Background
Literary Dundee .. this term might once have been almost an oxymoron. Now it's not. Now, Literary Dundee has quickly come to be recognised as a wonderful concept, a vibrant happening, and a burgeoning reality where literary events and creative innovation have brought Dundee to the consciousness of the literary world, and the literary world to the doorsteps of the Dundee public.
When?
2006. The almost simultaneous arrival in Dundee of Kirsty Gunn
and Anna Day was serendipitous.
Kirsty, freshly appointed Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Dundee, brought with her
a formidable reputation gained from her several prize-winning novels, a million creative ideas,
and almost as many wonderful literary contacts. Anna, who'd joined the University Press Office,
had just completed a successful couple of years in staging literary festivals in Cornwall, had
the unerring nose for an opportunity which her sojourn in journalism had honed, and had the
same obsession to turn Dundee into a literary hive. The synergy built on their meeting created
Literary Dundee.
Why?
The need was palpable. The students, the city and the community had no realistic precursor.
Previous literary and artistic events resembled a gallimaufry of well-intentioned, but isolated
oases. Literary Dundee would create an annual literary festival, would provide regular literary
salons during semester time which would be thrown open to students and public alike, would create
a showcase for developing and emerging creative talents, and, most importantly, would bring a
stream of the finest literary talents to Dundee and loose them on a ravenous audience: in short,
it would bring the inspirational to the aspirational.
Where?
The first literary festival blasted off in June 2007.... the almost indecently short time from
first meeting to first festival indicates the degree of fervour and commitment of the co-founders.
Held in the university's Bonar Hall, and its Baxter Suite, the first festival set a ludicrously
high standard in terms of quality. Philip Pullman, Bernard MacLaverty, Alice Greenaway, Benjamin
Markovits, John Fardell, Bill Duncan, Jacqueline Wilson, Meaghan Delahunt, David Profumo,
Christopher Priest, Alan Spence and Peter Hobbs all contributed, as, remarkably, did Kirsty
Gunn... wearing her novelist hat for a too-short while. '2007' was a two day affair which also
included a Workshops Publishing Panel, with David Graham, Will Atkinson and Lee Brackstone
representing the publishers, Jenny Brown and Clair Conville making up the literary agents,
and Karen Duffy as the lone publicist, and a Creative Writing taster where Kirsty and Dr Jim
Stewart of the English Department at Dundee laid the foundations of what has become a
highly-successful undergraduate and postgraduate degree pathway in subsequent years.
The 2008 festival is described elsewhere in this website. 'Names' like Vivienne Westwood, Ian Rankin, William Boyd, Douglas Dunn, James Kelman and Rosamund Pilcher, to name but a very few, can be heard in session by downloading the MP3 player audio-clips from the relevant webpage. '2008' had so much content that it became a 4-day celebration and was mainly held in the University's new, and excellent, Dalhousie Building. It also saw the nascency of the very successful Comics Day chaired by Dundee University's Dr Chris Murray.
'2009' carried on, and built on, the success of its two earlier incarnations. Again, it was held over 4 days, took place in the Dalhousie Building, and brought some more prodigious literary talents to Dundee. A children's programme was included for the first time, the Publishing Panel tantalised again, and the Comics programme deservedly closed the programme on a high with its now-customary Sunday finish. Detail of the 2009 programme of events is still on this website...do yourself a favour and read through the wealth of contributors and sessions. The growth of the festivals, and the sheer quality of literary names attracted demonstrates the extent and the rapidity of the success for which Literary Dundee is now widely recognised.
Which?
Which brings us to the Salons: whilst the three festivals have each provided a concentrated feast
to sate the literary appetite, the salons provide a steady diet of delicious literary fare.
A torrent of high-octane energy fuels the festivals, whilst the salons crackle with the intense
electricity that each session has uniquely, yet identically, provided. Students at Dundee
University, and the many interested members of the populace that have attended, have been
treated to an extraordinarily eclectic series of salons presented in voluble fashion by Kirsty,
and seamlessly orchestrated by Anna. Novelists, poets, publishers, journalists, literary
agents, and many other literary luminaries have given of their time and energy to help Kirsty
assemble a series of rare and gorgeous recipes which complement the Creative Writing programme
at Dundee, but also to entertain all who attend. The following list of salons, describing
who's been and what they did, attests to the success story that is the Literary Salon. The
first salon set a hugely high standard when Alan Bissett came to call.
Salons are held at the DCA, and the free wine which follows the free salons helps tongues to be freed and much networking to take place. These salons are serious fun ... or is that another oxymoron?
What else?
Beside the salons and the festivals, many other events have taken place, and many continue to
be planned. Poetry readings about, and amongst, the stuffed specimens and skeletons of the
D'Arcy Thomson exhibition in the University's Carnelley Building ... visits to the Cuschieri
Skills Centre in Ninewells hospital affording the opportunity to creatively record the visit
and the experience of seeing dissected donated bodies ... collaborative publications with
other departments of the university where some of the flourishing Creative Writing students
have found a vehicle for their work ... the much-lauded appearance at the latest Edinburgh
Book Festival of some of the Dundee Creative Writing students. All these activities, and more, are now commonplace amongst the activities created
and fostered by the living entity that is Literary Dundee, but standing still is not an option.
Other plans are afoot, including a help-list for students to encourage and aid them to get
published, and poetry readings in the University's College Hall in the first quarter of 2010,
by published poets connected with the university. A long distance has been travelled in
three short years, and much has been achieved which has brought Dundee to the attention
of literary and academic interest. Where does it go from here ..... expect the unexpected,
and watch this space.
