The Edinburgh Fringe Festival begins tomorrow. To deter the flyer-foisting thespians, performance artists and cursed jugglers, swamping the Royal Mile like bubonic vermin, we suggest handing out your own flyers emblazoned perhaps with the message, “I will take all of your lives.” Alternatively, follow 3:AM‘s brief guide to this year’s choice literary events (all free and @ Charlotte Square Gardens unless stated):
Tom Leonard, poet, essayist and radical launches the Edinburgh Book Fringe, reading from his collected poems Outside the Narrative.
The event will be followed by Kevin Williamson (Rebel Inc, In A Room Darkened) who will be reading from his new poetry collection 374 Leith Walk and his forthcoming one-man Robert Burns show A Radical Voice In Dangerous Times alongside 3:AM‘s own Joseph Merrick Darran Anderson.
Word Power, 43-45 West Nicolson Street
Wednesday 11th August, 1 & 5pm
Unbound: A Night in the Gutter
Ewan Morrison, Zoë Strachan and Gutter Mag editor Adrian Searle “examine whether there’s such a thing as an erotic tradition in Scottish literature.”
Sunday 15th, 9-11pm
DiScomBoBuLaTe
Alan Bissett and host Ian Macpherson bring the regular Glasgow night to the capital, featuring poet Magi Gibson and the comedians Simon Munnery (The League Against Tedium) and Arnold Brown.
Monday 16th, 9-11pm
Willy Vlautin (Richmond Fontaine) reads from new book Lean On Pete “in an informal evening of storytelling and music.”
Tuesday 17th, 9-10.30pm
Alasdair Gray presents Fleck, his comic modern-day adaptation of Goethe’s Faust.
@RBS Main Theatre £10
Wednesday 18th, 3-4pm
Chris Killen (The Bird Room) & John Wray (Lowboy, The Right Hand of Sleep) talk about the “dark side of desire.” Or cats. Subways. Rafts. Hatstands. Or none of these.
Thursday 19th, 4:30-5:30pm £7
Alan Warner reads from The Stars in the Bright Sky the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed The Sopranos.
ScottishPower Studio Theatre £10
Friday 20th, 8:30-9:30pm
Organised by the publishers Canongate, Irregular is a literary cabaret night featuring Dan Rhodes (Gold, Little Hands Clapping) and John Wray.
Friday 20th, 9-11pm
Stewart Lee discusses his latest book, How I Escaped My Certain Fate: The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian
@Word Power
Saturday 21st, 1pm
McSweeneys editor Eli Horowitz “takes the audience through the history of the pioneering literary magazine, exploring the tales, faces, designs and adventures that make up the world view of Timothy McSweeney.”
Saturday 21st, 9-11pm
Year of Open Doors: New Writing
Editors Rodge Glass and Mark Buckland have put together a collection of new Scottish writing for Cargo entitled The Year of Open Doors. The event will feature stories from the book, including authors Kapka Kassabova, Daibidh Martin, Allan Wilson, Sophie Cooke, Helen Lynch and Anneliese Mackintosh.
Sunday 22nd, 9-11pm
Max Schaefer delves into the “political and sexual subcultures of inner-city London” following his book Children of the Sun.
@Word Power
Mon 23rd, 2.30pm
Black Flag (and solo) punk legend, raconteur and man with a neck like a tree trunk, Henry Rollins brings his new show Frequent Flyer to the Fringe.
UdderBELLY’s Pasture £10- £15
Mon 23rd-Sun 29th, 8:50pm
The launch party for the latest edition of online literary mag Five Dials.
Saturday 28th, 9-11pm
Tom McCarthy reads from and discusses his new novel C.
Sunday 29th, 6-7pm – £7
Unbound Closing Night
A set from Chemikal Underground, Burnt Island, Adrian Crowley, and Ryan Van Winkle, Alan Bissett and more in a night of bands and books.
Monday 30th, 7-11pm
Special mention to
The last ever Headspin with DJ Yoda
@The Bongo Club £12
Saturday 7th Aug, Midnight-5am.
