It was a joy to write this piece about Sir Walter Scott in art for Art UK - a cultural education charity working to make art available to everyone. There are a number of works of art featuring Scott, his characters, settings, family members and pets in UK collections, which says a lot about how popular he once was. It's interesting to see how representations of Scott vary from dour to almost twinkly.
Click here to read Damian's article for Art UK.
Read MoreWalter Scott is 250 this year. Now is the moment to reconsider the man in the monument, to recontextualise him, his world and his extensive works. It’s time to go In Search of Sir Walter Scott.
Scott looms large over Edinburgh and Scottish literature. A polymath and pioneer he was celebrated, envied and parodied in his day. He made a fortune from writing, lost it all and made it back before dying.
News! The Big Scottish Book Club has started in New Zealand on Sky Arts NZ! The Big Book Club series one features Denise Mina, Patrick Gale, David Nicholls, Richard Scott, Graham Norton, John Niven, Marian Keyes, Chris McQueer, Inua Ellams, Sara Collins, Ambrose Parry, and Ian Rankin. AND MANY MORE! Thank you to everyone that was involved!
Read MoreYou can catch the third and final episode of Guide Books on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds tomorrow, Tuesday 29th June, 11.30am. Damian is joined by Helen Macdonald and Melissa Harrison to discuss books to deepen our engagement with nature.
Guide Books has been chosen as Pick of the Week in the Radio Times, New Statesman, The Guardian, The Tablet, Observer and The Telegraph!
Click here to listen to all three episodes of Guide Books.
Read MoreWe're delighted that Guide Books is a Pick of the Week in the Radio Times. Thank you all for your excitement about the show. It starts today at 11.30am on BBC Radio 4 and you can catch it any time after on BBC iPlayer or BBC Sounds. My guests today are Sinéad Gleeson and Sarah Perry and we're discussing the Body.
Click here for more info about Guide Books.
Read MoreI’m really looking forward to hosting my own series for Radio 4. It’s called Guide Books. The producer is Mair Bosworth and she’s doing great work bringing this idea to life.
Guide Books is a new series about how books might help us navigate everyday life, presented by writer and broadcaster Damian Barr.
Each episode takes a life experience - such as grief - and talks to writers about they handle it through their own reading, writing and lived experience. We explore the fiction, non-fiction, memoir and poetry that might help us better understand our own stories.
The first episode will be aired on BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 15th June at 11.30am. I’ll be joined by Sarah Perry and Sinead Gleeson to talk about fiction, poetry and memoir that might help us better understand our relationship with our bodies.
CLICK HERE for more info and how to listen to the series.
Read MoreI so enjoyed getting to talk with South Africa-based podcaster and reviewer Waseem Imam Saheb about my novel You Will be Safe Here and my writing process more generally. I found him through a charming and insightful interview he did with Fiona Melrose, author of Johannesburg -a novel that really brings that city vividly to life (in a Dallowayesque form).
You can listen to all his interviews HERE.
Read MoreIt was a pleasure talking to Lucy Pearson for her podcast The Literary Edit. In it I get to recommend some of my favourite books including Tales of the City, The Colour Purple and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It’s a joyful chat! And she makes me want to visit her fabulous local bookshop Gertrude & Alice bookstore on Bondi Beach in Sydney. Thanks for listening!
Click HERE to listen to Damian’s Desert Island Books.
Read MoreJoin us online as we celebrate the launch of Kate Mosse’s touching memoir An Extra Pair of Hands.
This heart-warming book shines a light on the joys and challenges of being a carer and shows how even the smallest act of caregiving is one of the greatest acts of love. Kate will be interviewed by journalist, broadcaster and editor Sam Baker.
An Extra Pair of Hands sees Kate shift focus from historical fiction to personal history. Here she tells her own story - of finding herself as a carer in middle age: first, helping her heroic mother care for her beloved father through Parkinson's, then supporting her mother in widowhood, and finally as ‘an extra pair of hands’ for her 90-year-old mother-in-law. If you follow Kate on Twitter, you’ll already know beloved Granny Rosie, who has become a social media sensation in her own right!
Read MoreJoin us online as we celebrate the long-awaited debut from Paris Lees!
What It Feels Like For A Girl stars fabulous teenager Byron, determined to escape a dreary Notts town and the dreary people in it. Paris will be interviewed by writer & broadcaster Alexandra Heminsley.
Read MoreFactory, the award-winning indie that specialises in arts, music and cultural content, has won a BBC Scotland commission to produce a documentary to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scottish literary legend, Sir Walter Scott.
Read MoreJoin us next week for a special evening with acclaimed architect and designer David Rockwell. From designing the Oscars stage to beautiful theatres, from creating cultural buildings to sets for iconic productions Hairspray and The Normal Heart, David’s work is ALL about stories and drama, and we can’t wait to explore it with him in celebration of his new book Drama.
Join David and Damian online from 8pm-9pm (UK time) on Thursday 22nd April. NO NEED TO BUY A TICKET - THIS SPECIAL SALON IS OPEN TO ALL!
Read MoreDamian talks to Cunard about his favourite books, future travel plans and his experience of travelling on Queen Mary 2.
Read MoreI *loved* doing the voiceover for this film about Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell--the pioneering couple behind the world's most generous literary prizes: $165,000 each! I have supported the prizes since their launch 10 years ago and it’s a pleasure to watch them, and the writers they support, continue to flourish.
Click HERE to watch the video.
Read MoreFor natural extrovert Damian Barr, lockdown has presented a new set of challenges. Without being able to enjoy unplanned, unscheduled interactions and the layers of connection we have in our normal life, he’s had to learn how to live in the present and slow down.
Read More…keeps finding its way back to me. I tweeted it out in April last year then Peggy Noonan picked it up for her column in the Wall Street Journal and from there it’s gone around the world. It’s been featured in in hundreds of newspapers and magazines and memes. It’s strange how a casual thought has become part of a global conversation. Oprah cited it on her SuperSoul Podcast last year and, most surreally, I’ve had people quote it back to me not realizing I said it. For me, that shows how far spread inequality—the yachts and rowing boats, the haves and have-nots. Even more importantly, the sharing of thought and the way folk are adapting it signals a wider desire to challenge inequality and make the world a fairer place.
Read MoreBIG NEWS! Please welcome our new Guest Hosts!
We’re introducing a gorgeous line-up of brilliant Guest Hosts so we can put on more Salons and make the conversation around books even bigger, even more inclusive and even more joyful!
I’m delighted to announce that Anthony Anaxagorou, Sam Baker, Alex Clark, Sara Collins, Natalie Haynes, Alexandra Heminsley, Paul McVeigh, Sarah Perry and Sathnam Sanghera are all joining Salon! They’re all very different but equally brilliant and will be hosting Salons online and in-person (when we can). They each bring their own unique story and I can’t wait to hear them.
Read MoreThere will be a spectacular light show tonight (Saturday 20th March) to launch the international celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the life and works of Sir Walter Scott.
The broadcast will feature well-known Scott enthusiasts, including Outlander author Diana Gabaldon. There will also be the world premiere of a brand-new short film of the Young Scott, created by artist and director, Andy McGregor, which will be projected onto the 15th-century tower. The tower is next door to the farm where Scott lived as a boy, and his early experiences here continued to inspire him throughout his life.
The Stories We Tell is a new monthly series created by Arvon. Leading writers share some of the inspirations, challenges and discoveries that led to the writing of their own stories, novels and poems.
Click here to read Damian’s story!
Read MoreDelighted that ‘Shelf Isolation’ was Pick of the Day in the Sunday Times yesterday! Well done to all the crew and thanks to my guests! The next show is Sunday at 10.30pm on BBC Scotland and iPlayer! thanks for watching!
Catch all episodes here on BBC iPlayer.
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