Mary Irvine at Aye Write, 2014

Home » Mary Irvine: Writer and Philhellene » Mary Irvine at Aye Write, 2014

Mary Irvine at Aye Write, 2014

Aye Write Festival 2014

First Day Sat 5th April

Absolutely mobbed at the Mitchell. (Wo)manly fought my way through, although not everyone acknowledged lady with walking stick needing more room. Avoided usual long queue at ladies’ room by virtue of being able to use the designated toilet for people requiring such a facility. Of course that was after the very able-bodied had finished utilising it. I then climbed, slowly, the stairs to the gods after being told there were no lifts to such dizzy heights. But I digress…

Went to hear Natalie Haynes and thoroughly enjoyed it although the mikes she and the interviewer were wearing distorted their speech at first. Natalie ‘adjusted’ the position of hers which didn’t please the sound man but it did solve the problem for the audience. Some distortion continued with the other lady but I’d gone to hear Natalie and hear about her novel ‘The Amber Fury’, available in hardback at£10.99 and Kindle at £5.39. But it wasn’t all about selling the book. It was how she’d woven into her plot the plays of the ancients in very credible fashion. I waited until the line of people waiting for their books to be signed has dwindled to nil and then had a short and informative chat. She was happy to offer advice on a ‘shelved’ project of mine, encouraging me to take it further…

I first heard her show, ‘Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics’ on BBC Radio 4 and was hooked on someone who wanted to make the Greek and Roman authors more accessible. A prolific writer of articles on a variety of subjects – check out the ones on T.V. detectives.

Her bio is available on www.nataliehaynes.com .

Last Day Sat 12^th April

Met up with Pat (Byrne, in case anyone thinks there’s another Pat out there!). Finally was able to buy her a coffee that I’d been promising for nearly a year. Haven’t seen her since going to see Jim at ‘The Dram’. Several abortive attempts at meeting, one including a car breakdown on the Dumbarton Road whilst on the way to hear Pat reading at the St Louis Café. Was beginning to feel it was μοίρα (meera) fate.

Lovely to chat for a while and then we were off to listen to three speakers on ‘The Commonwealth in Fiction’. Tendai Huchu from Zimbabwe, Chiew-Siah Tei from Malaysia although, as she pointed out, of Chinese ancestry and Kei Miller from Jamaica. Pat and I were acquainted with Kei as we both had the pleasure –and it really was – of his tutoring when we were on the MLitt (CW) course at Glasgow Uni.

Again we were up in the gods but this time I knew there was a service lift for the less physically able, albeit a temporary state – one hopes. Quite an experience. Never been in the stacks before. Love the photo Pat took. Reminded me of the scene in Ghostbusters where the ghost of a librarian turned nasty! Could be a short story there.

We entered the lecture hall stage right – only the puff of smoke was missing. There were two seats on the front row seemingly waiting for us. The discussion began without Kei who had sent a message he was delayed but no one should panic. No one did panic.

The other speakers were introduced and read from their books, Tendai ‘The Hairdresser of Harare’, paperback £6.29, Kindle £4.79 and Tei from ‘The Mouse Deer Kingdom’, paperback £6.29, Kindle £4.68.

Kei then appeared and read a very emotional piece from ‘Writing Down the Essays: Essays and Prophecies’, paperback £9.69 but obtainable for £7.90 from the Book Depository if ordered through amazon. My copy is in the post. Not available on Kindle.

A lively discussion then followed – including, ‘Did the writers see themselves as Commonwealth writers or just writers?’ They seemed to agree on the latter, although Kei whimsically stated he didn’t mind being labelled as a Commonwealth author as he was

being paid for it. On consideration he was probably being serious!

I then went to meet up with Richard Holloway to thank him for his comments re Margaret Harrison whose biography I’m still ploughing on with. I also wanted his permission, which he graciously gave, to quote his words.

Met again with Pat briefly and then went to the Amnesty meeting which had five authors reading from the works of five authors who do not have the good fortune to possess the freedom to write which we in this country do. It should have received far more support than it did. Are we too blasé about such things or just plain self-centred. That’s rhetorical…

Another former tutor of mine was one of the readers as was Sarah Sheridan who recognised me from a previous talk of hers –two, in fact – because I’d commented I wasn’t in tune with her Brighton Belle novels although I was pleased to hear how well they were doing. However, I had enjoyed her historical novels and was pleased to hear there were two more waiting to be published.

I then had an hour to wait until the next talk, by American authors Mark Danielski and Ben Marcus. Only I hadn’t. I had the wrong time, should have been there at 6pm not 7pm as I thought.

To console myself I met my grandson, Ryan, for a pre-theatre meal at ‘The Pelican’, just opposite the Kelvingrove Museum/Gallery. Thoroughly recommend the value and quality and a reasonable choice for £13 a head, although the board outside did state £12. Decided not to quibble – it was still good value. Only thing was I don’t personally like going into restaurants where they allow dogs. It was a small dog and I am a dog lover but I still don’t think a dog in a restaurant does any favours for the restaurant. Rant over. Till next time…