Louise Welsh's Blog, page 2

Bath

I will  be joining Deborah Kay Davies at the Bath Literature Festival this Sunday. You can find us in the Mission Theatre at 1pm. 

 

 

Orkney

I'm having a grand old time in Orkney. This is my third visit to the island, but it will be a tantalisingly short one. I'm reading at the Pier Arts Centre on Tuesday 1st March at 7.30pm

By coincidence I reviewed Night Waking by Sarah Moss for Saturday's Financial Times. It's a wonderfully plotted, darkly funny novel set on a remote Scottish Island that is chock full of archaeology.  Highly  recommended!

The Friday Event: RLS and the Theatre of the Brain

I will be speaking at Glasgow School of Art's regular lecture series The Friday Event at 11am, in the GFT on Friday 4th February. My topic will be, 'Robert Louis Stevenson and the Theatre of the Brain: an exploration of creativity and the unconscious in a pre-Freudian age'. The event is free and open to all.

From Glasgow to Saturn

The new edition of Glasgow University's creative writing showcase From Glasgow to Saturn is available on the web, and I'm their new agony aunt! I'll be attempting to resolve staff, student and alumni's literary problems in my new literary advice column, Ask Louise.

First Event

My first event for 2011 is also my first as writer in residence for the University of Glasgow and Glasgow School of Art.

I will be reading from my work and answering questions about my new role on Tuesday 18th January in Room T415, Adam Smith Building, University of Glasgow at 5.30pm. Micaela Maftei will chair. The event is free and open to all.

From now on I'll be spending Thursdays at Glasgow University and Fridays at the Art  School where I will be available to staff and students who would like to discuss their creative writing. My University email is louise.welsh@glasgow.ac.uk – the Art School email will follow, but if you're a member of staff or a student at Glasgow School of Art please  feel free to get in touch via the uni address.

Christmas Spirits

The best aspect of 2010 for me was the number of collaborations I've been involved with; a secret project with Stuart MacRae (all will be revealed in 2112), radio features with producers Louise Yeoman and David Stenhouse and a play, Panic Patterns written with Zoe Strachan, so  perhaps it's appropriate that my last piece of the year will be a short story, 'Christmas Spirits', co-written with Zoe. It's a tale of two ghosts who haunt a bookshop and will appear in The Sunday Herald on the 19th December.

My favourite ghost story is Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost. Not at all Christmassy, but very funny.                               

Brighton Rocks!

I'm heading South this weekend to Storyville Women Writer's Festival in Brighton. Storyville is a new landmark literature festival curated for Brighton Dome by Sarah-Jane Roberts. This is the festival's first year and it will feature a host of top writers including Lionel Shriver, Jackie Kay and Ali Smith.

I'll be appearing in the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome at 4pm. You can book tickets here

Writer in Residence

Glasgow School of Art

I have just received confirmation that I have been appointed  Writer in Residence for the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow School of Art.  I've lived in Glasgow since 1985, so it's a big honour to be associated with two internationally regarded institutions that have both been massive influences on the cultural life of the city.

I'm looking forward to working with staff and students on their creative writing. More details to follow!                                                                                                                       

Zoe Beck

I'm delighted to be reading with the bilingual author Zoe Beck at the end of November. Zoe divides her time between Edinburgh and Berlin, which seems like a sensible plan,

Zoe's short story "Draussen" won the prestigious 2010 Glauser Award in the "Best Short Crime Story" category and the English translation of her first novel Das Alte Kind (The Old Child)  is due to hit the shelves very soon.

The event is sponsored by the Goethe Institute  and will take place in the Mitchell Library, Blythswood Room, level 5 on Tues 30th Nov, 6 – 7.30pm, You may even get to hear me speaking German badly, but as Mark Twain points out in A Tramp Abroad it's not an easy language to learn.

 

Happy Birthday!

The University of Glasgow 

The University of Glasgow Creative Writing Programme, founded by Professors Philip Hobsbaum and Willy Maley in 1995, is fifteen years old and they are having a party to celebrate! I attended the programme 1998 – 2000 and the support that I received from Professor Maley, Professor Zoe Wicomb and others was instrumental in my development as a writer.

The Mitchell Library is hosting an exhibition devoted to the Creative Writing Programme. It includes books, manuscripts and photographs and will run from 1-29 November, 9am-8pm from Monday – Thursday and 9am-5pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

I'll be reading with Rachel Seiffert on Saturday 6th November and on Friday 5th you can hear readings from Karen Campbell, Jason Donald and Anne Donovan.

To mark the end of the exhibition there will be a party with readings at the Anatomy Museum and Theatre, University of Glasgow on 29 November at 5.30pm. All members of the programme, past and present, are invited to attend!