Monday, 26 November 2012

West Port Book Festival 2012: day 3

Sunday dawned grey and miserable but we barely noticed as the intimate crowd at the Forest Cafe were regaled with the story of the Itinerant Poetry Librarian; this was the first time she had told this story which was rather a coup.

Getting to know... the Itinerant Poetry Librarian

The next stop was the Kingfisher, a chip shop on Bread Street. Vicki Jarrett's debut novel, Nothing is Heavy, is set partly in a chip shop so why not?

Saturday night, Sunday morning: Vicki Jarrett

The owners had taken some persuading, it being a rather unusual request, but in the end were delighted to have a troupe of well wrapped literary fans devouring chips.

Saturday night, Sunday morning: Vicki Jarrett

Provenance Wines was the next stop, for Peter Mackay and Niall O’Gallagher presenting Two Shades of Gaelic. Alas, Niall couldn't make it so there was just the one shade of very bawdy Gaelic poetry, nicely lubricated by some Cairn o'Mohr wines.

Peter Mackay: One shade of Gaelic

Back to Pulp Fiction again for a discussion on Young Adult Fiction with Keith Grey, Roy Gill and Daniela Sacerdoti, the audience proving that good YA can be just as enjoyable for adults.

Young Adult Fiction: a discussion

Young Adult Fiction: a discussion

Young Adult Fiction: a discussion

And then with barely time to shuffle a few chairs around, Pippa Goldschmidt and Zoe Venditozzi came along to discuss their work.

Pippa Goldschmidt and Zoe Venditozzi

Pippa Goldschmidt and Zoe Venditozzi

Onto another new venue, both for the Festival and the area, Lovecrumbs. Once people were full of cake Kirsty Logan and Elaine di Rollo gave us some good chat. Kirsty discussed her love of myth and story, sharing some of her work and how it came to be.

Kirsty Logan and Elaine Di Rolllo

Elaine has been researching Bleakly Hall for her second novel, a bulding better known at the moment as Napier's Craighouse campus. She gave us a glimpse into its history and some rather bizarre illustrations of the treatments they used to carry out.

Kirsty Logan and Elaine Di Rolllo

Last year's Wince! at Armchair Books was a smash hit, packing the shop and going on for hours. It seemed that the cold kept the numbers down but there was no shortage of embarrassing past writings to be shared.

Wince!

Wince!

Wince!

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