St Andrew’s Day festival to focus on Scots writers
A new week-long showcase for Scottish literary talent is to be launched in London in the runup to St Andrew’s Day.
Sir Ian Rankin, Sir Alexander Mccall Smith, Andrew O’hagan and Ann Cleeves will be among the leading authors appearing at the inaugural St Andrew’s Book Festival.
The event, which is supported by The Scotsman as media partner, will also feature broadcaster and political commentator Gavin Esler and tennis coach Judy Murray, who published her debut novel last year.
Novelists, historians, politicians and poets will be brought together for the inaugural festival, which will run from 25-30 November.
The event has been instigated by Scots in London, a new group created in 2016 to celebrate Scottish culture and heritage in the city.
Venues across London will play host to events, including the Caledonian Club, Scotland House and St Columba’s Church.
As well as appearances from best-selling authors, the festival is also expected to showcase debut novelists, and include special events for schools and families.
Rankin will be appearing at the event weeks after the publication of Midnight and Blue, his latest John Rebus thriller, with the detective also due to feature in a forthcoming new TV adaptation.
O’hagan will be discussing his most recent novels, including Caledonian Road, which has just been published and Mayflies, which was adapted into an award-winning BBC TV drama.
Mccall Smith will be offering insights into The Perfect Passion Company, his latest novel, which focuses on the founder of a dating company run from Edinburgh’s New Town.
Glasgow-born Esler, a longtime presenter of the BBC’S Newsnight programme, has published a series of novels and non-fiction books. His most recent book is described as “an urgent and timely exploration of a British political system in peril – and what we must do to save it.”
Murray published a bestselling memoir, Knowing The Score, in 2017, while she released her first novel, The Wild Card, last year.
The festival is being programmedby handheld events, who have previously worked on the Cheltenham, Hay, Queen’s Park and Chiswick festivals in England. O’hagan said: “Scotland is a moveable feast and London is one of its depots.
"It was Robert Louis Stevenson who once praised ‘a strong Scots accent of the mind’, and I’ve listened for that accent in Piccadilly and King’s Cross as much as in Ayrshire and Edinburgh. Therefore, I’m delighted that there is a new Scottish festival in London, which promises to be one of the richest and most varied cultural events in the capital.”
Esler said: “Since I have met Scots in lands as far away as South Africa, Alaska, Australia and China I’m obviously delighted to celebrate our diaspora closer to home.”
Scots in London chair Paul Mcfarland said: “We are thrilled to be bringing this first ever St Andrew’s tide celebration of Scottish literary culture to the heart of London.”
I’ve listened for that accent in Piccadilly and King’s Cross