Alan Bissett

Medium of the masses joins debate at Edinburgh Book Festival

Alan Bissett's Festival Blog

20 Aug 2008

17th August This morning I went to see Stella Duffy, Rodge Glass and Will Sutcliffe at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, promoting their new novels. Each reading was an assured affair, Duffy's in particular. Author discussion afterwards was…

London showcase for best of Scottish culture

6 Sep 2007

Scotland is celebrated in style this weekend as the two-day London Gathering showcases the best of Scottish culture. Taking place for the first time on 8–9 September at The Inner Temple Gardens in London, the main stage is hosted by Hardeep Singh Kohli…

Ballads of the Book

16 Aug 2007

The relationship between music and literature has always been a strong and natural one, but never has that bond been tighter than with the Ballads of the Book project. Described by Chemikal Underground as a ‘meteoric creative hoopla’, it brought…

Ballads of the Book

WORDS & MUSIC

27 Feb 2007

Projects like Ballads of the Book don’t come along very often. And, looking at the roll call of writers and musicians involved, it is easy to see why. It must have been a logistical nightmare getting 54 of Scotland’s finest writers and musicians…

Samurai swordsmanship cuts the mustard

Alan Bissett's Festival Blog

4 Aug 2008

Swords. Japanese people with swords. Japanese people with swords who choreographed the fight scenes in Kill Bill. I’m there. Samurai Spirit (at Zoo) is just that: a group of warriors performing with samurai swords. There isn’t much to be said about this…

The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival

2 Oct 2008

‘Anyone can suffer from mental health issues, regardless of your walk of life,’ says Idlewild’s Rod Jones, curator of a music evening during the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. ‘It’s something I really wanted to get involved in. It’s…

Music Like A Vitamin: Vitamin A

23 Oct 2008

Praise should be heaped on Idlewild’s Rod Jones, the man behind Music Like a Vitamin, for organising the double-header of concerts on behalf of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. Thursday’s show, Vitamin A, compered by the…

Speaking in tongues at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Alan Bissett's festival blog

18 Aug 2008

Thurs 14th Aug This morning I was on at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with Des Dillon and Anne Donovan, two of Scotland’s ace-est writers and who, like me, have a name mainly for writing in Scots urban dialect. We met in the Author’s Yurt…

The horror, the horror… of the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Alan Bissett's festival blog

15 Aug 2008

Ah the Edinburgh International Book Festival! My home from home! My August social life! The Author's Yurt! The free tea/coffee/wine/beer/finger food! The celebs! The horror. The horror. Man, I love the Book Festival. As its director, Catherine…

Near-silent office ambience proves highlight of day one proper

Alan Bissett's Festival Blog

5 Aug 2008

My first play proper is Stoning Mary at the Underbelly, from the pen of debbie tucker green. This contains three separate stories, the links between which are gradually revelead, but when the first words you see onstage are ‘AIDS Genocide’ you know the…

Eye to the future at the end of the line for Edinburgh Festival 2008

Alan Bissett's festival blog

27 Aug 2008

Ah, the end of the Fringe. Goodbye rain. Goodbye bright-eyed young hopefuls thrusting flyers. Goodbye posh accents. How was it for you? Depending on who you talk to, plays this year have been too bleak/political/teenage. Given the gloomy political…

Telling stories while we can at The Edinburgh Book Festival

Alan Bissett's festival blog

26 Aug 2008

Today's theme is stories! The ones we tell about ourselves, our past, our bodies. What prompted this was The Fooligan at the Pleasance, a one-man show from the Arches' artist in residence, Al Seed. Al waddles onto the stage, an obese, grotesque medieval…

Bookslam

Ripping up the stuffy literary world

14 Aug 2008

‘People think live readings are supposed to be 20-minute monotones about the “quality of light on the mountains” and unfortunately they often are,’ says Alan Bissett, master of ceremonies for a stagefull of Dan Rhodes (pictured), Patience Agbabi and…

Life's a riot with Man versus Art

Alan Bissett's festival blog

4 Aug 2008

Hello, groovers. And so begins my blog for Scotland’s Cultural Bible from the beating, garish heart of the Edinburgh festival. I’ll be updating, with semi-regularity, on what I’ve seen, heard, touched, tasted, felt and drank. After, all, something had…