* Bookfest, Oxfam’s first book festival, ran from 4 to 18 July. The books team blogged during Bookfest 2009 (check our archives to see what went on) but, as there were more than 250 events around the UK, we’ve still got more to report on. We continue our coverage with a series of Bookfest end notes…

Poets, crime writers, storytellers and book lovers gathered in Glasgow for a lively literary celebration on Wednesday 8 July.

The all-day event, held in the glorious 19th century marble and gold surrounds of the City Chambers, kicked off with a kids’ session fronted by Debi Gliori, author and illustrator of popular children’s books such as the Pure Dead and Witch Baby series. Dennis the Menace also delighted the little ones, shaking hands and giving out goodie bags.

Members of Glasgow refugee writer groups then took to the stage to read from their published works, including Second Home, which was partly funded by Oxfam GB’s poverty programme. Telling of their troubles before finding a new home in Scotland and building new lives and memories, the writers – who came from far-flung places including Kosovo, Liberia and Madras – gave the audience pause for thought and a touching tale of reunion moved many to tears.

In between sessions, literary lovers browsed and bought from the tables of books for sale, with plenty of the speakers’ works and specialist Scottish literature and history titles available.

A few of Scotland’s finest poets, such as Gerry Loose, were next in the spotlight. Lanarkshire-born Liz Lochhead, who is Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, a well-respected playwright and performer, read her latest work Obviously, but obviously not obviously enough (an extract can be seen in the video above). Serving as instruction to actors, directors and writers, and dedicated to her friends in the theatre, she urged: “Tell the story… Tell it in prose, tell it in rhyme, tell it in words of one syllable, tell it in mime…”.

And the wordsmiths who followed didn’t need any encouragement when the focus shifted from rhyme to crime. Karen Campbell, Pat McIntosh, Caro Ramsay and Harry Morris represented the spectrum of crime sub-genres from historical to humour.

Harry Morris, known for the Harry the Polis series, entertained as the panel MC with tales of his time on the force, including his rookie experiences working with his partner ‘Rambo’, who shot at imaginary criminals and tormented tea bags.

Before her reading, former police officer and the author of The Twilight Time Karen Campbell gave us an insight into the publishing process, speaking about the difficulties English editors often have ‘interpreting’ Scottish words, noting that word ‘close’ was translated as a ‘foyer’, much to the audience’s amusement (although I really think you have to be a local to understand and appreciate this!).

Pat McIntosh, who pens the Gilbert Cunningham medieval mystery series, definitely looked the part for her reading, as she came dressed up in a brilliant period costume (at right).

The author of Absolution and Singing to the Dead, Caro Ramsay, regaled the audience with anecdotes from her speaking engagements, including talking at the Harrogate International Crime Festival on the topic: “Extreme sex and violence: Is cannibalism the last taboo of the crime novel?”. “So you can gather from that, that I am not the Enid Blyton of this panel,” she smiled.

The last session was devoted to local literary legend Margaret Thomson Davis, who has received Glasgow’s Lord Provost’s award for literature. Her books range from best-selling family sagas such as The Breadmakers to recent crime thrillers including A Deadly Deception. After reading from her autobiography Write from the Heart and asked when her next book might be released, the prolific author laughingly replied, “I’ve just finished my 41st novel and I’m 83 years of age”, to great applause.

The day was a fantastic celebration of Scottish literary talent,
and it’s thanks to the tireless organiser of the event and manager of Oxfam Bookshop in Byres Road, John A. Connolly, and the dedicated teams from this shop and the whole Oxfam shop network in Glasgow who gave their time and help.

The Byres Road Bookshop team was very busy during Bookfest, putting on a wide range of events including a forensic CSI-style night, history night with local author Roger Edwards, quiz night, world poetry event and science evening with Dr Carol Trager-Cowan. You can check out the bookshop’s blog for more on the Bookfest festivities, including event reviews and photos.

Deputy manager James Murphy and the team update this excellent blog regularly with shop news and they also have a Twitter account and a Facebook page. With all this going on in addition to running the shop, you can see why the Byres Road bookshop is not only the top-earning Oxfam bookshop in the UK, but also the top-earning shop of any kind of shop in our chain!

Let us know your thoughts on the literary day and any of the Bookfest events in Glasgow, or anywhere around the UK, in the comments.

Tags: Bookfest 2009, Bookfest end notes, Bookfest events, famous faces at Bookfest, Oxfam Glasgow Bookshop blog, Oxfam shops and specialist book shops, video exclusives

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