I will be speaking to Kit de Waal about her memoir Without Warning and Only Sometimes: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood at Edinburgh International Book Festival on 29th August.
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Kit and Abi two of our most thrilling writers unveil their memoirs at a very special Salon.
Kit is the award-winning and bestselling author of My Name Is Leon and edited the pioneering collection Common People. Without Warning & Only Sometimes: Scenes from an Unpredictable Childhood is her story of growing up in a household of opposites and extremes. Her haphazard mother was a devout Jehovah’s Witness who believed the world would end in 1975. Her father was the opposite. Kit was caught between three worlds: Irish, Caribbean and British in 1960s Birmingham. It’s funny, honest and as compelling as her fiction.
Abi Morgan is the BAFTA and Emmy-winning playwright who created The Iron Lady, Suffragette and The Hour. She shifts from screen to page for This Is Not A Pity Memoir. From the very first page it is intimate and within five pages I was falling in love with her and her husband Jacob: ‘This is the man I love, the man I have known for nearly twenty years. The man who have fought with and laughed with and loved with. The man who is never going to be the same again.’
Tickets will be available to newsletter subscribers at 9am on 23rd March and to the general public at 12pm. Prices start at £15 plus booking fee. Doors and bar open at 6.30pm and the Salon will start at 7.30pm and finish at 9pm.
Join us for this very special Salon all about memoir. And it’s the world premiere for both books! See you there.
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It has been a joy to bring a third series of The Big Scottish Book Club to your screens, but don't worry, the literary love doesn't need to end there as you can now watch all episodes on BBC iPlayer!
This week Damian is at Troon Concert Hall talking short stories which reveal whole worlds with guests Bernard MacLaverty, Val McDermid and Kit de Waal. And there's spoken word performance from Bee Asha Singh.
Join us live on BBC iPlayer or on BBC Scotland - Thank you for all your support!
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We're back! The Big Scottish Book Club returns to BBC iPlayer and BBC Scotland! Join us for the first episode which is all about Location, Location!
Louise Welsh gives us the world premiere of The Second Cut, the much anticipated sequel to her bestselling 2002 thriller The Cutting Room. Sarah Perry introduces us to her fellow Essex Girls. James Robertson takes us to a remote imagined Glen in News of the Dead. And Mara Menzies makes Damian cry with her spoken word performance.
The Big Scottish Book Club is back! You can watch live on BBC iPlayer or BBC Scotland on 31st October, 10pm.
I'll be joined by writers including: Alan Johnson, Miriam Margolyes, Bobby Gillespie, Louise Welsh, Jenni Fagan, Jackie Kay, Alan Warner, Denise Mina, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Darren McGarvey, James Robertson, Bernard MacLaverty, Kit De Waal, Pete Paphides, Mohsin Zaidi, Sarah Perry, Cal Flyn, Kirsty Capes, Séamas O'Reilly, Bryony Gordon, Suzannah Lipscomb, Hannah Lavery and Monisha Rajesh.
The featured poets and spoken word performers include: Len Pennie, Mara Menzies, Mae Diansangu, Jeda Pearl, Nasim Rebecca Asl, John Gerard Fagan, Bee Asha Singh and Michael Pederson.
Every show features a fabulous book group from a different community in Scotland.
Gareth Hydes, Commissioning Editor at BBC Scotland, says: “The Big Scottish Book Club is a great stalwart of our BBC Scotland winter schedule. And I, like the viewers, am looking forward to being in the very good company of host Damian Barr and this year’s authors. It is another great line-up. There is always a lot to enjoy and reflect upon from the chats and of course great inspiration for books to read this winter.
Thank YOU for watching.
Read the full press release here. Click here to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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Maggie O'Farrell and Damian will be in conversation as part of The Big Book Weekend; a three-day virtual festival that brings together the best of the cancelled British literary festivals.
You can watch Damian and Maggie and take part in the live Q&A at 10am on Friday 8th May.
The full festival programme has been announced today. There are sessions planned for both adults and children, the event has been co-founded by the authors Kit de Waal and Molly Flatt, is supported by BBC Arts and will be hosted by MyVLF.
Click here to read the full programme.
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