Hall had their own cafes, so it was easy to connect with other festival-goers.

While the festival provided plenty of food for thought and reading material for months to come, it would have been criminal (excuse the pun) to not also enjoy the fantastic February weather and venture out for a couple of walks to the beach and the Cruickshank Botanical Garden. They are both walking distance from the city centre and made for a welcome break from the bustling writing events.

In a world where things are going more and more digital, it is so heartening to see venues filled with lively crowds of book lovers and readers meeting their favourite authors, getting books signed and a chance to ask them questions in person. So if you need any excuse for a late winter weekend away, you certainly won’t regret travelling to Aberdeen. The silver city not only offers a host of museums, green spaces, a large beachfront and plenty of enticing restaurants and cafes to enjoy. It is also home to outstanding cultural events, such as Granite Noir, which is bound to go from strength to strength given the ever-increasing popularity of crime fiction in the UK and around the world.

Disclaimer: Life is a Festival was provided with review tickets for the festival events. Ⓒ Photography by Richard Frew Photography & Film (Louise Welsh panel, night-time noir panel, Lisa Jewell) and by Life is a Festival (food, Jean Kwok/Emma Christie, beach).

Crime Writing in the Toon: Newcastle Noir 2023

After having had such a ball at Bloody Scotland in Stirling in September, I had a look at other upcoming crime writing festivals and discovered Newcastle Noir, which took place from 6 until 9 December 2023 at Newcastle Central Library. This gave me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to return to Newcastle, one of my favourite UK cities (tips for a visit in this post).

Almost all of the events took place at the Newcastle Central Library, a huge modern building in the city centre. The first festival session on Thursday night was dedicated to the elements that make a successful crime novel with writers Robert Rutherford, Christie J Newport and Henry Sutton, followed by a discussion on the real-life forensics involved in crime writing with experts Helen Pepper and Lorna Dawson, and a panel on creating engaging female characters with Jean Kwok, Louise Swanson and Helen Erichsen (pic below).

Friday’s events didn’t start until the early evening, so I joined a fellow attendee at a random, but fun experience, a Gregg’s ‘bistro‘ pop-up at Fenwick’s department store (they did a surprisingly great vegan breakfast). The rest of the afternoon was spent with a charity shop crawl, strolling through the Christmas market, saying hi to the ‘vampire rabbit’ and stopping by my favourite place in Newcastle, the Lit & Phil library.

When it was finally time for Friday evening’s festival talks, they started with bloody murder – well, on the page, with authors Sam Holland, Michael Wood and Alison Belsham discussing what draws us to crime fiction and the dark world of serial killers and other unsavoury characters. This was followed by a Bloody Scotland panel (already can’t wait for next year!) with writers Callum McSorley (2023 McIlvanney Prize winner), Fulton Ross, Heather Critchlow and Kate Foster (pic below). This night’s closing event was a conversation between Ann Cleeves and Marsali Taylor (pic after next) on their time living on and writing about Shetland. Afterwards a good few of us made our way over to the Tyneside Irish Centre for a super fun festival fringe event. The Northern Crime Writing Syndicate authors, together with a very lively audience, dreamed up a ‘bestseller’ on the spot. Its thrilling title: Killing With Purpoise. Definitely one you’ll want to pre-order.

Saturday was a packed festival day with no less than ten sessions plus a writing workshop. It started out with Mari Hannah and Kate London in conversation, followed by Writing Elsewhere with Crime Cymru Welsh Crime Writing Collective Philip Gwynne Jones and Chris Lloyd and their books set in far-flung locations, such as Venice and 1940s wartime Paris. Another Scottish panel was up next with Caledonian Crime Collective representatives Emma Christie, Marion Todd, Andrew James Greig and Allan Martin discussing a vast range of subgenres, from psychological thrillers to eco-crime. The Feel the Chill session on fiction with a gothic twist and an icy chill included multi-talented writers Michael J Malone (also a hypnotherapist), Essie Fox (also an illustrator) and Katrín Júlíusdóttir (who used to be Icelandic Minister of Finance).

At lunchtime I joined an hour-long creative writing workshop with Scotland-based author Sandra Ireland, who offers various writing courses on- and offline throughout the year. We worked on exercises creating chilling settings and developing believable characters in a friendly, encouraging small-group environment. After a short break it was time for Spooks and Sleuths with novelists Chris Merritt, Mick Finlay and Robert Craven followed by historical crime fiction with Bridget Walsh, Kate Griffin, Fiona Veitch Smith and their stories of murders in a Victorian music hall, 1920s Newcastle and 1840s ‘governess gothic’. The panel on Criminal Diversity with Antonia Lassa, Kitty Murphy, D V Bishop and Emma Styles was also very interesting featuring a gender-fluid private investigator, the Dublin drag scene, young women in the Outback and a 16^th century Venice court officer. Too Close to Home with Lisa Gray, Victoria Selman and LV Matthews focused on evil lurking in places all too familiar to us (and was recorded to appear on the Crime Time podcast). The Newcastle crime fiction marathon Saturday closed with a Criminal Visions panel with speculative eco-thriller writers Paul Hardisty from Australia and Eve Smith from the UK and went to show that crime writing as a genre can really encompass the whole spectrum of human experience and concerns.

As with Bloody Scotland, there were lots of published and aspiring writers in the festival audience and the authors on the panels certainly had some great writing tips for anyone looking to get published. Here are some of my favourites:

• Just get it written, finish the first draft, then go polish it until every word sings and has its place
• Don’t get too bogged down in research, instead leave notes in the margins and get back to them later
• Everyone is different, find your own process and trust it
• Start your book with something that grabs the reader’s attention and sets the scene
• Don’t be too precious about your work and cut the unnecessary paragraphs or scenes in your edits in order to improve it
• Write every day during a time that works for you
• Detail is good, but don’t overwhelm people with it
• Police procedure can be a great way to create time pressure and pace
• Both good and bad characters need nuances to be believable
• If you’re writing characters from another country, work with a copy editor to get the linguistic details right
• If you’re stuck for ideas, think of what your hero would least like to happen and write that
• Getting away from your desk and going for a walk can really help with getting creative ideas
• Ask yourself ‘what if…?’ as a starting point, e.g. what if a body is found…?
• Be aware that the book you start out with will be a vastly different thing from the one you end up with

I really enjoyed my first experience at Newcastle Noir. There was a huge variety of authors writing in different subgenres present, not only from all corners of the UK, but also from various other countries. The central location of the venue was perfect as it was walking distance to everything. The panels were expertly and entertainingly chaired, I just wish there had been time for at least a few short readings. So whether you’re a published or aspiring author, a book blogger or avid reader, it’s a very friendly festival where you can meet lots of likeminded folks, get books signed and most definitely come away inspired to write and read (even) more.

Disclaimer: All photography Ⓒ Life is a Festival. 

Once Upon A Time in the West End: Byres Road Book Festival 2023

This year I finally managed to dedicate more time to Byres Road Book Festival (21-24 September 2023), which it fully deserves as the festival had an impressive number of events for all ages and from various genres: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and even TV adaptations. The free to attend festival started in 2017 and is organised by the Byres Road & Lanes Business Improvement District and their partners Glasgow Life, Waterstones, the Gaelic Books Council and Oxfam. Festival venues include Hillhead Library, the Byres Road Oxfam shop, the Waterstones bookshop, Oran Mor and the Ubiquitous Chip. 

The opening event on Thursday night was with Scottish historical fiction author Sally Magnusson (pic above) on her new novel Music in the Dark, which vividly brings to life the time of the Highland Clearances. Both the reading and the discussion chaired by Glasgow writer Sarah Smith were intriguing and I love how historical fiction, while characters are of course inventions of the author, can almost be like a portal into the past and unearth a lot of hidden history.

I next managed to make it to the festival on Saturday, which had a fantastic and varied line-up. First up was a talk by academic, author and singer Alasdair Whyte from the island of Mull on Glasgow’s Gaelic Place-Names. We learned that Gaelic had been a community language in the city for around a thousand years and that the names of many local places have roots in the language. Whyte also performed a beautiful short rendition of a Gaelic song for the festival audience.

Having not experienced a live event with Coinneach MacLeod, aka The Hebridean Baker, before, I finally understood what all the hype was about. You didn’t even have to have an interest in baking (but who doesn’t or at least enjoy eating homemade baked goods!), his stories of island life on Lewis were incredibly entertaining and the cook book signing queue unsurprisingly long. He had even brought along some shortbread for us to try – don’t mind if I do!

Sunday was another packed day for me starting with a writing workshop by author and architect David F. Ross chaired by podcaster Alistair Braidwood (pic above). While there wasn’t enough time for participants to actually put pen to paper, all the essential ingredients of good writing were discussed, from creating memorable characters to giving the readers a reason to care about them.

The rest of the afternoon was spent upstairs at the Ubiquitous Chip down the road listening to Ringwood Books true crime writers Tom Wood and Allan Nicol (pic above) talk about their books and the cases they were based on. This event was fascinating as the authors had worked in the criminal justice system in the past and shared many details about their research into the historical crimes the books were based on.

The final event of the weekend for me was also the most remarkable (pic below). Author Andrew O’Hagan was in discussion with screenwriter Andrea Gibb and Claire Mundell, producer of Synchronicity Films, on their collaboration to create the TV adaptation of his novel Mayflies. Part of the session was a reading from Mayflies, a reading from the screenplay and a short excerpt of the film. In a time when AI seems to be threatening many roles in the creative industries, it was incredibly inspiring to hear how talent and teamwork can combine so impressively.

Alas, I missed most of the poetry events and some other great-sounding sessions, due to clashes and prior commitments, but everything I attended was informative and entertaining and gave me lots of new writing ideas. I also loved the enthusiasm of the festival volunteers and the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere at all the events.

As Byres Road Book Festival takes place in the heart of the West End of Glasgow, it is the perfect excuse for a weekend in Scotland’s largest city, browse the many local shops, visit the nearby Botanics or enjoy a cocktail in one of the cosy bars and cafes.

Disclaimer: All pictures taken by and used by kind permission of the photographers, Jamie Williamson (first picture, Sally Magnusson) and Robert Perry (all others).

Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival 2023

I had heard lots of good things about Bloody Scotland before, but nothing prepared me for just how fantastic this weekend actually is. It somehow manages to be an event for readers and book bloggers to meet their favourite authors while also being a get-together for both established and aspiring authors, publishers, agents and anyone in between. The festival weekend is centred around The Golden Lion Hotel in the middle of Stirling, which is a great place to spend time at or in between talks, buy the latest books by festival authors and hang out with other attendees and speakers, all in a lively, super welcoming environment. The other two main venues, The Albert Halls and Trinity Church plus the Central Library weren’t too far away either, so it was easy to switch between them.

The festival programme was one of the most intriguing and packed I have ever been to (and I’ve been to a lot as most of you know). At times, there were up to four sessions on at the same time, so it was impossible to not feel you were missing out on something. However, absolutely every event I attended was so good, I ended up just mixing and matching different themes and events with new authors and others with long-established ones. The panels often had up to three authors plus excellent chairs (who can make or break a good talk) and echoed the general relaxed feeling of the festival, which allowed for lively, humorous and often incredibly fascinating discussions.

There were truly too many highlights to mention, but here are a few that particularly stuck in my mind:

• Lin Anderson’s session with guests soil forensics specialist Professor Lorna Dawson, forensic pathologist Dr. James Grieve and advocate Donald Findlay KC (the last two being clearly each other’s nemeses, which made for the most hilarious session of the whole weekend!)
• The appearance of some great Nordic Noir authors, such as Thomas Enger, Heidi Amsinck, Joern Lier Horst and Karin Smirnoff (pic above)
• Lots of talks with newer or debut authors, which all proved super fascinating with many good tips being shared and my reading list getting longer by the hour, including Lucy Clarke, Karen Hamilton, Sarah Clarke, Will Dean, Amy McCulloch, Catherine Cooper, Jo Callaghan, Martin Griffin, Fulton Ross, Alex Hay and many more
• There were also plenty of well-known authors in attendance, such as Val McDermid, Mick Herron (pic below), Liz Nugent, Adele Parks, Lisa Jewell, Denise Mina (pic above) and Chris Brookmyre
• A fascinating session on travellers and showpeople in fiction with William Hussey, Graham Bartlett and Tina Baker
• From the Inside Out with Dr. Shahed Yousaf and James McIntyre talking life behind bars, inequalities and gangland crimes

For those not able to attend the festival in person, there was a digital pass with many of the sessions being live-streamed during the weekend plus a whole day of masterclasses on the Friday for those wanting to get stuck into the nitty-gritty of crime writing themselves.

The prize-giving events were also really fun. The Debut Prize went to Kate Foster for The Maiden (historical crime fiction, yeah) and the McIlvanney Prize to Callum McSorley for Squeaky Clean. Shane McGinley from Ireland, who had actually travelled all the way from Dubai to get to the festival, won the Pitch Perfect book idea pitching event on Sunday morning, which featured short pitches by 8 authors and was one of my favourite events all weekend as the creativity of the authors and the feedback they received was really interesting learning for anyone into writing.

The festival’s Crime in the Spotlight initiative gives new and emerging published crime authors a chance to shine as they get to take to the stage before some of the official Albert Hall events to read an excerpt from their novels in front of a packed auditorium. This year’s authors included Danielle Devlin, Liza North, Amanda Cassidy and Sarah Clayton.

As I was travelling to Stirling from Glasgow each day, I sadly missed out on most of the fun late evening events, such as the Crime at the Coo night of song, poetry, comedy and more, The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers gig and the CrimeMaster gameshow with a Bloody Scotland twist. I was glad the traditional torchlight procession was early enough though and it was a sight to behold with the participants’ lit torches illuminating the path from Stirling Castle to the Albert Halls led by the Stirling and District Schools Pipe Band.

From discussing TV adaptations of their works, to practical writing tips on getting published and learning from rejections, it was a weekend full of writing inspiration in a lovely small Scottish city with many great little cafes and shops to explore in between the events. Even if crime is not your preferred genre, anyone with even the slightest interest in reading, books and publishing should get a huge deal out of attending this event and come away filled with renewed enthusiasm.

P.S. The yearly crime writers football match in King’s Park may have finished with a 12:3 score for Scotland against England, but whatever the outcome, Bloody Scotland is a win-win for absolutely everyone attending, so you’d better put next year’s dates in your diary right now!

Disclaimer: Life is a Festival was provided with review tickets for the festival events. All photography Ⓒ Life is a Festival.

How to Make the Best of Your Visit to Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival 2023

Scotland’s much loved Bloody Scotland festival will be taking place again from 15-17 September 2023 in Stirling and far from being a stuffy event, it has actually been described as “the literary festival where you can let down your hair and enjoy a drink at the bar with your favourite crime writer”.

All the author events are easily reachable on foot as they take place in central locations around Stirling, such as the Albert Halls, the Central Library, Trinity Church and the Golden Lion Hotel and most venues are fully accessible for wheelchair users while BSL interpreting will be provided on request (email info@bloodyscotland.com for any specific queries). While the festival allows you to meet many bestselling authors of the genre, I would highly recommend you also get to know the newest talents during the Bloody Scotland debut prize reading or Alex Gray’s New Crimes event. If you fancy giving crime writing a go yourself, Friday’s online masterclasses are an excellent choice.

What makes Bloody Scotland truly stand out though as far as I’m concerned, is its exciting programme of creative fringe events, which are popular with locals and visitors alike. From the traditional Torchlight Procession (pic below) on the opening night, the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers concert with festival authors to the crime writers’ take on the football rivalry between Scotland and England to win the Bloody Cup in King’s Park plus True Crime Walking Tours there are plenty of fun activities to keep you busy all weekend.

Festival board member Craig Robertson also had some excellent tips in the latest festival newsletter:

“If this is your first visit to Bloody Scotland and you’re wondering how to get the best out of the weekend, my advice is to pick out a few panels and authors you definitely want to see and work your schedule around those. Remember to leave time to eat and drink, to chat with other readers and explore Stirling a bit. There will be tickets available across the weekend so if you fancy adding to your itinerary, you can do that. You’ll be in the company of authors and other book lovers, so you can trust that you’re among friends. Just have a great time.”

So if you haven’t got any plans for this September weekend yet, or even if you do, check out the Bloody Scotland programme, pick an event or more that take your fancy and join the many other booklovers in Stirling for chilling fiction, sparkling conversations and drinks in a chilled atmosphere. And in case Stirling is a little too far to travel for you, there is no need to worry, as you can also live-stream many events online via the digital festival pass option from anywhere in the world.

Disclaimer: All pictures provided by and used by kind permission of Bloody Scotland Festival/Paul Reich.

Celebrating the Arts in the Highlands: Nairn Book & Arts Festival 2023

After having had such a great time at Speyfest earlier in the summer, I was excited to head back north at the end of August for Nairn Book & Arts Festival (30th August – 3rd September 2023), a long-established and much-loved festival with a wide-ranging programme of author talks, writing workshops, film and theatre, live music, art exhibitions, guided tours plus a large variety of family-oriented community arts events.

Getting to Nairn by public transport was quite straightforward, a train or bus to Inverness and then another shorter bus trip to the friendly Highland town with the most stunning seaside location. Once I arrived on Friday afternoon, I headed straight to the Nairn Community and Arts Centre, which functions as the festival hub and also had a fabulous exhibition of paintings mostly by local artists Mary and John Wilson. The festival team was a super friendly bunch of mainly locals and mostly volunteers, who clearly all care greatly about their local arts scene and welcoming people to their town.

The first event I caught was a discussion with Murray Pittock, Professor of Literature at the University of Glasgow, based on his new book ‘Scotland: The Global History,’ which examines the role of Scotland and Scottishness within the country and in an international context. A little later, I attended Chitra Ramaswamy’s (pic below) talk about her award-winning creative non-fiction book ‘Homelands: The History of a Friendship,’ an intriguing story about her friendship with Henry Wuga, a now 99-year-old German Jewish refugee, and dealing with topics of migration, racism and belonging among others. In the evening, I headed to The Bandstand hotel and pub for a live session with The Fonsecas band.

My Saturday morning started with a sunny walk along Nairn beach down to the little harbour. While I didn’t spot dolphins or basking sharks, which had been regular visitors recently, I met a lot of dogwalkers and other friendly locals. On the way back, I popped into another art exhibition and art boot sale at the WASPS Links Studios. The rest of the morning was spent in a most fascinating bilingual Gaelic and English talk and reading with author Ruairidh MacIlleathain (pic below). We had a really lively discussion afterwards and it just went to show how important it is to promote bilingualism and language learning in a variety of cultural contexts. This session was followed by a screening of Dùthchas, a beautiful documentary portraying life on the Hebridean island of Berneray through archive footage and interviews in Gaelic and English.

In the afternoon, I caught some of the ‘Wine & Crime’ talks, the first of which was with the very popular and really entertaining JD Kirk (pic below), who started out as a children’s author and is now a successful crime writer for adults, publisher and screenwriter. Next up was well-known Glasgow fiction and non-fiction author Douglas Skelton whose historical fiction novel ‘A Thief’s Justice’ revolves around a murder mystery set in 18^th century London.

Mid-afternoon I joined Manchester-based festival writer-in-residence Anitha Sethi and a group of other festival attendees in an enjoyable nature writing ‘walkshop’, which involved short bursts of creative writing while going on a walk to the nearby harbour together and taking in the sights, sounds and scents of the surrounding area. In the evening, it was time for a live show by popular Scottish comedian Fred McAulay after which I called it a night in order to digest the many exciting experiences and connections made that day.

Way too soon it was my last morning in Nairn, but before I had to catch my bus to Inverness, I joined the ‘On the Wing’ parade (pic above) at Nairn beach, which fitted in nicely with the festival theme of ‘journey’. It was great to see so many people of all ages and backgrounds involved and the handmade silk banners of endangered bird species were especially wonderful to see.

Those of us living in bigger cities, such as Glasgow, might take it for granted to have a large choice of cultural events available to us throughout the year. Putting together great events in smaller towns and villages and finding the funding and volunteers to make them happen can indeed be quite a challenge. Having never been to Nairn before, I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see such a vibrant and welcoming local cultural community. Nairn Books & Arts Festival, which has been going for 20 years this year, is definitely the event for you if you are looking for a relaxing weekend by the sea (including stunning sunsets like the one pictured below) combined with some top-notch author and other arts events in a stimulating and fun environment.

Disclaimer: Life is a Festival was provided with review tickets for the festival events. All photography Ⓒ Life is a Festival.

Booklovers Make Glasgow: Aye Write & Wee Write 2023

I’m glad I had made it back to Scotland from my travels just in time to catch the tail end of Aye Write Festival (19-28 May 2023) as it’s always full of inspiring talks with authors from Scotland and further afield. This year Glasgow’s annual book festival took place in its usual home at the Mitchell library as well as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (GRCH) in the city centre.

My first event was an interesting pairing of two speculative fiction authors, Eve Smith and Todd Westbrook. Both thrillers, Smith’s ‘One’ and Westbrook’s ‘S6’ are set in a climate future where things are not as they initially seem and sinister governments and dark family secrets threaten the characters’ lives. As Smith pointed out, however, while speculative fiction deals of course with an imagined future, we are not that far removed today from many of the scientific developments mentioned in her novel, which makes them all the more topical.

What’s so exciting about book festivals is the sheer variety of subjects you can dive into and learn about in a short period of time. Scottish architect and lecturer Roger Emmerson, for instance, gave us a brief overview of his book ‘Land of Stone – a journey through modern architecture in Scotland’. Charting the history of mostly contemporary Scottish architecture and its main influences along the way, he outlined what makes Scottish architecture Scottish, the ideas shaping its past and present and, ultimately, what contribution these buildings are making to Scottish culture as a whole.

English Comedian, broadcaster and author Robin Ince presented his book Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive’s Tour of the Bookshops of Britain (pic above), a pandemic project during which he visited over a hundred bookshops in the UK. From the minute Ince got on stage, he took us on a whirlwind tour of his many bookish interests and pointed out how valuable indie bookshops are for our communities. Hear, hear!

Another session I attended was a fantastic ‘Ones to Watch’ event with three debut crime writers, Alice Slater, Callum McSorley and Martin Griffin, who each read a short excerpt and talked about their writing process and how they stories came about.

‘Belonging in Nature’ (pic above) was the title of another talk I really enjoyed. Writers Amanda Thomson and Sarah Thomas both wrote memoirs centring around the concept of home, place and identity, one set in Scotland, the other in Iceland.

Rebecca Smith’s book Rural was one of the most intriguing ones I came across at this year’s festival. Charting the sometimes precarious lives of miners, foresters and other people who do not own land and whose housing is often tied to their jobs, we learned a lot about a side of the countryside many of us are not that aware of. The session was also very well chaired by poet Jim Carruth and had one of the best audiences with lots of thoughtful questions and a great atmosphere.

My last Aye Write event for this year was all about ‘Why We Sing and Dance’. Of course, as a festival blogger, this was of particular interest to me as my happy places are often those with lots of singing and dancing. Authors Julia Hollander (‘Why We Sing’) and Emma Warren (‘Dance your Way Home’) both had an infectious love for life and shared many anecdotes with us why both disciplines are so essential for wellbeing. To top it all off, we finished the session by doing a group dance and song around the room, which lifted everyone’s mood and was the perfect closing event to the festival for me.

But wait, there was also Wee Write, of course! On Saturday, 3 June, I volunteered at the Mitchell Library at a day of interactive and creative events for kids of all ages (and those of us who have decided to never grow up!). I had expected it to be fun, but it was even better than I had thought.

First up was a talk about 30 years of Horrible Histories (pic above) with its illustrator, Martin Brown, who did a fun quiz, got the young audience to help him create drawings of giant faces and generally encouraged everyone not to give up on drawing and creativity. This was followed up by story time with George Hoyle for the littlest booklovers, who got to hang out with Little Miss Princess and her friends, sing songs and even ‘make rain’.

Finally, illustrator Tom Morgan Jones (pic above) talked about his career, the workshop attendees got a chance to do some of their own drawings and got some great advice, including entering lots of drawing competitions. There was a really positive buzz all day and it was lovely to see so many young people interested in books, reading and drawing.

Disclaimer: Life is a Festival was provided with review tickets for a number of festival events. All photography Ⓒ Life is a Festival.

Aye Write 2022: Glasgow’s Literature Festival Returns With Stellar Line-up

In March 2020 I had got a message from the Aye Write team that my volunteer shifts had been cancelled due to this new virus that had just been named: Covid-19. A few days later the first lockdown was announced and we all went into full pandemic mode with festivals and events moving completely online, if that was possible at all. Fast forward two years to May 2022 and Glasgow’s Aye Write literature festival was finally back (6 – 22 May) with a packed in-person line-up that more than made up for two years of missing out on live author talks.

I worked two shifts this year, one at the Mitchell Library and the other at Tramway arts centre, in the Southside of the city. Both days had one highlight after another with a varied and super intriguing list of speakers, who all did signings afterwards with readers queueing up eagerly to get their hands on the latest books. Aaaahhh… it was so great to have all the lovely hustle and bustle of an actual book festival back again!

The first event was a roundtable hosted by author Karen Campbell with three first-time authors whose books all sounded really excellent: Kirsty Capes, Louise Nealon & Emily Edwards (see pic above). This was followed by a wonderfully humorous (despite the mostly serious subject matter) talk by ex-police officer Kevin Maxwell discussing his memoir ‘Forced Out’. What an inspiring speaker, who overcame a lot of adversity and meets life’s challenges with such a positive attitude (see pic below).

Next up were author and activist Laura Bates and barrister and writer Harriet Johnson reminding us that we still have a long way to go in terms of ending violence against women. My last event that day was an interview with Jess Phillips on her life as an MP. She might be one of the most outspoken politicians I’ve ever come across and it was refreshing to hear her perspective as a woman navigating the ins and outs of Westminster on a daily basis (resident rodents and flooded bathrooms included).

My second shift covered three fantastic talks at Tramway in the Southside on the last day of the festival. As I arrived early, I spent some time exploring the local oasis that is the Hidden Gardens. I highly recommend grabbing a cuppa from the café and enjoying a bit of peace and calm there and also explore the ever-changing art exhibitions in their large indoor space (both are family- but sadly not dog-friendly, a bit unusual for Glasgow). The first talk was on White Supremacy, Black Lives and Scotland’s Role in the Slave Trade. While this issue has not always had the public attention it should have, it’s good to see more and more scholars and writers discussing it in recent years. A more honest look at our past is surely the main way forward for a future without racism.

Popular Edinburgh-based crime writer Ian Rankin took to the stage next discussing his latest novel ‘The Dark Remains’, turning the manuscript by the late William McIlvanney, seen by many as ‘the godfather of tartan noir’, into a fascinating-sounding read (see pic above). The closing event of the day and also the whole festival was an interview with Sottish writer and rapper Darren McGarvey on his latest book ‘The Social Distance Between Us’. He never fails to eloquently talk about class discrimination in UK society and the book’s mission ‘to place the affluent under the same scrutinous microscope as the poor’ definitely resonated with many in the festival audience.

Of course this was only a tiny portion of the many talks and workshops on offer at this year’s festival. Even if you have not heard of some of the names on the line-up, I highly recommend putting Aye Write in your calendar, so you don’t miss out on any upcoming events.

Disclaimer: All photography Ⓒ Life is a Festival.

Booklovers Unite: Aye Write Festival 2019

When I talk to people who have never been to a book festival about what an exciting experience it is, they often don’t believe me. The truth is, however, that literature festivals capture the experience of any topic worth writing about, which means there is a huge array of events on offer from nature writing to politics, fiction to poetry, geography, history, travel and many, many more.

Aye Write (14-31 March 2019) was founded in 2005 and has since grown steadily as more and more people flock to the festival year after year to meet their favourite authors and to find some exciting new reading material. The two main venues used are the iconic Mitchell Library, one of Europe’s largest reference libraries, and the Royal Concert Hall, both in the city centre of Glasgow. This means that you can easily attend a few events in a row with a nice coffee break in the library or concert hall cafes in between.

Apart from the main venues the festival also offers free events in the community and a special mini festival for younger readers called Wee Write, including an exciting family day on 2 March at the Mitchell Library packed with fun activities and appearances by much-loved authors for all age groups. Workshops for budding writers were also worth signing up for, a series of creative writing workshops from creating believable characters for your first novel to learning how to write poetry. Alas, as is usually the case with larger festivals, there were several events on in both venues at any given time, so it was partly quite tricky to decide which events to go for.

After attending just a handful Aye Write 2018 events last year when I wasn’t living in Glagow yet, I managed to fit in four volunteer shifts beside my day job this time around. One was the opening night of the festival with one of my favourite sessions this year: a sold out reading and talk by Gina Miller, which took place in the RCH (see pic above). While her appearances on TV and radio tend to be on serious political topics, the festival talk was a chance to meet the person behind the news. We learned that death threats and racial and sexual abuse are sadly not uncommon when you stand up for what you believe in. However, having been inspired early on by her solicitor father her memoir ‘Rise’ is an inspiring account of how overcoming obstacles definitely makes us stronger.

On Sunday 17 March I was scheduled for helping out in the Green Room, welcoming authors and making sure they had everything they needed. While I only managed to attend one event that afternoon, it was a pretty intriguing one. Writer Stephen Millar and photographer Allan McCreadie set out to portray the ‘Tribes of Glasgow’ and came across many subcultures I had no idea existed in my new home city, including pagans, cosplayers and many other colourful groups and clubs.

My next time at the festival was on 30 March, the last weekend with another bumper list of happenings. I was back at the Mitchell Library and the first event sounded interesting as psychoanalyst and professor of modern literary at Goldsmiths University spoke about his book ‘Not Working: Why We Have to Stop’. Alas, with only an hour available, we hardly got past hearing about his main theory about the reasons for burnout and giving inactivity a higher value in order to live a more fulfilled existence. But I guess taking that one hour out of a busy schedule for such an event already constitutes a healthy awareness on the advantages of taking stock of our wellbeing.

I also dropped into two other events that day, one was an illustrated talk by photographer Alex Boyd on his book ‘St Kilda: The Silent Islands’ a 21^st century perspective on past and present in such a beautiful and remote place with dramatic landscapes. Another was a talk by nuclear submarine officer Eric Thompson giving a first-hand experience of working on a British nuclear submarine in his book ‘On Her Majesty’s Nuclear Service’. The event was well attended by both female and male festival goers, and, speaking to a few of them, most had a personal connection to the topic through family members working in the field or simply an interest in British history. My last event that day was the first fiction reading for me this year. Irish author Donal Ryan spoke eloquently and humorously about his experience writing ‘From a Low and Quiet Sea’, a story both set in war-torn Syria and small-town Ireland.

31 March was the last day of the festival and I was based at the RCH for it. STV news correspondent Mike Edwards discussed his book ‘The Road Home’ an unusual road trip visiting five places named Inverness in the USA, who were all very different in size and character. The other event had an even more local connection. Emily Cutts, a Glasgow campaigner telling us of her lengthy but eventually successful struggle against a housing development in North Kelvin Meadow, known as ‘The Children’s Wood’. The book is called ‘The Dear Wild Place’ and I’m looking forward to reading it. I was amazed at the resilience, positivity and sheer determination of her and the entire community who managed to save this green space through strategic collaboration with other local organisations, businesses and individuals in a constructive way, which is truly inspiring.

If you’d like to volunteer for Aye Write in the future, keep an eye on their website a couple of months before the next festival happens. The shifts I did were between 4 and 6 hours long, which covered about two to three events. You work along other motivated booklovers and we were provided with some coffee and sandwich vouchers to keep us going throughout a busy day.

Sense of Place: Aye Write Festival Glasgow 2018

When I left Glasgow in January after another excellent Celtic Connections Festival (see previous blog post) I was looking for a reason to return sometime soon. Luckily, Aye Write, which I’d had my eye on for quite a while, was taking place from 15-25 March 2018, so it was the perfect excuse to hop on a train back to Scotland.

I only had a couple of days to get a taste of the festival, but it was well worth it. All events I attended were fantastic with intriguing guests and cheerful, helpful staff and volunteers at every venue. Glasgow is one of the friendliest cities in the UK, so you’ll have a great time no matter whether you’re travelling on your own or with friends. Plus, all the city centre festival venues are walking distance from each other and you can do some sightseeing before or after the events.

The first session I attended was in the Strathclyde Suite of the Royal Concert Hall. It was a celebration of Orain Ileach: Gaelic Songs of Islay, a brand new collection of songs from the Scottish island. The large room had more of a conference venue feel to it, but as soon as the two choirs, including the Glasgow Islay Gaelic Choir, and various solo singers got up on stage, it was almost like being back at Celtic Connections. Speakers included Ishbel MacTaggart from Islay, Kenneth Thomson, the conductor of Scotland’s oldest Gaelic choir, Ceòlraidh Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, and Lynn McDonald, the editor of the book. I absolutely loved learning more about how musical traditions are actively being kept alive on the Scottish islands and are actually thriving through community efforts and engaging the younger generations as well.

The event which followed was completely different, but equally intriguing. Sarah Winman, author of Tin Man, who I’d last seen at a reading in Vancouver several yeas ago when she was promoting her bestselling first novel, When God Was A Rabbit, and Gail Honeyman, who lives in Glasgow and whose first novel Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was an instant success. The two novelists were interviewed by another author, Zoe Venditozzi, and the hour allotted for their conversation just flew by. I was particularly intrigued by Gail mentioning that she wanted her novel to be set in Glasgow as she felt it is an immensely kind city, but often isn’t portrayed that way, which really struck a chord with me as I’ve also come to love Glasgow for that very reason.

On Tuesday night I headed down to the Glasgow Film Theatre, a beautiful historic cinema in the heart of the city for a talk by Nick Triplow, author of Getting Carter, followed by a screening of the classic 1971 British crime movie. While the film had been a cult classic since the 1970s, the author of the book it was based on (Jack’s Return Home), Ted Lewis, remained an elusive character with a mostly troubled and tragically short life. I was in the minority of people on the night who had not seen the film before and must admit, it will not become one of my all time favourites. I can see its appeal to others, however, and very much enjoyed the interview with Nick Triplow, who had to overcome various obstacles in order to get this fascinating life story researched and published.

My last day at the festival also included lots of crime writing. I was at the Mitchell Library for two sessions, which each featured three crime writers, all new to me, and, as it turned out, all with very different writing styles and subject matters. I’m not a reader of crime novels ( just yet), but have been a big fan of crime drama since someone recommended ‘Shetland’ to me a few years ago, so was looking forward to getting an overview of the latest publications.

Both talks on the night included short readings from all authors, which gave us a real flavour of their style, subject matter and sense of humour. The main thing all of them had in common was how much real life influenced a lot of their writing. Either things that had happened to them personally or to people close to them or issues they deeply cared about. Ex-police woman Clare Mackintosh writes about ordinary people who deal with extraordinary circumstances in their lives, for instance an apparent suicide of both parents of the main character in her latest book Let Me Lie. Former news reporter and political correspondent Sarah Vaughan wrote Anatomy of a Scandal centering around a husband being accused of a terrible crime while serial killers and obsessive personalities are the topics ex-journalist Fiona Cummins successfully focuses on.

The last session with Claire MacLeary, whose two female detectives ‘of a certain age’ are definitely some of the most quirky characters you will come across in the world of crime fiction, as well as Owen Mullen and academic and former solicitor Angus MacAllister centered around a sense of place and a connection to Glasgow. All three authors are either from the Scottish city or have lived there at some point and wrote books set there and had lots of fascinating anecdotes on their research and writing process for their novels.

During my whole time at the festival I tried to avoid sneaking a look at the pages in the programme with all the many tempting sounding events I was inevitably missing and everyone I met seemed to have a great time at the readings they attended. Apart from the main programme, Aye Write also includes a children’s festival, Wee Write, with lots of exciting events for all ages, as well as a number of complementary sessions, such as creative writing classes. It’s a book festival which reflects the city it takes place in: it’s down to earth and warm-hearted with a great sense of humour!

Disclaimer: Life is a Festival was provided with review tickets for select events. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Photography used in this blog post was taken by Life is a Festival with the exception of the Orain Ileach book cover photo.