James Tait Black Memorial Prize And Alan Warner

Image: Forbidden Planet

I’m definitely coming down with a bit of chesty nonsense. It’s been worsening as the week progresses, which is just NOT what I needed with it being slap bang in the middle of the book festival. I’ve started with the medicine, pills and Vit-C tablets in a vain hope I can shed it quickly, but I get the feeling it’s going to hang around for a little while, much to my dislike.

The day, job, which I think is partly responsible due to the crap air conditioning system—warm one minute, blowing freezing cold the next—dragged its heels as long as it could yesterday. There seems to be a mountain to deal with at the moment and no matter how much I chip away at it, it just isn’t getting smaller.

I nipped home briefly before setting off for my Friday evening in Charlotte Square. It was a lovely night for it; the sun had come out earlier in the afternoon and really heated the place up. It had also rained at times, though, and two of the lower corners in the square have now been reduced to muddy messes.

First up was the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Ian Rankin chaired the awards, which are Britain’s oldest literary award awards since they were established in 1919 by Janet Coats, widow of the publisher James Tait Black.

The awards have two categories: biography and fiction, the eventual winners joining a long list of eminent previous winners. Literary critic, John Carey, took home a cheque for £10,000 and the award for best biography, for his book William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord Of The Flies, and Man Booker prize winner, AS Byatt, won the fiction prize, also receiving a cheque for £10,000 for her novel, The Children’s Book.

Following the event I grabbed a coffee and found a chair in the now cooler garden area and took out my notepad. Inspiration had struck during the Tait Black awards, which I had to get down on paper before they were gone. After which, it was into the Scottish Power tent for an hour with Alan Warner.

Warner gained massive success with his previous works including, Morvern Callar and The Sopranos. His latest novel, the sequel to the latter is called The Stars in the Bright Sky, which is what he read from last night.

It was a fast hour. Warner seems to have a magnetic effect on his audience, both through his demeanour as well as his prose; the sections he read from his new book particularly engaging and hilariously funny, it was no surprise most of the post-reading discussion revolved around the similarly fascinating characters of his book. I’m looking forward to reading his latest work and have added it to my list.

My book festival events today:
10:00 – Ten at Ten
12:00 – Heather Brooke
16:30 – AC Grayling
19:30 – Lydia Davis

Peace, out!