Dundee Literary Festival 2012 - Saturday 27th October

27
Oct

Joan Lennon

11am

Joan Lennon’s Slightly Jones series are delightful mysteries that all take place in famous museums, so where better to hear her read than in the Victorian gallery at the McManus museum? Joan Lennon was born in Canada but now lives and writes in Fife where she has a husband, four tall sons and one short cat. This event is suitable for children 8+.

27
Oct

Jeremy Bowen

11am

Jeremy Bowen has been the BBC’s Middle East correspondent for twelve years and has been on the ground for them as the recent revolutions have swept through the region. His book The Arab Uprisings captures the thoughts and feelings of the people involved as the events unfolded, putting these revolutions in their political context, and using them as a prism through which to understand the broader history and landscape of the Middle East. This is an urgent and authoritative account of the seismic political changes rocking the Middle East, from one of the foremost reporters of our time.

27
Oct

Sally Magnusson & Norman Stone

12 noon

Horace the Haggis, homeless and hunted, finds refuge among the animals of Acre Valley. But Angus McPhee, chief of the haggis-hunters, and his deadly cat are out to trap him. Can a flower-eating fox, a loyal mouse, a gossipy rook, two magpies on Twitter and the bumbling efforts of the Mole Patrol help Horace escape before he is caught in a net and boiled for dinner? Join Sally and Norman as they present an interactive show based on the book where the exploits of Horace and his friends will have you laughing one minute and on the edge of your seat the next. Suitable for children 6 -10 years old.

27
Oct

A Poem and a Piece

Alan Spence

1pm

Alan Spence, author of poetry, novels, short stories and plays, was born in Glasgow. As a poet, Alan has made zestful use of haiku in Glasgow Zen, Seasons of the Heart, Clear Light and Morning Glory. He uses the haiku form to explore the essential paradox of life, discovering timelessness in cycles of changes, immanence in the finite, simplicity in the intricate.

27
Oct

Liz Lochhead

2pm

During her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that ‘when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I were a playwright, I’d like to be a poet in the theatre.’ We are very pleased to welcome the Scots Makar to Dundee for this special event based around her book A Choosing: The Selected Poems of Liz Lochhead.

27
Oct

Gillian Philip

2pm

Following her best-selling books Firebrand and Bloodstone, Wolfsbane is the third in the prize-winning Rebel Angels series of fantasy novels.

Gillian Philip lives in the north of Scotland with her husband, twins, three dogs, two sociopathic cats, a slayer hamster, three chickens and a lot of nervous fish.

Suitable for children 11+.

27
Oct

Running Event

Geoff & Ben Beattie & Phil Hewitt

3pm

Why do we run? The simple answer might be to get fit and lose a few pounds but as you’ll see from this session the answer to that question may be a lot more complicated.

Geoffrey Beattie is an extremely successful academic and celebrity psychologist whose obsession with his career and his driving passion for running when he was at home almost destroyed his relationship with his son, but, ironically, it is running that has brought them back together.

Chasing Lost Times is the emotional story of a father and son trying to repair a relationship through a shared activity.

Phil Hewitt has completed over 25 marathons in conditions ranging from blistering heat to snow and ice. Keep on Running gives an account of his adventures along the way from Berlin to New York, and explores our growing fascination with marathon running. This story of an ordinary guy’s addiction to running marathons – an addiction hundreds of thousands share – looks at the highs and lows, the motivation that keeps you going when your body is crying out to stop.

27
Oct

Karin Altenberg & Susan Fletcher

4pm

Would you go to the end of the earth for love? It’s 1830 and Neil and Lizzie MacKenzie, a newly married young couple, arrive at the remotest part of the British Isles: St Kilda. He is a minister determined to save the souls of the pagan inhabitants; his pregnant wife speaks no Gaelic and, when her husband is away, has only the waves and the cry of gulls for company. Karin Altenberg’s stunning debut novel was long-listed for the Orange prize in 2012. She is joined by Susan Fletcher who won the Whitbread first novel award for her Richard & Judy best-selling novel Eve Green and will be reading from her new novel The Silver Dark Sea – a profound tale of love loss and the lore of the sea.

27
Oct

Bernard MacLaverty

5pm

Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland. In his distinguished career he has published five collections of short stories and four novels, including Cal and Lamb (both of which were adapted for the big screen) and the Booker short-listed Grace Notes. He has also written radio plays, television plays, screenplays and an opera for children. He will be reading from and talking about his work.

27
Oct

John Gordon Sinclair

6pm

John Gordon Sinclair’s first film Gregory’s Girl won him a BAFTA nomination for ‘Best Newcomer to a Leading Film Role’. His first outing in London’s West End won him an Olivier award for ‘Best Actor’. We are incredibly pleased to welcome this much loved actor to Dundee as he releases Seventy Times Seven, his first novel. Set in Northern Ireland and Alabama it is a gripping story of redemption as the lead character sets out to find out who murdered his brother. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear John read from this terrific book.