Aye Write! Programme unveiled

Christopher Brookmyre, who has appeared at Aye Write! more than any other author and debut novelist Lucy Ribchester, who will appear at the festival for the first time this year, have unveiled the full Aye Write! 2015 line up.  They will join more than 100 renowned authors and speakers as the festival celebrates its tenth year.  Aye Write! organisers have programmed their most eclectic line-up yet, scheduling a rich array of events, talks and debates at the Mitchell Library from 17^th – 25^th April.  Tickets for Aye Write!, Glasgow’s premier book festival, go on sale on Saturday 21 March. 

Christopher Brookmyre said: “I was surprised to learn I’m the author who has appeared at most Aye Write! festivals.  I was even more surprised to learn that they’re not completely sick of me, so I’ll be bringing down the tone with my presence yet again. I’m looking forward to revisiting old shames, recalling audience walk-outs and generally lowering the bar so that the fantastic line-up of my fellow Scottish authors can raise it again.”

Lucy Ribchester said: I’m thrilled to be taking part in the 10^th anniversary of Aye Write and especially excited that the Glasgow Women’s Library are supporting and chairing the event I’m doing with the fabulous Kirsty Logan. I can’t wait to get stuck in to the programme and am looking forward to hearing some mighty fine Scottish authors.”    

Bob McDevitt, Festival Programmer, said: “I am very excited about bringing so many renowned authors and speakers to Glasgow.  By sharing their works with avid fans and new audiences I hope the festival will raise the profile of reading in Glasgow.  I’m also delighted that we continue to provide a platform for showcasing the best of Scottish writing by supporting emerging Scottish authors at Aye Write!”.

Chair of Glasgow Life, Councillor Archie Graham, added: “Aye Write! celebrates the written word, it encourages debate and often challenges established ways of thinking.  I am very excited by this year’s programme, which is set to deliver events by literary heroes and award-winning authors, ensuring the finest, most popular Scottish, National and International authors come to Glasgow.”

The festival will launch with a unique event to celebrate its tenth birthday.  There’s Only One Aye Write will bring together many prize-winning authors and famous faces who have all graced the Aye Write! stage during the last decade.  Reflecting on the festival’s impact, amid songs, stories and laughter will be Christopher Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Alan Bissett and Louise Welsh alongside Glasgow’s Poet Laureate Jim Carruth and singer-songwriter Carol Laula.

Glasgow will then welcome a host of strong, inspirational women, including Jane Hawking, who will discuss her compelling memoir in which she relates the inside story of her extraordinary marriage to Professor Stephen Hawking.  Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank, is certain to captivate audiences with her memoir After Auschwitz.  Published to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, her book is a searingly honest account of how an ordinary person survived the Holocaust.  Yasmin Alibhai-Brown will invite guests on a journey that takes a fresh, invigorating look on what ‘Englishness’ really means, while one of the country’s foremost authorities on Islamic custom, Mona Siddiqui will continue to probe crucial issues of faith and identity within society at large through her new book My Way: A Muslim Woman’s Journey.  Palestinian doctor Ghada Karmi will make her Aye Write! debut appearing to discuss her memoir Return.

Music flows through the programme this year.  Current editor of GQ, Dylan Jones, will excite and delight Doors fans with little-known anecdotes about Jim Morrison from fellow stars, spurned lovers and industry moguls.  Later that day one of the UK’s leading music journalists Mark Ellen one of the UK’s leading music journalists Mark Ellen will provide a rare insight into the glamorous and preposterous world of rock and roll’.  The festival’s diverse range of music-related events include Edith Bowman, Tracey Thorn and Zoe Howe with her new book Barbed Wire Kisses, a fierce, frank and funny story of the musically and culturally unique band Jesus and the Mary Chain.  There will be three events to launch Dear Green Sounds, the UNESCO Glasgow City of Music book, including The Lost Jewel of Glasgow Music, which tells the story of Glasgow’s legendary concert hall, St Andrew’s Hall. 

Bob Shepton, an ordained minister in his 70’s who spends his time sailing into the Arctic, Tessa Dunlop, whose book gives fifteen surviving Bletchley veterans the opportunity to tell the story in their own words and Jamie Stuart, the energetic Glaswegian now in his tenth decade, provide a refreshing, motivating look at incredible older people and their achievements. 

Comedians Karen Dunbar, Kevin Bridges and Hardeep Singh Kohli, together with journalist and broadcasters John Mackay and Kirsty Wark, comic book genius Mark Millar and enduringly popular singer Barbara Dickson will all host individual events discussing the books that have been most influential in their lives. 

Two young Scottish writers Lucy Ribchester and Kirsty Logan will be among a host of authors making their Aye Write! debut this year.  Lucy was born in Edinburgh and studied English at the University of St Andrews and Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London. In 2013 she received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award for the opening chapters of The Hourglass Factory.

The festival’s diverse range of speakers also includes Bill Oddie, Jackie Kay, Omid Djalili, Tony Hawks, Michelle Mone and many more.

The full programme is available at www.ayewrite.com, where tickets can be purchased from Saturday 21 March.  Tickets are also available by calling 0141 353 8000, or in person at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.  All Aye Write events will take place in the iconic Mitchell Library, one of Europe’s largest public libraries. 

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