WRITERS including Ali Smith, Liz Lochhead,Claire Askew and Chitra Ramaswamy are to take part in a writer's festival at Glasgow Women's Library.
On 17 and 18 May, the Open the Door festival will take place over two days for the first time.
The theme of this year’s festival is ‘celebrate, protest, and support’.
Liz Lochhead, Claire Askew and Juana Adcock will start the festival with an event celebrating the lives of three Scottish women writers: Agnes Owens, Naomi Mitchison and Janet Paisley.
There will also be sessions with the author of The Cry, Helen Fitzgerald, the writer and reviewer Lesley McDowell, and on memoirs, with Catherine Simpson.
The GWL said:"Open the Door is intended not to be just a new literary festival that puts women to the fore, but also the first of a new kind of format, where the more formal audience and speaker setting is replaced by a convivial, memorable shared experience."
Tickets go on sale on 26 March and will be available from Glasgow Women’s Library’s website.
Jess Orr, Open the Door Project Coordinator, said: "Staging a festival to celebrate the treasure trove of talented women in Scotland’s literary sector today has not been a choice but an imperative, driven by a desire from within our community to bring readers and writers together and build a network of support and inspiration for the next generation. "The 2019 edition of Open the Door promises to be a two day extravaganza like no other, with opportunities to hear from award-winning writers at the pinnacle of their careers as well as some of the newest, heart-stopping, gut-wrenching voices on the scene."
www.womenslibrary.org.uk,
DEVERON Projects in Aberdeenshire is to hold an event on 29 March to mark the UK leaving the European Union.
The events will start at midday with a special tour of Huntly’s Town Collection of contemporary artworks donated by artists who have undertaken residencies in the town.
For this tour curator Alix Rothnie will focus on works by European artists.
Following the walk there will be the official launch of Room to React, a special exhibition of work by the town’s young people exploring democracy, politics and the media in the context of Brexit.
From 3pm Sherry Wogan (the artist David Sherry) will compere a 'Eurovision talk fest' - Skype conversations with many of the European artists who have undertaken residencies in Huntly over the years.
If Britain leaves the EU, the day will culminate in the planting of the Brexit Tree - a work by artist Clemens Wilhelm. The tree, a weeping willow representing both sadness and healing, will be planted near the river Deveron.
The events are staged in collaboration with Literaturhaus, Berlin.
www.deveron-projects.com
A DELEGATION of more than 60 representatives from Norwegian museums and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture, will be visiting Scotland from 24 to 27 March.
The group will be led by the Norwegian Minister of Culture, Ms Trine Skei Grande.
During their stay the group will visit museums in Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Among them V&A Museum in Dundee, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Ms Grande said: "Norway and Scotland are countries with many similarities.
"We are about the same size, we share historical bonds, and the scenery of our countries attracts tourists from all over the world.
"Guarding our cultural heritage is an important task, and we are very interested to learn from your experiences on how to encourage private involvement and investment in the museum sector."
Minister Trine Skei Grande will also visit the Scottish Parliament and have meetings there.
www.norway.no/en/uk
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