Premiere of The Big Scottish Book Club on BBC Scotland!

The Big Scottish Book Club
Sunday 10th November, 10pm
BBC Scotland
If watching in Scotland: Sky 115, Virgin Media 108, Freeview 108/YouView 9 (SD), and Freesat.

If watching outside of Scotland, but inside the UK:
Sky 457 (HD & SD; HD receivers will also have SD on 876)
Freesat: 108 (HD & SD; HD receivers will also have SD on 174)
Virgin Media: 162 (HD)

Damian is hosting The Big Scottish Book Club, a new four-part Salon inspired series featuring the finest names in fiction, non-fiction and poetry - all filmed with a live audience on location in Scotland.

BOOKS ARE BACK ON TELLY!

Damian is hosting The Big Scottish Book Club, a new four-part Salon inspired series featuring the finest names in fiction, non-fiction and poetry - all filmed with a live audience on location in Scotland.

The first episode goes out at 10pm on Sunday 10th November on BBC Scotland https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07slz6n). You can watch BBC Scotland anywhere in the UK by tuning your set via Sky, Virgin Media, Freeview/YouView and Freesat. You can catch-up with the show on BBC iPlayer in all the usual ways.

Damian Barr at Literature Festival at Sea on Queen Mary 2

Damian will be boarding the Queen Mary 2 for the inaugural Literature Festival at Sea, in association with Cheltenham Literature Festival and The Times and The Sunday Times. This exclusive voyage will sail from New York to Southampton on a Transatlantic Crossing.

You Will Be Safe Here shortlisted for the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year!

Damian's debut novel, You Will Be Safe Here, has been shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award! Many thanks to the judges Lesley McDowell, Rosemary Ward, Ali Bowden, Ken Cockburn and Alasdair McKillop! And huge congratulations to fellow shortlisted authors Lucy Ellmann, Ruairidh MacIlleathain, Leila Aboulela, Polly Clark and Ewan Morrison. So many fine books!

Click here for more info.

Live at Cheltenham Literature Festival on Sky Arts! Presented by Damian Barr, Andi Oliver and Miquita Oliver.

Damian Barr will present Sky Arts Live at Cheltenham Literature Festival alongside Andi and Miquita Oliver. This will be aired on Sky Arts daily from Monday 7th October-Sunday 13th October between 7pm-10pm.

All the action will be brought to you from the onsite Sky Arts pop up studio where Andi Oliver and Damian Barr will be presenting, while Miquita Oliver will be out and about reporting. Damian Barr will be hosting the Book Banquet, in which prominent authors discuss a range of books. Damian will also act as the Book Doctor, diagnosing the reading habits of a variety of festival guests.

Brighton knows how to have a good time!

To celebrate 100 years of British Airways, High Life Magazine asked ten British authors of the summer’s hottest holiday reads to pick their favourite UK destinations - in exactly 100 words!

Damian chose Brighton, because, “Brighton knows how to have a good time: it’s a city of festivals, freedom and progressive living. I first fell under the spell of the city and all it’s tales during a school trip in 1992. To a boy from small-village Scotland it was like Oz.”

Click here to read more of Damian’s articles and discover more of his journalism work.

Guest User17 September 2019BrightonHigh Life Magazine, Damian Barr, Brighton, 100 of British Airways

Line-up and tickets announced for Damian Barr's Literary Salon 18th October 2019

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon has announced the line-up for the next Salon on Friday 18th October 2019; Kerry Hudson, Jeanine Cummins and Maggie O’Farrell! Avon takes to bed with a fever.

The Salon will be returning to The Lancaster Ballroom at The Savoy Hotel and tickets will be on sale from noon Friday 6th September.

Click here to discover more and to book your tickets.

Dates announced for the live recording of The Big Scottish Book Club

Damian and IWC Media would love to welcome you to a live recording of the ‘Big Scottish Book Club’!

This Salon-inspired show will be filmed at The Byre Inchyra, Glencarse, Perth at 3pm and 7pm on the 24th September and The Tower Digital Arts Centre, Helensburgh at 3pm and 7pm on the 30th September 2019.

Please RSVP to BSBC.audience@iwcmedia.co.uk by 16th September to book your ticket and for more info.

Damian talks to the Big Issue about 'You Will Be Safe Here'.

Damian talks to books editor, Jane Graham about the South African stories that inspired his debut novel.

Click here to read the full interview.

Guest User28 August 2019Damian Barr, Jane Graham, You Will Be Safe Here, The Big Issue, South Africa

You Will Be Safe Here reviewed and published in Australia

You Will Be Safe Here has been reviewed in the weekly Australian newspaper The Saturday Paper.

Click here to read the full review by Linda Jaivin from.

You Will Be Safe Here featured on Book Riot

Damian Barr’s debut novel, You Will Be Safe Here, has been featured on Book Riot as one of its top 15 historical fiction reads to pack for your summer vacation.

Click here to read the full list.

Guest User19 August 2019You Will Be Safe Here, Damian Barr, Book Riot, North America, summer reads

Happy publication to 'Others'!

Happy publication to Others! This pioneering collection asks us - as all stories do - to walk in the footsteps of others. We've never needed this more!

The contributors are: Noam Chomsky, Leila Aboulela, Gillian Allnutt, Rishi Dastidar, Peter Ho Davies, Louise Doughty, Salena Godden, Colin Grant, Sam Guglani, Matt Haig, Aamer Hussein, Anjali Joseph, AL Kennedy, Joanne Limburg, Rachel Mann, Tiffany Murray, Sara Nović, Edward Platt, Alex Preston, Tom Shakespeare, Kamila Shamsie, Will Storr, Preti Taneja and Marina Warner.

Damian Barr interviewed on ABC Radio National Bookshelf

Hear Damian being interviewed on ABC Radio National Bookshelf about his debut novel 'You Will Be Safe Here'.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

Guest User1 July 2019You Will Be Safe Here, Damian Barr, ABC Radio, The Bookshelf, Kate Evans

Far from safety: Echoes of brutality and colonial violence in Damian Barr's first novel

Damian Barr speaks on France 24 about his debut novel 'You Will Be Safe Here'.

Click here to watch the full interview.

Guest User26 June 2019France 24Encore!, France 24, Damian Barr, You Will Be Safe Here

Damian Barr's Literary Salon comes to BBC TV!

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon is coming to a small screen near you this Autumn! 'The Big Scottish Book Club', commissioned by BBC Scotland, is a new arts series celebrating literature and Damian is so excited that more people are going to get to share in the Salon. There will still be events at the Savoy and other lovely venues too.

The show's format is inspired by the Salons you know and love. Each week Damian will meet a trio of acclaimed writers from the worlds of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. The show will be filmed live in front of a studio audience in two different locations in Scotland. The Big Scottish Book Club shines a spotlight on Scottish writers while celebrating books and authors from around the world. We're announcing our guests soon and they will be as diverse and exciting as ever.

Queen's Park Book Festival returns with Ed Miliband, Linda Grant and Damian Barr on the line-up.

Ed Miliband, Linda Grant and Damian Barr are among the names appearing at this year’s Queen’s Park Book Festival – the only London book festival to take place entirely in a public park.

The festival returns to its North West London home following its successful relaunch last year, when Zadie Smith, Nick Laird and Eleanor Catton appeared on the line-up. This year’s event, taking place at the end of June, will once again turn the park into a tented village, with three stages featuring over 80 authors across 30 events.

Click HERE to read the full article.

You Will Be Safe Here to be Book at Bedtime 27th May - 6th June

You Will Be Safe Here has been chosen as the Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 27th May to Friday 7th June. You can listen to the first episode now at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0005f3b.

Tracy Ann Oberman reads Damian Barr's debut novel. Tracey is an acclaimed stage and TV actor, known for her roles in EastEnders, Toast of London and Friday Night Dinner. The producer is Justine Willett and the script has been abridged by Richard Hamilton.

We hope you enjoy listening!

You Will Be Safe Here picked as summer must read!

You Will Be Safe Here has been picked as a summer read by Sinéad Moriarty and Rick O'Shea for Eason!

Click here to read more and hear Sinéad and Rick talking about why they’ve chosen YWBSH!

I'm coming to the US!

I am now on my book tour in the US!

Here’s a list of dates and places where you’ll find me reading from and discussing You Will Be Safe Here.

Follow me on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with my tour.

You Will Be Safe Here picked to be Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4!

Book at Bedtime has been a key feature of my listening landscape for as long as I can remember. Over the years it has lulled me to sleep (and sometimes kept me awake, usually for the right reasons). So I am thrilled that You Will Be Safe Here will be a Book at Bedtime FOR TWO WEEKS! The abridgment, by Richard Hamilton, manages to tell the story without giving everything away. Justine Willett has given the production everything. Tracy-Ann Oberman brings her characteristic power to the reading and her own South African story.

Listen in: BBC Radio 4, 2245 nightly May 27 - June 7th

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