Iain Banks Appearances in Spring 2012

January 30th, 2012 in Event News, UK-Specific

Spring is nearly here, and with it comes the much-anticipated Stonemouth - Iain Banks' new novel set in an estuary town in far-north Scotland. To support the release of the novel, Iain will be appearing at a number of events around the UK, including:

• The Stratford-Upon-Avon Literary Festival - Wednesday 25th April
• Key Words Dinner & Conversation - Friday 27th April
• University of East Anglia Literary Festival - Tuesday 1st May

For details, please see the appearances section of the website.

[Thank you to David H from The Banksonian for the heads up on these three.]

Guardian Masterclass with Alan Spence and Iain Banks

October 6th, 2011 in Event News

A Guardian Masterclass writing course will be taking place in Edinburgh over the weekend of 12th - 13th November, 2011.

Writing tutor Alan Spence will be leading course attendees through a series of sessions designed to help aspiring writers hone thier skills. Guest tutor Iain Banks will be leading one of the sessions.

Tickets are £400 and there are only 15 places available. More details from www.guardian.co.uk.

Free Iain Banks Event, Edinburgh, 28 Sept 2011

September 21st, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain Banks will be taking part in reading event at the University of Edinburgh next Wednesday, 28th September.

The event has been organised by the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh and admission is free.

See www.word-power.co.uk for details.

Thanks to David H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up.

Iain Banks at Get Moray Reading Book Festival

September 2nd, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain Banks will be one of the major names appearing at this year's Get Moray Reading Book Festival, which runs from 21st - 24th September.

Iain will be appearing at 19.00 on Thursday 22nd. More details at the festival website. And here's the full programme of events [pdf link].

Thanks (as usual) to David H of The Banksonian for the heads-up.

Iain [M] Banks at the 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival

June 20th, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

The 2011 Edinburgh Book Festival programme has been published and from it we learn that Iain Banks will be appearing at the RBS Main Theatre on Thursday 18th August, from 8.00pm - 9.00pm in an event titled 'What Lies Beneath the Surface Detail'.

Tickets for the event are £10.00 and will be on sale from 8.30am on Sunday 26th June.

More information can be found at www.edbookfest.co.uk.

There's also a rumour on Twitter that Alex Salmond will be conducting the interview on the night.

[Many thanks to David H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up on all of the above.]

Iain [M] Banks Events in June 2011

April 12th, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain will be out and about in June to support the paperback publication of Surface Detail and the appearances page of the site has been updated with details of the following events:

• Friday 3rd June: Alt Fiction, Leicester
• Sunday 5th June: Hay Festival
• Monday 6th June: British Library (with Francis Spufford)
• Saturday 11th June: The Sage, Gateshead

As always, please check the individual event organisers' websites for ticket prices and other relevant information.

Iain Banks at Word 2011, Aberdeen, May 13th

March 24th, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain Banks will be appearing at this year's Word, the University of Aberdeen Writers Festival, on Friday 13th May at 7.00 p.m. Tickets for the event, priced £8 (£6 concessions), go on sale on Monday 28th March.

There's more information on the event over at www.abdn.ac.uk/word.

Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod at AyeWrite! 2011

January 28th, 2011 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain [M] Banks and Ken MacLeod have been confirmed for an event at this year's Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival, which takes place from Friday 4th - Saturday 12th March.

Visit www.ayewrite.com for more information on the event, plus ticket booking details.

Photos from the Iain Banks event at Luton Library

October 28th, 2010 in Event News

Iain Banks appeared at Luton Library on Tuesday October 18th, reading from his new Culture novel Surface Detail and taking questions from the audience.

Photographer Ben Hodson was there on the night and he took a whole series of fantastic shots of the event, which you can view via his gallery.me.com page.

Here's a quick shot of Iain in full flow:

("I tell you, that knife missile was this big...")

Many, many more great shots on that gallery page.

Iain [M] Banks to relaunch Gourock Library

October 12th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

Another addition to this Autumn's events calendar sees Iain Banks visiting Gourock to re-open their library after a major refurbishment, with a talk and signing event on Tuesday 26th October.

More details on the Appearances page of the site or direct from www.s1.gourock.com.

Iain [M] Banks book signings in Bristol and Cambridge

September 16th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

This Autumn's Surface Detail tour continues to grow, with the addition of two more dates for your diary, both lunchtime book signings:

• Tue 02.11.10 - Forbidden Planet Megastore, Bristol
• Wed 03.11.10 - Heffer's Bookshop, Cambridge

As always, further details and links to relevant websites are available on the Appearances page of the website.

More Iain [M] Banks Autumn Appearances Confirmed

September 13th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

We've just added a few more confirmed events to the appearances page of the site:

• Tue 12.10.10 - Waterstone's, Edinburgh West End
• Wed 13.10.10 - Waterstone's, Glasgow Sauchiehall Street
• Thu 14.10.10 - Waterstone's, Manchester Deansgate
• Sat 20.11.10 - Lennoxlove Book Festival

As usual, please check the appearances page for more details and then follow the links for relevant contact details and booking information (all these events are ticket only, so advance booking is highly recommended).

Iain Banks at the Morley Literature Festival

July 21st, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

Another newly-confirmed date for your diary: Iain [M] Banks will be taking part in this year's Morley Literature Festival in Leeds.

Details as follows:

Friday 15 October 2010 at 7.30pm

Venue: Morley Town Hall, Leeds LS27 9BD

Tickets: £5

Box Office: 0844 848 2706

As always, contact the event organisers for ticket details and don't forget to double-check before travelling, in case of last-minute alteration or cancellation.

Iain Banks at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

July 16th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain Banks will be taking part in two events at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival.

The first, a talk on Monday August 16th, is already sold out according to the EIBF website, but tickets are still available (at time of posting) for a second event, called 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger?' on Saturday August 28th, from 7.00 - 8.15 p.m.

Here's the event description from the Festival brochure:

In his guise as a science fiction writer, Iain M Banks has created a utopian interstellar civilisation known as the Culture. This imaginary community populated by 'transhumans' has real-life parallels in the work of Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at Reading University. The subject of Warwick's research is his own body, and he has transformed himself into the world’s first Cyborg. In this event Warwick and Banks are joined by Steve Yearley, Director of the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum, to contemplate the future of human beings.

Tickets are £10 / £8 (concessions) and can be booked via www.edbookfest.co.uk.

Iain Banks at the Tolbooth, Stirling, September 15th

July 16th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

Iain Banks will be appearing at Stirling's Tolbooth Theatre on Wednesday September 15th.

'An Evening With Iain Banks' will be chaired by Professor Rory Watson, retired from Stirling University and is part of Off the Page, the Stirling Book Festival (see pages 16-17 of the online Tolbooth brochure for more details of the festival).

Tickets for the event are £7.00 each and can be booked via www.ticketsoup.com.

Iain M. Banks events in October & November 2010

July 14th, 2010 in Event News, UK-Specific

N.B. The Toppings, Bath event has been moved from October 19th to November 1st.

We've just updated the appearances page of the site with details of a number of talks and signing events that Iain will be participating in this Autumn to support the publication of his brand new Culture novel, Surface Detail.

Confirmed events so far include:

• Wed 06.10.10 - The Roundhouse, London
• Thu 07.10.10 - Forbidden Planet, London
• Sat 16.10.10 & Sun 17.10.10 - Cheltenham Literary Festival
• Tue 19.10.10 - The Paragon, Bath (with Toppings Books) REARRANGED - SEE BELOW
• Wed 20.10.10 - Chepstow Library (with Chepstow Bookshop)
• Thu 21.10.10 - De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill (with The Bexhill Bookshop)
• Mon 01.11.10 - The Paragon, Bath (with Toppings Books)
• Tue 02.11.10 - Toppings Books, Ely
• Wed 03.11.20 - Assembly House, Norwich (with Waterstone's Norwich)
• Fri 12.11.10 - Sun 14.11.10 - Guest of Honour at Novacon 40, Nottingham

Check the appearances page for more details and then follow the links for relevant contact details and booking information (the majority of these events will be ticket only, so advance booking is highly recommended).

Video of Iain Banks at the Prague Writers Festival

June 28th, 2010 in Event News, Global

David H, of Banksoniain fanzine fame, has just posted the following to the Iain Banks Forum:

The readings and conversations at the Prague Writers' Festival were recorded and are now online via www.pwf.cz.

Iain participates in the Tuesday evening conversation about Heresy, and the Wednesday evening readings.

More details on the forum.

Iain Banks at the St Albans Festival, June 16th

May 27th, 2010 in Event News

Iain Banks will be appearing at this year's St Albans Festival to celebrate publication of the paperback of his latest novel, Transition.

Venue: Verulamium Museum, St Albans
Time: Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 7:30PM
Tickets: £5, available from the museum

For more more information or to reserve tickets online, see the festival website: www.stalbansfestival.com.

Forthcoming Iain Banks appearances and events

May 6th, 2010 in Event News, Global

The Appearances page of the site has been updated with information on three events that Iain has been booked for later this year:

• Prague Writers' Festival 2010 from June 6th-10th 2010
• Literary Dundee 2010 on Saturday June 26th, 2010
• Novacon 40 from November 12th-14th 2010

See the Appearances page for a bit more information on these and other events that Iain will be attending.

Thanks (as always!) to Dave H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up on these events.

Quick Reminder: Iain Banks at Eastercon this weekend

March 31st, 2010 in Event News, Global

Just a reminder that Iain Banks is a Guest of Honour at this year's Eastercon - Odyssey 2010 - which takes place in Heathrow this Easter weekend.

David H, editor of the Bansksoniain fanzine, has been in touch to let us know about some of the Banks-related events taking place at the convention:

• David himself will be giving a talk called "Iain Banks: Before The Wasp Factory" on Friday at 13:00
• Iain is on a panel called "Utopia - How the Concept Has Developed in Philosophy and SF" on Friday at 16:00
• Iain is being interviewed by Jane Killick on Saturday at 11:00 (and in an autograph session afterwards)
• Iain is hosting a whisky tasting on Saturday at 16:00
• Iain is on a panel called "Language and Dialect in Writing" on Monday at 11:00

Full details are available in the Eastercon events programme. David has also suggested that we remind everyone that you can pay for a full weekend Convention membership on the door, and day-memberships are also available. See the Odyssey 2010 website for full details.

And if you're going to be at Eastercon and end up taking any photos of Iain, or manage to capture any decent audio or video footage (assuming that it's allowed under Convention rules, of course) then do feel free to upload your stuff to a suitable online sharing service and then send in a link (to webguy [at] iain-banks.net) and I'll post a selection of the best examples to the site next week.