Aye Write's seventh festival will this year explore a range of themes including sectarianism, the economy, phone-hacking, global revolution, middle age and the 100th anniversary of The Titanic. The festival will also see the launch of Scotland's Bookshelf, celebrating Scotland's Literary Heritage.

Aye Write! 2012 tickets will be available to purchase from tomorrow (Saturday 21 January). Saturday's Herald also contains the full free colour brochure so make sure you get a hold of your copy.

New event announced John Ashton: Megrahi - You are My Jury

To find out more or to book your tickets, visit our website or call our booking hotline 0141 353 8000.

Check out - Daniel's Beard - words for music workshops

Download the Programme PDF

Some Highlights

Gillian Clark, Carol Ann Duffy and Liz Lochhead - Friday March 16th 19:30-21:00 £8/£7

Together at Aye Write!: the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, the National Poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, and Liz Lochhead, the Scot's makar. Join them as they discuss their latest works and their equal passion for the art of poetry. A must for all poetry lovers.

Wayne Price and Elizabeth Reeder - Freight Fiction

Aye Write - 16th March

6 p.m.

Wayne Price is one of the most outstanding short story writers working in Scotland today. Recognised in numerous national and international awards, his haunting debut story collection Furnace launches at Aye Write! Wayne is joined by Elizabeth Reeder, originally from the US but based in Glasgow for over a decade, Elizabeth will be previewing her extraordinary debut novel, Ramshackle. A beautifully written story of abandonment and self-discovery set in her native Chicago, it follows 15-year old Roe as she investigates her father?s disappearance. Wayne Price?s Furnace was released on 20th February while preview copies will be available of Elizabeth Reeder?s Ramshackle, which will be published on 23rd April.

Chaired by Adrian Searle

£8/£7

Book tickets

Jeffrey Room

Mitchell Library, Glasgow

The Annual Sceptre Prize

Saturday 17th March

8 p.m. The Mitchell Library

The prize will be awarded to a promising novelist from the University of Glasgow MLitt Course by Hachette.

The event is free and will feature short readings from the shortlisted writers as well as PhDs and alumni.

Some more information about the shortlist:

Miles Beard was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He wrote his final portfolio for the University of Glasgow in St. Simons, Georgia and currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts where he works at a bar.

Phil Murnin comes from the Pollokshields area of Glasgow. He graduated in English Literature (eventually) and has been teaching the subject in various Glasgow secondary schools for the past four years. Teaching has influenced his work which often explores the lives of teenagers. He is currently trying to finish his first novel Phoenixland. (And last year he won the Gillian Purvis Award.)

Maggie Ritchie graduated with Distinction from the University of Glasgow?s MLitt programme last year. She was awarded the 2012 Curtis Brown Prize for a section of her first novel, a fictionalised biography of the French sculptor, Camille Claudel, who had a scandalous affair with Rodin. A freelance journalist, she writes for the Scottish and national press, including The Guardian, The Times, The Herald, The Daily Mail, The Record and The Sunday Mail.

Maggie lives in Glasgow with her husband and their five-year-old son, and is now writing her second novel.

Tom Watson MP - Friday March 9th 18:00-1900 £8/£7

Tom Watson MP has led the pursuit of News International in parliament. His new book tells the full behind-the-scenes story of the phone hacking scandal revealing the connections between News Corporation, the police and politicians, and explaining how they became unravelled. With unique information and access, Watson shows what went wrong with some very prominent British institutions and marks the moment when everything began to change..

What's Wrong with Women's Writing?

Aye Write - 11th March

Panel of women publishers, writers and readers including: Karen Cunningham, Claire Squires, Sue John, Karen Campbell and Laura Marney - chaired by Vicky Allan.

15:30-17:00, £8/ £7

The people who buy books, read and recommend to friends - in short those shaping the publishing trends - are women. The people writing the reviews and winning the prizes are men. A panel of women publishers, writers, and readers including Karen Cunningham, Claire Squires, Sue John, Karen Campbell and Laura Marney discuss the controversial state of women's writing today and what we can do to improve it.

event - www.ayewrite.com

Aye Write 13th March

Colm T?ib?n

Writers and their Families

In his latest book, New Ways to Kill Your Mother, Colm T?ib?n ranges from the importance of aunts (and the death of parents) in the English nineteenth-century novel to the relationship between fathers and sons in the writing of James Baldwin and Barack Obama, illuminating not only the intimate connections between writers and their families but also articulating, with a rare tenderness and wit, the great joy of reading their work.

Chaired by Susan Mansfield.

Main Hall - The Mitchell Library - 7.30 p.m.

£8

More information and to book

William Boyd: Waiting for Sunrise - 10 March 2012

Boyd talks about his new plot-twisting thriller

John Ashton:? Megrahi - You are My Jury

Wednesday 14 March 6-7pm

? John Ashton has studied the Lockerbie case for 18 years and from 2006 to 2009 was a researcher with Megrahi?s legal team. Now, for the first time, the man known as ?the Lockerbie bomber? tells his story.

? This long-awaited book argues that, far from being an unrepentant terrorist, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was the innocent victim of dirty politics, a flawed investigation and judicial folly. Based on exclusive interviews with Megrahi himself, and conclusive new evidence, it destroys the prosecution case and puts the Scottish criminal justice system in the dock.

? Tickets £8/£7 available now online or in person at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall or by calling 0141 353 8000.