Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading that takes place across the country. It runs from the 13th to the 19th of November and it is now in its twelfth year.
Book Week Scotland is an annual celebration of books and reading that takes place across the country. It runs from the 13th to the 19th of November and it is now in its twelfth year.
West Dunbartonshire Libraries have events with renowned artist Tom McKendrick, the wonderful poet, Kenneth Steven, and Cailean Steed will be talking about their debut crime novel, Home, which has received rave reviews. We also have a great event for children featuring Paul Bristow.
Please find further information and the links for your free tickets below.
War and Art: an exploration of war in the art of Tom McKendrick
Where and When
Clydebank Library on 14 November 2023 at 7.00pm.
Introduction
Tom McKendrick's art has been heavily influenced by his upbringing in Clydebank and his time working in John Brown's. His art is informed by the processes of the shipbuilding industry. His exhibitions use a wide variety of media and techniques to create a very special and intense experience for the viewer. His work has been critically acclaimed and his major exhibitions include Blitz, Submarine, Rivet Temple, Iron, Heavier Than Air and Soldiers. War and the machinery of war is a recurring theme in his work. Soldiers was created to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the ending of the First World War. His artwork for Blitz has an especially profound resonance for the people of Clydebank as it conveys the horror and magnitude of the destructiveness of that terrible event.
Join us for this very special event in which renowned artist explores war and art. Tom is both a wonderful artist and speaker. We can promise that this will be utterly engrossing and Tom's talk will be accompanied by a presentation of his art.
Tickets
Tickets for this event can be book via Eventbrite
Kenneth Steven - Seeing the Light
Where and When
Alexandria Library on 15 November 2023 at 7.00pm.
Introduction
Kenneth Steven is a writer, poet, author, novelist and painter. We are delighted to welcome him back to West Dunbartonshire Libraries for this special event. Kenneth's work is deeply inspired by place. He grew up on the edge of the Scottish Highlands with an intense awareness of that landscape and culture: his mother's family were Gaelic speakers from Wester and Easter Ross. He has published numerous poetry books as well as novels such as 2020. His radio programme A Requiem for St Kilda won a Sony Gold for Radio 4.
Kenneth will be reading from his latest poetry collection Seeing the Light. In this collection Kenneth captures small moments of revelation which come as gifts in our ordinary life. An old photograph, watching someone working outdoors, a Highland landscape can all become doorways into a greater reality, 'the small moments that make up the whole story. This is the sudden going through the door into the bigger world.'
This event is being held in memory of Ian Baillie, a much-loved former colleague, who passed away very recently. Ian worked as a librarian for 40 years and was a very highly regarded and well-known figure in the community. He made a considerable impact on the cultural life of West Dunbartonshire creating the Booked! Literature Festival, setting reading groups up across the authority and helping to form the Lennox Literary Society. He wrote for the Clydebank Post, the Lennox Herald and the County Reporter. His writing about books was very popular and helped shape many people's reading habits. Ian greatly valued Kenneth's work and we think that it's especially fitting that this event honours Ian's memory and legacy.
Tickets
Tickets for this event can be book via Eventbrite
Cailean Steed - Home
Where and When
Dumbarton Library on 16 November 2023 at 7.00pm.
Introduction
'Home' is the debut novel of Cailean Steed and it has received an enormous amount of praise. Zoe's flat has been broken into by a man that she thought that she would never have to see again. This man is called the Hand of God and his return to her life will now mean having to return to the cult that she escaped from. She needs to go back to rescue her sister from Home, their isolated compound.
A return to Home will be a return to the oppressive and abusive world that she had escaped from; a world of enforced worship, strict gender roles and indoctrination. Zoe will have to question everything about her past and put at risk her very freedom.
Cailean is originally from Aberdeenshire and now lives near to Glasgow. They have also written a number of short stories, which have appeared in anthologies such as New Writing Scotland 36 and Boudicca Press's Disturbing the Beast: The Best of Women's Weird Fiction. Their short story Blind Baggage was longlisted for the 2017 Bare Fiction Prize, and later appeared in Barren Magazine. They also write audio dramas, and won the 2020 Pen to Print Audioplay Award with their sci-fi drama RealBoy, a futuristic retelling of Pinocchio.
Cailean can generally be found in a library or coffee shop, and is easily bribed with cake.
Praise for Home
- 'Such a good read' Val McDermid
- Absorbing, moving, and alarmingly believable, Home is an unforgettable story about identity, family, and the terrifying dynamics of a cult -- Carole Johnstone, author of 'Mirrorland'
- A totally original debut that I couldn't stop thinking about and talking about while I read. Believable characters with distinct and unforgettable voices that drew me in and kept me reading far too late into the night. A thought-provoking, moving and clever novel that will stay with me -- Emma Christie, author of 'The Silent Daughter' and 'Find Her First'
Tickets
Tickets for this event can be book via Eventbrite