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Wee Literary Festival at St Louis

Heavens, talk about meet me in St Louis – when Steph got in touch to suggest that we go along to a Literary Soirée at St Louis Cafe Bar  (734 Dumbarton Rd  Glasgow, G11 6RD) I was up for it but I wasn’t expecting such an amazing night out.

I had been promoting the event on my Glasgow What’s On Books and Talks so I knew that Louise Welsh, was appearing and she’s always a treat – but let’s face it most literary events tend to be a wee bit subdued. Not so St Louis – the show was conducted with aplomb; it was full of variety and talent and coursed along at a mile a minute.

An unexpected treat was finding some of my pals there and on the roster. This included:  Maggie Graham, Jacqueline Smith and Karen McCafferty. Maggie read from her award winning novel, Sitting Among the Eskimos, Jacqueline read from her latest novel The Witchfinder and told us about her new book, Inspiration From Commonwealth Writers to Boost Creativity, Karen, in her second year studying Journalism and Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, read her poetry and had the audience in stitches.

Linda Jackson was an exuberant host, setting the upbeat tone of the evening. The place was jam packed but the staff behind the bar remained both competent and pleasant. Freya Giles got the evening going with a couple of folksy songs and was followed by a number of young men flaunting their literary talent for the first time, including Darren with his passionate political messages and Lorenzo, a real life magician. A more established performer, Jim Ferguson, turned up unexpectedly and wowed the audience with his particular brand of gallus Glesga charm and Gus Munro’s music was a particular hit.

Louise Welsh, the headliner, reassured the audience that it was ‘okay to laugh’ and they surely did. She’s made the art of revealing the funny side of gothic all her own and we lapped up her quirky accomplished prose as she read from her latest novel,  A Lovely Way to Burn, due to be published in 2014.  
 
 A great night was brought to a close by Linda, who managed to get the audience to click their fingers to a resounding version of Fever. It was certainly the most fever pitched literary event I’ve ever attended and now I’m looking forward to more.

Bernard McLaverty will appear at St Louis for another Wee Literary Festival event on 11th December, 2013.

 
 http://www.stlouis-cafebar.co.uk/index.html
 
 Anyone interested in performing at a Literary Soirée at St Louis can contact Linda by email
 
 

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