Louise Welsh's Blog, page 3
November 1, 2010
Irregular Gray Matters
I'll be joining Liz Lochhead, Roddy Woomble, David Shrigley and other Canongate Irregulars to celebrate the launch of Alasdair Gray's A life in Pictures on Tuesday 2nd November at Òran Mór in Glasgow.
Doors open at 8pm. Tickets cost £6 and available on Ticketweb.co.uk, or from behind the bar at the Oran Mor, Byres Road, Glasgow, G12 8QX.
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October 24, 2010
The Gorbals Vampire
Halloween is one of my favourite festivals so I'm delighted that BBC Radio 4 are repeating The Gorbals Vampire at 13.30 on Sunday 31st October.
Glasgow's Southern Necropolis is an eerie place at the best of times but when two local policemen answered a call there in September 1954 they encountered a bizarre sight. Hundreds of local children, ranging in ages from 4 to 14, were crammed inside, roaming between the crypts. They were armed with sharpened sticks, knives stolen from home and stakes. They said they were hunting down "A Vampire with Iron Teeth" that had kidnapped and eaten two local boys.
The policemen dispersed the crowd, but they came back at sundown the next night and the next. The local press got hold of the story and it soon went national. There were no missing boys in Glasgow at that time, and press and politicians cast around for an explanation. They soon found one in the wave of American Horror comics with names like "Astounding Stories" and "Tales from the Crypt" which had recently flooded into the West of Scotland. Academics pointed out that none of the comics featured a vampire with iron teeth, though there was a monster with iron teeth in the bible (Daniel 7.7) and in a poem taught in local schools. Their voices were drowned out in a full-blown moral panic about the effect that terrifying comics were having on children. Soon the case of the "Gorbals Vampire" was international news.
The British Press raged against the "terrifying, corrupt," comics and after a heated debate in the House of Commons where the case of Gorbals Vampire was cited, Britain passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 which, for the first time, specifically banned the sale of magazines and comics portraying "incidents of a repulsive or horrible nature" to minors.
You can read more in an earlier post.
October 22, 2010
Torontorontorontoro!
CN Tower, Toronto
I'm very excited about returning to Toronto for the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront. You can check out my events here!
October 13, 2010
Is the Book Dead?
I've been travelling a fair bit recently and conducting my own unofficial survey of how many people I see reading E-books v trad books, so far the traditional book is winning, but perhaps the picture is different in first class. E-book were amongst the topics under discussion when I joined Philip Dodd and friends at Barter Books in Alnwick, in Northumberland to debate the future of the book for Nightwaves.
You can listen in, on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 14th October at 21.15.
October 10, 2010
Panic Patterns
Rehearsals are well under way for Panic Patterns, the play Zoe Strachan and I have written together. The play is directed by award winning Alison Peebles and stars Selina Boyack as Fay and Veronica Leer as Jacq. Nichola Scrutton is composing the soundscape and Colin O'Hara is designing the set.
Ornithologists Jacq and Fay are on a remote island in the far north of Scotland investigating sudden changes in bird migration patterns. Fay believes these changes signify forthcoming disaster. Jacq thinks the isolation is making her younger lover paranoid. But they were meant to leave the island three days ago, their boat home still hasn't arrived and their radio has been dead for a week. When the decommissioned lighthouse across the bay shines back into life, the two women are forced to make a crucial decision.
Panic Patterns was commissioned by Glasgay and you can read a little bit about our writing process in an interview Zoe and I did with The List.
Panic Patterns The Citizens Theatre, Circle Studio, 19 Oct - 30 Oct 2010£12.50 (concessions available) Preview (19th Oct) £5, Book Here
October 6, 2010
Looking Up At the Stars
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Gutter Magazine is celebrating it's third issue with a series of readings. I'll be hosting their latest event on Thursday 7th October at 8pm in the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. As well as a top line up of readers; Patricia Ace, Kate Tough, Kirsten McKenzie, Hazel Frew and Micaela Maftei there will be music from DJ Miaoux Miaoux. The bar will be open!
Q. Have you spotted what all these writers have in common? Answers on an E-card to info@louisewelsh.com
October 5, 2010
The Verb
picture credit: Jeremy at Jaded
I'm looking forward to joining the poet Andrew Motion and the ubercool cyberpunk novelist William Gibson on BBC Radio 3′s The Verb on Friday 8th October at 9.15pm. I'll be reading a new short story set in my favourite Inverness bar Hootananny. The fabulous (and that's not a word I use lightly) Ian McMillan will be hosting the programme.
September 29, 2010
James II, Blood on the Page
The life of James II King of Scots (1430-1460) was punctuated by murders so bloody they've passed into legend. After his father was stabbed to death in a sewer, young James was taken from his mother's custody and put under the 'care' of self serving guardians. They slaughtered a pair of teenage dinner guests, perceived as rivals for his throne, in front of him, despite the James' cries for mercy. Years later history was to repeat itself in the notorious black dinner, but this time it was James wielding the knife.
My fifteen minute essay on James II will be broadcast on Radio 3, on Tuesday 5th October at 11pm. More info here
The essay is one of three on the Stewarts produced by Louise Yeoman for BBC Radio 3 and which will be broadcast next week.
James' story helped inspire Sir Walter Scott in Tales of a Grandfather. You might also like to check out Allan Massie's recent book, The Royal Stuarts
September 25, 2010
Piecentennial Awards
No, it's not the holy grail, it's the Piecentennial Award! A Play, a Pie and a Pint are celebrating their 200th production on Sunday October 10th at 7pm, in the auditorium at Òran Mór. The night will involve, pies, pints and a host of two minute plays including 'A Justified Sinner in Glasgow', by your's truly. There'll also be singing from the Sirens of Titan Choir and an exhibition of photos of every previous play. Tickets are £10 and available at www.ticketweb.co.uk, in Òran Mór's...
September 22, 2010
Murder on the Ruhr
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Ruhr Museum at the Zollverein Mine (© RUHR.2010)
I'm heading to Mord am Hellweg festival this weekend in the Rhur, this year's European capital of culture. The festival is spread across the region and features six hundred crime writers – dangerous!
Mord am Hellweg will also feature the launch of Mords Metropole Ruhr, the fifth volume of the Mord am Hellweg anthology of short crime fiction, featuring stories by twenty-five international authors, including my story, 'Reflections in Unna'.
You...
