COMEDIAN Janey Godley, singer Karine Polwart and partners in crime writing Chris Brookmyre and Dr Marisa Haetzman are among those joining 2020 Booker winner Douglas Stuart at Paisley Book Festival next month.
This year’s event will be a digital forum but it means audiences will be able to listen in the comfort of their own homes to contributors from across the world.
The theme, Radical New Futures, emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic and the resilience and fortitude that people and communities have shown. It has also been inspired by the importance that green spaces have played as solace and recuperation over the last year.
READ MORE: Edinburgh Book festival moves to a new venue with hope for in-person events
Setting the tone for the festival on its opening night will be poet, playwright and performer Hannah Lavery (The Drift and Lament for Sheku Boyah), writer Laura Waddell (Exit) and Renfrewshire local Alan Bissett with his new novella Lazy Susan.
The opening night will include Newtopia: Women With Fierce Words, a multimedia performance of writing emerging from women’s disrupted lives as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, presented by Women With Fierce Words and joined from India by the award-winning poet, Saima Afreen.
Scottish literary giants Andrew O’Hagan and Graeme Armstrong are also on the festival programme along with journalist and author Melanie Reid, the writer for the hit Small Axe series Courttia Newland, Salena Godden, Jenny Kleeman, Kirstin Innes and Kate Charlesworth in conversation with Val McDermid. Events for children will include Ross MacKenzie, Vivian French, Patience Agbabi and Kate Leiper.
Novelist, poet and performer Kirsty Logan and author and singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack are guest curators at the festival. Logan’s strand is called “Understories: Reclaiming the stories we think we know” with authors Intan Paramaditha, Sarah Maria Griffin, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Rebecca Tamas, Michael Lee Richardson and Tasha Suri. Tallack will welcome authors Alastair McIntosh, Kapka Kassabova, Patrick Laurie, Cal Flyn and Lisa Woollett as part of event strand A Place for Hope: Land, Loss And The Politics Of Care.
READ MORE: Award-winning Scottish crime writing festival heads online for 2021
Paisley Book Festival is supported by Future Paisley, a programme of economic, social and physical regeneration aimed at continuing the momentum experienced during the town’s UK City of Culture 2021 bid. It is delivered by Renfrewshire Leisure and funded by Renfrewshire Council.
Victoria Hollows, chief executive of Renfrewshire Leisure, said she was delighted the 2021 event was still going ahead.
“While we may not be able to gather physically, our innovative production team is doing great work to create an interesting and interactive virtual festival experience,” she said.
The festival will run online from February 18-27.
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