Glasgow's Book Festival - 5th - 13th March 2010

The Aye Write! Book Festival returns to the Mitchell Library on 5-13 March 2010 bringing another stellar line-up of authors to Glasgow. The festival, which is in its fifth year, will feature local talent alongside national and international authors for a celebration of books, poetry and family events alongside community projects and another extensive schools programme. There is an impressive list of authors taking part in the festival including:

Joanna Trollope, the first female Poet Laureate, Glasgow-born poet and playwright Carol Ann Duffy, AL Kennedy, Denise Mina, Susie Orbach, musician and writer Edwyn Collins and BBC world affairs journalist John Simpson. historians Ian R. Mitchell, Eleanor Gordon and Gwyneth Nair and many more.

Highlights - update 2nd February, 2010
Some of the main attractions at Aye Write

Aye Write! 2010 will include a number of themes including:

• The Future of the Media
• The Future of the Left
• Globalisation
• A major debate about the place of Scottish Literature in the school curriculum.

Around 28,000 people attended Aye Write! Festival events in 2009, around 8,000 up on the previous year so we look forward to seeing you at The Mitchell this coming March to help make Aye Write! 2010 bigger and better than ever!

We'll keep you informed of any developments from now until the end of the Festival but you can now follow Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival on Twitter aye write twitter and Facebook as well as at our website www.ayewrite.com and look out for our 2010 Festival Programme in The Herald, Sunday Herald, your local library and many more venues in the city from 17th January.

Some Highlights

Tickets are selling faster than ever for this year's Aye Write! Glasgow's Book Festival with several events already sold out.
Book your tickets now at www.ayewrite.com to avoid disappointment!

The Herald Media Debate

9th March 19:30-21:00

Sandy Ross will be joining The Herald Media Debate on 9th March. Sandy, a TV producer, Vice Chair of BAFTA Scotland and Chair of the Salford Media Conference (the only media conference which considers media strategy and policy from a non-metropolitan perspective), along with Stewart Purvis, Tim Blott, Ruth Wishart and Douglas McCabe he will discuss the considerable changes that are affecting the print and television media today from user generated digital content to the potential consolidation of the Scottish media industry.
Tickets £7/£6

Joanna Trollope

6th March 18:00-9:00

Fay Weldon called Joanna Trollope's work 'subtle as Austen, as sharp as Bronte'. Her new novel The Other Family, tells the story of Chrissie, happy with Richie and their children for 23 years, but never married to him as he was married before and had another family elsewhere. On his death, Richie's other family re-emerge and old resentments begin to jostle with the practicalities of living and the pursuit of happiness. Beautifully written, Trollope provides insight into the lives of people and puts up a mirror to our own lives.
Tickets £7/£6

Eleanor Gordon and Gwyneth Nair

Sunday 7th March

18:30 - 19:30
History
£7/£6

The notorious Glasgow trial of Madeleine Smith took place in 1857, when she was accused of poisoning her secret lover. In an illustrated presentation, the story of Smith's life and trial is explored. Containing new discoveries about Madeleine's long and colourful life after the trial - which confirms the view that it is only in fiction that the bad end unhappily - as well as looking at the extent of women's social and commercial activities in the world of the mid-Victorian middle class, this event is accompanied by a display of Mitchell archive material on the Smith affair.

John Carey

13th March 15:30-16:30

John Carey comes to Aye Write! to discuss his book William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord Of The Flies the first authorised biography of one of the foremost novelists of the twentieth century and was for many reviewers their book of the year. Lord of The Flies, Golding's first novel, was an immediate success and was followed by a series of remarkable novels including The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, The Spire and Booker Prize winner Rites of Passage. John Carey is interviewed by publisher and poet Michael Schmidt about Golding's remarkable work and his legacy today.
Tickets £7/£6

David Aaronovitch

13th March 17:00-18:00

From Pearl Harbou to 9/11, the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana, our age sees conspiracy everywhere. Even quality newspapers and serious TV Channels give them credence. In his book, Voodoo Histories, Times columnist David Aaronovitch identifies conspiracy patterns and, through careful probing and exploding of a dozen of the major conspiracy theories, argues for a true scepticism: one based on a thorough knowledge of history and a strong dose of common sense.
Tickets £7/£6