Pure poetry as Iain Banks adds audio to Mark Brew's Nocturne

June 26th, 2009 in Appearances & Events, UK-Specific

DaveH of The Banksoniain fanzine fame has been in touch with some information about an audio contribution by Iain to a dance performance that's opening tonight in London:

Not strictly an Iain appearance but Gary Lloyd who created an audio version of The Bridge and is working with Iain on a tribute album for Frozen Gold has used a recording of Iain reading a poem by Luke Pell in the music that Gary has written for a dance group.

The first of this year's performances of Nocturne by the Marc Brew Company are free and will be taking place as part of the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival this weekend. The piece lasts approximately twenty minutes.

• Friday June 26th, 13:45 & 18:45
• Saturday June 27th, 13:45 & 18:45
• Sunday June 28th, 13:45 & 15:45

at Monument Gardens, Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

There will also be performances at:

• Winchester Hat Fair - 3rd and 4th July
• Penrith Dance Daze - 26th July
• Stockton International Riverside Festival - 31st July, 2nd August
• Liberty Festival 2009 - Trafalgar Square, London - 5th September
• Manchester International Festival - 18th to 20th September (TBC)

Iain Banks at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2009

June 18th, 2009 in Appearances & Events, UK-Specific

The programme for this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival has been posted online and confirms that Iain Banks will be taking part in two events this year.

The first will be a reading for the Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series, on Monday 17th August, from 5.30 - 6.15 p.m.

Immediately afterwards, Iain will be reading from and discussing his latest work in the National Library of Scotland event, which runs from 6.30 to 7.30 p.m.

More details are available on the EIBF ticket booking website.

Iain Banks talks to the Prague Post

June 18th, 2009 in Global, Interviews

Earlier in the month, to coincide with his appearance at the Prague Writers' Festival, Iain Banks was interviewed by the Prague Post.

When asked about forthcoming brand new novel Transition's placement in the M / non-M spectrum of his work, Iain said:

"The template I had in mind was The Bridge, my third novel, from 1986. I still think very highly of it, and I liked the way its structure let me use different voices and approaches. So, for Transition, I was trying to come up with something as different and challenging. I still think of Transition as basically mainstream, but I guess there's enough sci-fi in there to justify publishing it as such in a market where my sci-fi has generally done better."

Visit www.praguepost.com to read the rest of the interview.

Many thanks to Joe G of FPI Blog fame for the heads-up!