More than 200 authors, writers and celebrities, including Ian Rankin, the Makar Jackie Kay, Val McDermid and many more, will be attending Glasgow's annual book festival, Aye Write!, this year.
Rankin will be marking 30 years of his most famous creation, John Rebus, while the new Makar, or national poet, will be at an event with former Makar Liz Lochhead and Glasgow's Makar, Jim Carruth.
Aye Write! begins on March 9 and runs until March 19, while the Wee Write festival for children and young people, will have two family days as well as events for schools - and for the first time will have three venues.
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Aye Write will be staged at the Mitchell Library as well as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and, for the first time, at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Sauchiehall Street.
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, January 27.
The former Doctor Who and All Creatures Great and Small actor Peter Davison is also appearing, as are writer and artist John Byrne, Elaine C. Smith, Sanjeev Kohli and Sally Magnusson, and politicians Vince Cable, Alan Johnson, Catherine Mayer, Chris Mullen and Roy Hattersley, while David Hayman will perform plays by Chris Dolan.
Also appearing are Jenni Murray, The Reverend Richard Coles, Matthew Parris, Joanna Trollope, Miranda Sawyer, MC Beaton, Ms MacDermid, AL Kennedy, Denise Mina and the BBC’s Frank Gardner.
Just after the festival, for which The Herald are media partners, Jo Nesbo and Christopher Brookmyre will appear in events with their new novels.
Aye Write! starts on March 9 when Home Ground: New Writing Inspired By The 2016 Homeless World Cup in Glasgow is launched. Thousands of copies of the book are being given away around the city as part of the City Read.
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Edited by Louise Welsh and Zoe Strachan, contributors to the anthology range from volunteers who supported this year’s tournament hosted in Glasgow, to graduate MLitt students, creative writing tutors, as well as authors Lin Anderson, Robert Douglas, Alan
Bissett, David Farrell and our city Makar Jim Carruth.
Byrne is at Aye Write! in the first of this years “The Books that Made Me”.
A little over a year after his death, there will be a look at David Bowie’s career with arts commentator Paul Morley and the drummer on four of Bowie's most famous albums, Woody Woodmansey.
Denise Mina returns with her eagerly-anticipated new book based on Peter Manuel, and Celtic’s European Cup win of 1967 is also remembered ahead of its 50th anniversary.
The festival will also be welcoming back Val McDermid on March 17.
A music strand for 2017 called “Aye Tunes!” features Roddy Woomble of Idlewild, Mike Heron of The Incredible Sting Band, Brix Smith Start of The Fall and Tim Burgess of The Charlatans, among others.
Bob McDevitt, programmer for the festival, said: "Once again it has been a real privilege to work on the Aye Write! programme for 2017.
"Touring around publishers this year I was struck by the many and varied ways that writers were responding to the political developments, scientific discoveries and big questions that have filled the headlines in the past year.
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"Whether it’s the state of the NHS, the consequences of the Brexit vote, the ever increasing erosion of our privacy or the experience of migrant peoples there were excellent books being written."
He added: "The programme this year features novels about radicalisation and migration, Queer history and feminism in comics, investigations of surveillance and post-truth political campaigns, memoirs from a star-gazing bricklayer, an ambulance driver and a woman who didn’t spend any money for a year."
Councillor Archie Graham, chair of Glasgow Life, which runs the city's museums and galleries, said: "Aye Write! and Wee Write! have grown beyond their roots to become festivals that bring talent to the city all year round.
"With more than 200 authors and writers making up their main programmes this year, it shows more clearly than ever before just how much they have come to be anticipated and the important role they play in attracting people to Glasgow Libraries."
The full programme is available to view online here: bit.ly/2k3yUty
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