16 October - Sunday

• Thursday 13
• Friday 14
• Saturday 15
• Sunday 16

• Owl & Lion Bindery 11am Poetry Workshop with Jo Bell

  Poetry Workshop on the theme of ‘Accentuate the Negative’. What we don’t say can be as telling as what we do - “I’m fine. Really. Absolutely fine.” What we deny can be as revealing as what we confess – “I never touched her, your honour.” You can make use of negation in your poetry to approach difficult subjects – or to be playful and perverse. Join Jo Bell’s workshop to write poetry based on subtexts, denials and the word NOT.

  Jo Bell is a poet, performer and the director of National Poetry Day in the UK.

• Peter Bell Books 12pm Short Story Hour: David Gaffney & Hannah McGill

  David Gaffney is the author of a novel, Never Never, and of three collections of very short stories. His new book, The Half-Life of Songs, has been dubbed ‘fiction for the iPad generation’. Containing fifty-five brief tales, most of which come in under a page and a half, David introduces us to a world that is humorous, entertaining, unsettling and downright odd. Review Show regular Hannah McGill is a critic and writer and a published writer of short fiction and drama. She is currently working on a novel, but will be reading us a short story today. Is brevity the soul of wit? Come and find out.

• Owl & Lion Bindery 1pm - 5pm Bookbinding demonstration

  Four master craftsmen, Tom McEwan, Mark Powell, Matthew Simos and Isabelle Ting gather together for three days to bind a sumptuous full-leather book. Each craftsman will concentrate on his or her area of expertise: Isabelle and Tom will oversee book construction, headbands and gold tooling, Mark will concentrate on relief printing endpapers, whilst Matthew will do silver decoration. This is a rare chance to see the professionals at work. You’re welcome to drop by, ask some questions and see an age-old craft brought to life in front of you.

• Peter Bell Books 1.30pm Stuart Campbell

  Armed with a pensioner’s bus pass and supported by a cast of eccentric and badly-behaved companions, Stuart Campbell follows the bus routes that Dr Johnson and Boswell would have used had they delayed their journey to the Western Isles of Scotland by 238 years. Come and hear Stuart talk about his eclectic experiences, and also about how he ‘stumbled across’ an astonishing set of previously unpublished love letters from Boswell’s servant, Joseph Ritter, to his master’s long-suffering wife, Margaret.

• Scottish Poetry Library 3pm - 6.15pm Copyright: what’s it all about?

  Monks fought battles over it, fraudsters broke it and some online sites don’t give a toss about it: copyright has been an explosive issue for more than 1500 years. This afternoon event invites legal eagles and enthusiastic academics to talk about copyright, past, present and future. Come along, join the discussion and drink some tea.

  Participants

  Ronan Sheehan is a writer-lawyer who was born in Dublin in 1953. After a BA in English and Latin at University College, Dublin, he qualified as a solicitor and specialized in Copyright Law. In 2005 he formed The John Philpot Curran Foundation (he was a celebrated eighteenth-century Irish lawyer) to explore ideas in Irish law, literature and aesthetics. Ronan organised a seminar exploring Saint Colmcille's intellectual property tradition, which was held in the National Museum of Ireland in 2006. He will speak about this, the oldest copyright tradition in Europe, and relate it to some issues in contemporary copyright law.

  Dr Aileen Fyfe lectures in British history at the University of St Andrews. Her research interests focus upon British cultural history in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with particular emphases on science and technology, religion, the book trade and children's literature. She has just finished a book on the Edinburgh publishers W. & R. Chambers, which investigates their pioneering use of the new technologies of production and distribution to manage and control a business which stretched beyond Scotland to England and Ireland, and ultimately to North America. Aileen will be speaking about the development of copyright during the 18th and 19th centuries, and asking whether any of the past ways of thinking about copyright might have relevance to today.

  Stephen Taylor is a solicitor with McGrigors Technology and Commercial Team. He advises clients on a range of commercial contracts and IP matters (of which copyright is one). He will mainly be speaking about the Digital Economy Act.

  Dr Padmini Ray Murray lectures in publishing studies at the University of Stirling. She has published articles on Byron and gender, embodiment, and book history. Her research interests include the colonial history of the book, the impact of digital technologies on the publishing industry and the graphic novel. She is responsible for Research and Development at the Electric Bookshop, an initiative that focuses on bringing people with a common interest in technology, literature, design and publishing together for discussion and debate. Padmini will chair this event.

  Schedule: 3pm welcome & tea,  3.15pm Ronan Sheehan,  3.40pm Dr Aileen Fyfe,  4pm  tea break,  4.15pm Stephen Taylor,  4.30pm discussion chaired by Dr Padmini Ray Murray.

  (free) tickets on the door before the event or from our West Port Box Office (Peter Bell Books, 68 West Port)

• The Cuckoo's Nest 8pm Party!

  Reborn as a funky venue that serves tasty pub food and has table tennis downstairs, The Cuckoo’s Nest, in Tollcross, was an obvious choice for our end of fest gathering. We can promise shambolic conversation, good music, bad table tennis playing, and booze. What more do you need from a party? Everyone welcome. No ticket required.

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