Tag: poetry

Venue: The Robertson Room at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum Alloway.

Tickets: £10 and £8 for concessions are now available on Eventbrite

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/robert-burns-birthplace-museum-33776559369

Saturday 26 of October 11.30am-12.30pm

Sara Sheridan is an author who has written amongst other books, ‘The Secret of Blythswood Square’; ‘The Fair Botanists’ and  ‘Where are the Women?’. In her talk ‘Exploring Where Scotland Comes From‘ she discusses how we represent our history.

Sara Sheridan is a Glasgow-based writer and activist. She writes historical fiction and creative nonfiction. She has written 6 novels based in the period 1820 – 1850. ‘The Fair Botanists’ set in Edinburgh 1822, has charmed critics and readers alike – the first edition sold out in under a fortnight and it won Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year in 2022 as well as being chosen for the Queen’s Reading Room series 7. Her latest, ‘The Secrets of Blythswood Square’ is just out in hardback. Sara’s remapping of Scotland according to female history, ‘Where are the Women?’ was listed as of the David Hume Institute’s most important non-fiction books 2019. It contains 1600 stories of mostly forgotten female achievement. Sara continues to campaign for more diverse memorialisation of women’s history.  She is a regular contributor on BBC Radio Scotland and has also written two 5-part radio plays adapted from her own short stories – ‘On Portobello Prom‘ and ‘Robert Burns: His Psychotherapy and Cure’. Both have been broadcasted on Radio 4.

Saturday 26 October 2.30pm to 3.30pm

Thomas Clark is a writer, poet and translator working mainly in the Scots language. In his most recent and award winning book  ‘Fower Legs Guid, TwaLegs Better!’, a Scots translation of George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, he offers a fascinating journey through Orwell, Scots, and the language we use today asking if words still matter, if politicians can be trusted and if Scots still has a place in the modern world.

Sunday 27 October 11.30am to 12.30pm

Alex Renton, considers ‘Ayrshire, Burns, Slavery: a difficult legacy?‘   Alex Renton, FRHistS, is an author and journalist living in Edinburgh. He works primarily in reportage and investigation for the BBC, The Times, The Guardian and the Daily Mail. His recent books include ‘Blood Legacy: reckoning with a family’s story of slavery‘ (about the Fergusson and Hunter-Blair families of Ayrshire) and ‘Stiff Upper Lip: secrets, crimes and the schooling of a ruling class‘. His most recent radio series, ‘In Dark Corners’, won multiple awards and is available on BBC Sounds. 

Sunday 27 October 2.30pm to 3,30pm

Steven Veerapen is an author of historical fiction and nonfiction. His books include ‘The Simon Danforth murder mysteries‘ set in the Scotland of the 1540s and ‘The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I’. In his talk ‘Historical Crime Fiction: from medieval murders to modernist mysteries’ he discusses historical crime fiction as a popular genre and how it is written – from conjuring up relatable characters to authentic backgrounds with ghastly and blood drenched incidents.  

Steven Veerapen was born in Glasgow and raised in Paisley. Pursuing an interest in the sixteenth century, he was awarded a first-class Honours degree in English, focussing his dissertation on early modern representations of Henry VIII’s six wives. He received a Masters in Renaissance studies, examining the Renaissance-era visual and literary representations of the later Tudors. He then obtained a PhD investigating Elizabethan slander. When not writing, he teaches English Literature at the University of Strathclyde.

This event is in addition to the programme of free Highlight Talks.

Melvyn Gibson

Melvyn Gibson is a Volunteer at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Coordinator of the Highlight Talks. he is also one of the main organisers of this event.