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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A new short film has been released to share the history of Pride in Scotland over the last 25 years.
Click here to watch the film and to hear Damian and others speak about their experiences.
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Damian Barr’s Literary Salon is back IN PERSON and ONLINE! Miriam Margolyes, Alan Cumming, sleeping with books and much, much more! Yes, it’s our Autumn season! AND, because we love libraries so much, we’re offering complimentary online access to our December Salon to every library in the UK!
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On Sunday a national campaign was launched to help save our libraries. I wrote a piece talking about how special my childhood library was and is to me and our community.
‘Newarthill Library saved my life. It was safe and warm when home was cold and chaotic. Nothing bad ever happened in the library, except in books – I’m still not over Aslan and don’t get me started on Of Mice and Men. As a boy, I lost myself in stories. And eventually that’s where I found myself too, because every writer starts out as a reader.’
What are your memories of your local Library? How do you use it now?
Click HERE for the full article.
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'In Search of Sir Walter Scott' on BBC Four, Tuesday 31st August, 9pm.
You can enjoy the documentary once again, this time on BBC Four! And it will be joyously followed by the film adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel, 'Ivanhoe'. The film stars Elizabeth Taylor!
'In Search of Sir Walter Scott' was made with Factory Films all over Scotland during lockdown. It was made safely, so thank you to the crew and all our genius contributors on and off screen. And thank you for watching! It's also available on BBC iPlayer.
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The Big Scottish Book Club is back! We’re filming series three this autumn! Thank you for all the support! We’re making eight shows featuring big names and new talent from across Scotland and around the world. Fiction, non-fiction and spoken word- we’re bringing it all to you!
To be the first to know who is on the show and when you can watch us, sign-up to my newsletter here: https://www.damianbarr.com/subscribe Are you in a book club? We're looking for book clubs in Scotland to take part in the show! For more information please contact bsbc.bookgroup@iwcmedia.co.uk
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It was a pleasure to film this little video for The Royal Society of Literature and give my top tips for writing.
Click here to hear my top tips.
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If you’d like to hear more from me about my books, books on telly or chickens and other personal matters, you can sign up HERE for my very occasional newsletter!
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Series three of The Big Scottish Book Club will start filming this autumn and we’re looking for book clubs around Scotland to take part in the show!
For more information please contact bsbc.bookgroup@iwcmedia.co.uk.
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The Big Scottish Book Club is up for a Broadcast Digital Award! We made this in lockdown & every person on it went above & beyond. Thank you IWC_Media and BBC Scotland, writers & poets, venues, all the cleaners, crew & folk who kept us going. Thanks judges!
And thank you to every single person who watched and extra shiny thanks to all who borrowed or bought or listened to or otherwise celebrated one of the books we discussed on the show. Your support makes it all possible!
Winners will be announced on 6th October 2021. Click here for the full list of awards and nominations.
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In the lead up to Sir Walter Scott’s 250th birthday I spoke to Brian McIver about the the man, his world and his work. You can read the full interview here.
You can now watch In Search of Sir Walter Scott on BBC iPlayer.
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I’ve always been intrigued by tarot—by the stories each card represents. So I was thrilled when I was asked by Brink Literacy Project to pair a card with a classic work of literature for their new Literary Tarot Deck. I chose the Six of Cups! You'll have to get the deck to find out which classic novel I paired it with. Other authors involved include Roxane Gay, Margaret Atwood and Dani Hedlund.
The Brink Literacy Project is a nonprofit organization. Through their education, community, and publishing divisions, their nonprofit works worldwide to foster a love of literature, increase literacy rates, and use storytelling to empower underserved communities. The Literary Tarot will help raise funds for their nonprofit programs this year.
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I’m honoured to have been invited to appear at Wordplay 2021, Shetland’s festival of literature. You can catch me on Sunday 29th September when I’ll be talking to Malachy Tallack about my debut novel, You Will Be Safe Here.
Tickets are available to buy now!
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Cauvery Madhavan has chosen You Will Be Safe Here as one of the literary finds that helped her conquer lockdown!
Interesting to see authors also (re)turning to classics and re-reads during lockdown. But very grateful to see You Will Be Safe Here on this list and alongside new favourite Seán Hewitt. Thanks Cauvery Madhavan.
Click here to read the full article.
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Click here to read Kaite Welsh’s interview with me about the empty sections of the Scott Memorial.
You can now watch In Search of Sir Walter Scott on BBC iPlayer.
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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.
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Walter 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!
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