Scotland's Stories Now

Scotland's Stories Now

Stories are entwined in Scotland’s DNA – in this strand we champion home-grown talent. From the popular authors we’ve come to know and love alongside brand new writers coming to the Book Festival for the first time, Scotland’s stories are told by many diverse voices, bringing us new ways of understanding the world through fiction and fact.

A central focus of Scotland’s Stories Now is a special initiative, supported by EventScotland as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022, which spotlights, celebrates and promotes the wealth of stories inspired by, written or created in Scotland. The Book Festival invited people of any age or ability to submit a story responding to the prompt, ‘On this day’. The stories have painted a unique picture of Scotland today, and you can see the writers and hear their stories in events taking place every day of the Festival.

Join the conversation online using #YS2022 and #TalesOfScotland.

 

This is Memorial Device

Saturday 13 August 15:30 - 17:00

This is Memorial Device Book
Why not try? This is Memorial Device This is Memorial Device Thu 25 Aug 20:30 - 22:00
 

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day

Saturday 13 August 17:00 - 17:45

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day Book
  • Attend in person
This year, we asked people across Scotland – of any age, background or ability – to submit their own stories responding to the prompt ‘On This Day’, to build a fascinating portrait of Scotland today. Every day at 17:00 different storytellers...
 

Ali Smith with Val McDermid: Hello!

Saturday 13 August 17:30 - 18:30

Ali Smith with Val McDermid: Hello! Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
  • BSL interpreted
  • Captioned
In Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, readers were treated to something rarely seen since Dickens: novels engaging with events as they unfolded – including Brexit, migration and climate change. With Companion Piece, Smith takes another bracing dive into...
 

David Keenan: Nothing is Real in Airdrie

Saturday 13 August 20:30 - 21:30

David Keenan: Nothing is Real in Airdrie Book
  • Attend in person
In a new novel set in the same hallucinatory world as This Is Memorial Device, David Keenan imagines 1960s Airdrie in Industry of Magic and Light. Record collector Teddy Ohm is part of a cult lightshow which creates ‘happenings’. But in making light...
 

Sarah Smith: Hear No Evil

Sunday 14 August 13:00 - 14:00

Sarah Smith: Hear No Evil Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
  • BSL interpreted
  • Captioned
One of three major performances looking at today’s Scotland. Using a fusion of sign language, image and performance, Hear No Evil tells the story of Jean Campbell, a Deaf woman who in 1817 in Glasgow was accused of murder when her child drowned in the...
 

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day

Sunday 14 August 17:00 - 17:45

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day Book
  • Attend in person
This year, we asked people across Scotland – of any age, background or ability – to submit their own stories responding to the prompt ‘On This Day’, to build a fascinating portrait of Scotland today. Every day at 17:00 different storytellers...
 

This is Memorial Device

Sunday 14 August 20:30 - 22:00

This is Memorial Device Book
  • Attend in person
On Festival nights, we present a new play based on David Keenan’s novel This is Memorial Device. The fictional history of 1980s Airdrie’s mysterious, post-punk legends, Memorial Device, Keenan’s novel has a huge cult following. This stage...
 

Janey Godley: Secrets in 70s Glasgow

Monday 15 August 11:30 - 12:30

Janey Godley: Secrets in 70s Glasgow Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
  • Captioned
One of Scotland’s most beloved comedians continues to blaze a trail – this time taking a step into crime fiction. With her debut novel Nothing Left Unsaid, Janey Godley takes us to 1970s Glasgow via the diary of a dying mother. In the tenements of...
 

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day

Monday 15 August 17:00 - 17:45

Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day Book
  • Attend in person
This year, we asked people across Scotland – of any age, background or ability – to submit their own stories responding to the prompt ‘On This Day’, to build a fascinating portrait of Scotland today. Every day at 17:00 different storytellers...
 

Louise Welsh with Nicola Sturgeon: Writing Glasgow, 20 Years On

Monday 15 August 17:30 - 18:30

Louise Welsh with Nicola Sturgeon: Writing Glasgow, 20 Years On Book
  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
  • Captioned
Louise Welsh burst onto the Scottish detective fiction scene in 2002 with The Cutting Room. Her enigmatic protagonist Rilke, auctioneer, cruiser, man of indeterminate morals, has retained his place in readers’ hearts for two decades, as has his...