In the lead up to Sir Walter Scott’s 250th birthday I spoke to Brian McIver about the the man, his world and his work. You can read the full interview here.
You can now watch In Search of Sir Walter Scott on BBC iPlayer.
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I’ve always been intrigued by tarot—by the stories each card represents. So I was thrilled when I was asked by Brink Literacy Project to pair a card with a classic work of literature for their new Literary Tarot Deck. I chose the Six of Cups! You'll have to get the deck to find out which classic novel I paired it with. Other authors involved include Roxane Gay, Margaret Atwood and Dani Hedlund.
The Brink Literacy Project is a nonprofit organization. Through their education, community, and publishing divisions, their nonprofit works worldwide to foster a love of literature, increase literacy rates, and use storytelling to empower underserved communities. The Literary Tarot will help raise funds for their nonprofit programs this year.
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I’m honoured to have been invited to appear at Wordplay 2021, Shetland’s festival of literature. You can catch me on Sunday 29th September when I’ll be talking to Malachy Tallack about my debut novel, You Will Be Safe Here.
Tickets are available to buy now!
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Cauvery Madhavan has chosen You Will Be Safe Here as one of the literary finds that helped her conquer lockdown!
Interesting to see authors also (re)turning to classics and re-reads during lockdown. But very grateful to see You Will Be Safe Here on this list and alongside new favourite Seán Hewitt. Thanks Cauvery Madhavan.
Click here to read the full article.
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Click here to read Kaite Welsh’s interview with me about the empty sections of the Scott Memorial.
You can now watch In Search of Sir Walter Scott on BBC iPlayer.
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It was a joy to write this piece about Sir Walter Scott in art for Art UK - a cultural education charity working to make art available to everyone. There are a number of works of art featuring Scott, his characters, settings, family members and pets in UK collections, which says a lot about how popular he once was. It's interesting to see how representations of Scott vary from dour to almost twinkly.
Click here to read Damian's article for Art UK.
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Walter Scott is 250 this year. Now is the moment to reconsider the man in the monument, to recontextualise him, his world and his extensive works. It’s time to go In Search of Sir Walter Scott.
Scott looms large over Edinburgh and Scottish literature. A polymath and pioneer he was celebrated, envied and parodied in his day. He made a fortune from writing, lost it all and made it back before dying.
News! The Big Scottish Book Club has started in New Zealand on Sky Arts NZ! The Big Book Club series one features Denise Mina, Patrick Gale, David Nicholls, Richard Scott, Graham Norton, John Niven, Marian Keyes, Chris McQueer, Inua Ellams, Sara Collins, Ambrose Parry, and Ian Rankin. AND MANY MORE! Thank you to everyone that was involved!
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You can catch the third and final episode of Guide Books on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds tomorrow, Tuesday 29th June, 11.30am. Damian is joined by Helen Macdonald and Melissa Harrison to discuss books to deepen our engagement with nature.
Guide Books has been chosen as Pick of the Week in the Radio Times, New Statesman, The Guardian, The Tablet, Observer and The Telegraph!
Click here to listen to all three episodes of Guide Books.
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We're delighted that Guide Books is a Pick of the Week in the Radio Times. Thank you all for your excitement about the show. It starts today at 11.30am on BBC Radio 4 and you can catch it any time after on BBC iPlayer or BBC Sounds. My guests today are Sinéad Gleeson and Sarah Perry and we're discussing the Body.
Click here for more info about Guide Books.
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I’m really looking forward to hosting my own series for Radio 4. It’s called Guide Books. The producer is Mair Bosworth and she’s doing great work bringing this idea to life.
Guide Books is a new series about how books might help us navigate everyday life, presented by writer and broadcaster Damian Barr.
Each episode takes a life experience - such as grief - and talks to writers about they handle it through their own reading, writing and lived experience. We explore the fiction, non-fiction, memoir and poetry that might help us better understand our own stories.
The first episode will be aired on BBC Radio 4, Tuesday 15th June at 11.30am. I’ll be joined by Sarah Perry and Sinead Gleeson to talk about fiction, poetry and memoir that might help us better understand our relationship with our bodies.
CLICK HERE for more info and how to listen to the series.
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I so enjoyed getting to talk with South Africa-based podcaster and reviewer Waseem Imam Saheb about my novel You Will be Safe Here and my writing process more generally. I found him through a charming and insightful interview he did with Fiona Melrose, author of Johannesburg -a novel that really brings that city vividly to life (in a Dallowayesque form).
You can listen to all his interviews HERE.
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It was a pleasure talking to Lucy Pearson for her podcast The Literary Edit. In it I get to recommend some of my favourite books including Tales of the City, The Colour Purple and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It’s a joyful chat! And she makes me want to visit her fabulous local bookshop Gertrude & Alice bookstore on Bondi Beach in Sydney. Thanks for listening!
Click HERE to listen to Damian’s Desert Island Books.
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Join us online as we celebrate the launch of Kate Mosse’s touching memoir An Extra Pair of Hands.
This heart-warming book shines a light on the joys and challenges of being a carer and shows how even the smallest act of caregiving is one of the greatest acts of love. Kate will be interviewed by journalist, broadcaster and editor Sam Baker.
An Extra Pair of Hands sees Kate shift focus from historical fiction to personal history. Here she tells her own story - of finding herself as a carer in middle age: first, helping her heroic mother care for her beloved father through Parkinson's, then supporting her mother in widowhood, and finally as ‘an extra pair of hands’ for her 90-year-old mother-in-law. If you follow Kate on Twitter, you’ll already know beloved Granny Rosie, who has become a social media sensation in her own right!
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Join us online as we celebrate the long-awaited debut from Paris Lees!
What It Feels Like For A Girl stars fabulous teenager Byron, determined to escape a dreary Notts town and the dreary people in it. Paris will be interviewed by writer & broadcaster Alexandra Heminsley.
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Factory, the award-winning indie that specialises in arts, music and cultural content, has won a BBC Scotland commission to produce a documentary to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scottish literary legend, Sir Walter Scott.
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Join us next week for a special evening with acclaimed architect and designer David Rockwell. From designing the Oscars stage to beautiful theatres, from creating cultural buildings to sets for iconic productions Hairspray and The Normal Heart, David’s work is ALL about stories and drama, and we can’t wait to explore it with him in celebration of his new book Drama.
Join David and Damian online from 8pm-9pm (UK time) on Thursday 22nd April. NO NEED TO BUY A TICKET - THIS SPECIAL SALON IS OPEN TO ALL!
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Damian talks to Cunard about his favourite books, future travel plans and his experience of travelling on Queen Mary 2.
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I *loved* doing the voiceover for this film about Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell--the pioneering couple behind the world's most generous literary prizes: $165,000 each! I have supported the prizes since their launch 10 years ago and it’s a pleasure to watch them, and the writers they support, continue to flourish.
Click HERE to watch the video.
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For natural extrovert Damian Barr, lockdown has presented a new set of challenges. Without being able to enjoy unplanned, unscheduled interactions and the layers of connection we have in our normal life, he’s had to learn how to live in the present and slow down.
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