Jane Rodgers, presents to the world her first collection of short stories, Hitting Trees with Sticks. The collection is a wide reaching one, taking us from Manchester to Uganda, and touching upon subjects as diverse as African tribal politics, homosexuality, the true nature of love, and death. Each story presents a snap shot, which though Read More
In his eloquent Reith Lectures of 1993, Edward Said argued that intellectual work is also political, that as an intellectual one had a “special duty” to make sure that the “authorised powers of one’s own society” are “accountable”. The public intellectual is both inside and outside society, knowing his society intimately but also seeing it Read More
Immediately following Weiwei’s detention the whole world had demanded to know why he had been arrested. Overnight he was transformed into a martyr… In April 2011, the artist Ai Weiwei was arrested and imprisoned in his home in China. Since then, he has become something of a Western folk hero – a champion of artistic Read More
There are belts to clinch, belts of bling and belts to hold up breeks, and then there is perhaps the most remarkable belt of them all – the Shetlander’s knitting belt. From that sturdy item, many yarns may spool, and they in turn create patterns, pick up motifs of tradition and knit up something warm Read More
To be treated to readings by two writers included in Granta’s 2013 Best Young Novelists list was double blessing indeed on a grey October morning in Dundee. In a venue steamy with wet raincoats, Jenni Fagan and Sarah Hall read from their latest works, each with her own distinctive style. Fagan’s prizewinning début novel, The Read More
Billed as “an exploration of Scottish crime writing from opposite sides of the country”, the session opened with readings from each of the author’s respective novels, then moved on to explore the past careers of both Mina and Johnstone, before a discussion of Scottish crime was conducted in intriguing and amusing detail. Mina’s reading from Read More
“Where does it all begin?” asks the opening line to Deirdre Madden’s Time Past, Time Present and it is the same question I ask myself as I sit down to write this review. Given the novel’s high school setting as ‘adolescent’ is the only way to describe the literary execution of this book. It’s difficult Read More
Comprising a panel of debut authors, Juliet Conlin, Neil McKay and the winner of the Dundee International Book Prize 2013, Nicola White, “The Road to Publication” gave a detailed insight into the process of emerging in print, from the initial approach to writing to ultimate completion of a work. The hour-long session was structured around Read More
Michael Hulse’s session was the first of the daily “Poem and a Piece” lunchtime events at the Dundee Literary Festival. The handing out of food and drinks to the audience was a little clumsy at the start but not disruptive enough for anyone to get annoyed about. Other than that, nothing disturbed Hulse’s readings and Read More
This session brought together three enthusiastic historical fiction writers and a professional historian, and promised to discuss some of the aspects of their work, as well as the genre in general; hopes were high for an interesting and informative session. Imogen Robertson’s most recent publication is Paris Winter set in the early twentieth century. Iain Read More