Programme 2010
SATURDAY 26th JUNE
Tickets can be purchased from the University's online store.
Alastair Urquhart10.00am
£3, concession £2
Alistair Urquhart, now living in Broughty Ferry, has written the amazing story of his life in The Forgotten Highlander, now a Sunday Times Bestseller.
Conscripted, aged 20, I left my parent's house, my job at the warehouse and went to war. Captured in Singapore, I was sent as a POW, to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, on the Death Railway. As POWs we were
moved to mainland Japan, on board the Japanese hell-ships only to be
torpedoed by an American submarine. Having survived, I was then sent to
Nagasaki. I am one of the few remaining surviving members of the
Gordon Highlanders, who were captured in Singapore. This is my story.
Come and hear Alistair read from his book and answer your questions.
Local Voices - Sue Peebles and Neil Forsyth
11.00am
£3, concession £2
Neil Forsyth a local author with a lot to say - his first two books were massive successes - the hilarious 'Delete This At Your Peril and Other People's Money about fraudster Elliott Cass, which is now being made into a major film. He's back in Dundee to talk about his first novel, Let Them Come Through, which tells of a once successful TV medium whose dodgy manager tries to resurrect his career from the Z list. A local author with an international career.
Sue Peebles left her job to become a writer, a brave step that has paid off
as she return to the University of Dundee (where she worked) to talk about her novel, The Death of Lomond Friel.
'My books explore the impact of memory and conscience, and the ways in which we defend ourselves against outrageous fortune. Or not. I work with a small, domestic size canvas, not due to a faint heart, but because the close proximity of those edges is liberating, and every stroke counts.'
Stuart Kelly Scottland: How a Writer Invented a Nation12.00noon
£3, concession £2
His name and image are everywhere - from banknotes to the monument in Edinburgh's city centre - yet who reads Walter Scott these days?
Stuart Kelly explores the enigma of Scott and the disparity between his influence and his status, his current standing and his cultural legacy in a
voyage around Scotland.
Stuart Kelly was born and brought up in the Scottish Borders and studied
English at Oxford. He is the Literary Editor of Scotland on Sunday and a
freelance critic and writer.
Poem and a Piece - Tom Bryan1.00pm
£5, including sandwich and tea or coffee
Memory is a rich source of material for Tom Bryan's moving poems, of a person, a place or a story. His quiet way with words and sense of irony have made him a widely published poet and non-fiction
writer, his work appearing in magazines throughout the world.
Tom Bryan was born in Canada in 1950 but has been long-resident
in Scotland, living now in Kelso. He is a widely published and
broadcast poet, fiction and non-fiction writer. He is the current
Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow for The University of York.
'so naturally a poet modest in approach to the subject yet drawing
from it imaginative, economic phrases... and touched into life
in poem after poem--- landscapes of towns and their people.'
George Bruce.
Kenny Reid: A Major Obsession2.00pm
£3, concession £2
Kenny Reid is golf 's greatest fan. In 2009 he decided that it was time to live the dream of all golf enthusiasts and embarked on a pilgrimage, a 'fan slam', to each of the four majors - the Masters, the US Open, The Open and the PGA Championship - all in a single year.
A Major Obsession chronicles this golf fan's odyssey.
Original, quirky and brilliantly insightful, this fan's eye account of
the best players and tournaments in the world is a must for all
lovers of sport and of golf; it is entertainment, travelogue and user
manual to the most spectacular golf tournaments in the world.
The Nethergate Writers2.00pm
FREE - tickets required
Dundee's most prolific writing group are back with a new book, Whodunwhat.
Where do writers get their ideas from? In WHODUNWHAT the surprising answer is - from readers! Responding to a competition which asked
readers to supply a brief character and situation idea, Nethergate Writers
have produced an exciting collection that includes everything from humour
and crime to 'slice of life' encounters, poetry - and more than a dash of
the unexpected, when two writers attack the same idea in very different
ways.
The Dundee International Book Prize3.00pm
FREE but tickets required
The Dundee International Book Prize has established itself as the UK’s premier prize for emerging novelists.
Its £10,000 cash award together with publication by Birlinn Ltd, publishers of the Polygon imprint, make The Dundee International Book Prize highly valued by tomorrow’s great new writers seeking to break into the publishing world. The award, now running for the sixth time, is for an unpublished novel on any theme, in any genre. The winner of the prize is announced on Friday 25th June - come and hear them read from their novel, dicuss their work and what winning the prize will mean to them. Extracts from the finalists’ books are online at the bookprize web page.
Iain Banks4.30pm
£3, concession £2
Iain Banks is one of the most original novelists of our time - literary, controversial and enormously popular.
Originally from Fife, he came to widespread and controversial public notice with the publication of his first novel, The Wasp Factory, compounding it with The Crow Road, Complicity and Dead Air.
Iain Banks is almost unique in that he has achieved success in two
genres: mainstream, literary fiction; and the science fiction books
written under the name Iain M. Banks.
Photo credit - John Foley
Allan Brown
Inside the Wicker Man - with screening of unseen footage
7.30pm
FREE
Inside The Wicker Man is a treat for all cinemagoers, exhaustively researched and achieving a near-perfect balance between history, trivia and serious analysis.
Allan Brown describes the filming and distribution of the cult masterpiece as a 'textbook example of how things should never be done'. The omens were bad from the start, and proceeded to get much, much worse, with fake blossom on trees to simulate spring, actors chomping on ice-cubes to prevent their breath showing on film, and verbal and physical confrontations involving both cast and crew. The studio hated it and hardly bothered to distribute it, but today it finds favour with critics and fans alike, as a serious - if flawed - piece of cinema.
Allan Brown expertly guides readers through the film's convoluted history, explaining its enduring fascination and providing interviews with the key figures - many of whom still have an axe to grind, and some of whom still harbour hopes for a sequel
This event will be held at DCA and followed by a screening of the film - contact DCA for details 01382 909900.
The Wickerman Film screening9.15pm - 10.55pm
at DCA
Dir: Robin Hardy
Far too well known by now to still be a cult movie, The Wicker Man must instead take its place as the most unlikely classic in British cinema.
The plot is Dixon of Dock Green meets Hammer Horror; a selection of blonde European women play Scots (Ingrid Pitt is also cast as a librarian?); Christopher Lee runs around in a dress; and the studio hacked it to pieces. Yet somehow, against the odds, The Wicker Man is utterly compelling, and remains so even after countless viewings.
It helps that Anthony Shaffer’s script has more than its share of memorable lines (of course they’re naked . . . it’s far too dangerous to run through fire with your clothes on) and that Robin Hardy directs it all with a keen eye for the camp and the absurd.
What really elevates the film however is the central performance of the late Edward Woodward as the god-fearing policeman lured to the island. Woodward is in virtually every scene and carries the film with him as he gives a complex portrait of a good, but not always likeable man, whose prim exterior hides a bottomless well of repressed anger and passion.
UK 1978 / 1h28m / Digital / 15
Please see the DCA website for details - www.dca.org.uk.
