Writers James Kelman, Bernard MacLaverty and Denise Mina feature alongside emerging talents Ever Dundas and Kate Hunter in 2017 Saltire Literary Awards shortlists.
The Saltire Literary Awards are organised by the Saltire Society, an independent charity founded in 1936 which aims "to celebrate the Scottish imagination."
The Fiction Book of the Year shortlist features a number of acclaimed authors, including the latest novels from previous Saltire Literary Award winners James Kelman, Bernard MacLaverty and John Burnside.
Also featured is Denise Mina, the first woman to win the McIllvanney prize for her shortlisted novel, The Long Drop.
The First Book of the Year shortlist features Goblin by Ever Dundas, Sandra Ireland’s Beneath the Skin alongside the candid life-memoir of an Italian Scot, Anne Pia.
2013 saw the Saltire Literary Awards expanded to see Publishers as well as writers celebrated for their work. This year Canongate and Birlinn are shortlisted alongside new comers 404Ink who have had success with their first publication Nasty Women.
www.saltiresociety.org.uk
Dear Esther Live - a live staging/ performance of The Chinese Room’s video game is to tour the UK this Autumn.
It launches in Glasgow, as part of Sonica festival, on November 3 before heading across the country, including Edinburgh.
The play-through of the game takes place on-screen, accompanied by live narration and a live performance of BAFTA-winning composer Jessica Curry’s score.
Narrator Oliver Dimsdale takes the audieince through the ‘game’, "journeying from a desolate Scottish island, to a car crash on the M5, to a crisis of faith of a guilty heart, to the lost shores of a dreamed shoreline into a final ascent through the waters of madness to the release of flight."
www.sonic-a.co.uk
Glasgow-based Spark Trio have rescheduled their October session at Swing in Hope Street to accommodate a visit to the club by Czech bassist Robert Balzar’s trio.
The Spark Trio session, which this month features special guest, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra alto saxophonist, will now take place on Friday 20. Spark Trio comprises organist Paul Harrison and guitarist Joe Wiliamson and drummer Stephen Henderson, from the award-winning young band Square One, and will return to their usual second Friday of the month slot at Swing in November.
www.swingltd.co.uk
A Scottish premiere of Mark Lockyer's solo show, Living With the Lights On, is to be shown at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
In the show, the actor shares the true story of how his life fell apart following an on-stage meltdown during a 1995 RSC production of Romeo and Juliet.
The Friday evening performance of the show, which runs from October 17-21 will include a post-show discussion with Mark Lockyer and SMHAF’s Andrew Eaton-Lewis about the issues raised by the play.
Lockyer trained at RADA. For the last 30 years he’s been at the National Theatre, RSC, Old Vic, Young Vic and the Royal Court, working with Ken Campbell, Mark Rylance and Sam Mendes.
www.mhfestival.com
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here