Pure poetry as Iain Banks adds audio to Mark Brew’s Nocturne
June 26, 2009DaveH 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)
More info on Iain Banks’ Prague Writers Festival appearances
May 28, 2009DaveH of The Banksoniain has been in touch with more details of Iain's forthcoming Prague Writers Festival dates next month:
Iain is doing two signings. The first at the Big Ben Bookshop at 12:00 on Monday, 8 June. The second is at the Academia Bookstore at 17:00 the same day.
Then he is part of the Guardian Conversation called "The Freedom to Lie" at 18:00 on Tuesday, 9 June in the Laterna Magika Theatre, along with Wolf Biermann, Ma Jian, Jaroslav Rudiš, moderated by Max Rudin.
Later that evening he is part of the International Reading session in the same location at 20:00 along with Jaroslav Rudiš, Jaromir Švejdík and Yang Lian.
Both these events are listed as having simultaneous translation.
Tickets are available at the Laterna Magika, from Ticketpro or reservations can be made by email at info@pwf.cz.
The full Festival Programme is available at www.pwf.cz/en.
Iain Banks signing, Chapters Bookstore, Dublin, May 15th
April 17, 2009From the Chapters Bookstore LiveJournal blog, news of an Iain Banks signing in Dublin on Friday May 15th this year:
We are very pleased to announce that Iain Banks / Iain M Banks, author of The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road, Consider Phlebas, The State of the Art, and many more, will be signing in Chapters Bookstore, Parnell Street, Dublin 1 on Friday 15th of May from 5pm to 6pm.
Please contact Chapters for more information on the signing and if you plan to attend, don't forget to check with them before you travel, in case of last-minute alterations or a cancellation.
Iain Banks to appear at Prague Writers’ Festival
February 11, 2009Iain will be an author guest at the Prague Writers' Festival, which takes place at the Laterna Magika theatre in the city over the weekend of 7th - 11th June this year.
Visit www.pwf.cz for more information on the event.
[Thanks to DaveH for the heads-up.]
Iain [M.] Banks announced as GoH for Eastercon 2010
December 22, 2008Odyssey 2010 - the next-but-one reincarnation of the annual Eastercon British National Science Fiction Convention - have announced that Iain will be one of their Guests of Honour, along with fellow authors Mike Carey, Alastair Reynolds and Liz Williams, plus Artist Guest of Honour Carlos Ezquerra, and Fan Guests of Honour Jon and Fran Dowd (all Guest of Honour appearances are subject to work and other commitments).
The four-day convention, which in 2010 will return to the London Heathrow Radisson Edwardian; scene of this year's Orbital 2008 event.
For more information, see www.Odyssey2010.org.
John Mullan on readers’ responses to ‘The Wasp Factory’
July 21, 2008Over at The Guardian Online John Mullan presents a summary of the recent Wasp Factory discussion panel, which was held in London and featured a live panel discussion with Iain Banks on the subject of the many and varied interpretations of and reactions to his debut novel.
The general conclusion was that the book isn't actually as shocking as its reputation tends to suggest. Iain said that it was written as a black comedy and that Complicity was actually written to be far more shocking, but tends to be written up as being far less so. Iain's suggestion was that the shock response to The Wasp Factory created "anti-bodies" that then defeated the shock value of the later novel.
Plenty more of interest from the session, over at books.guardian.co.uk.
Edit Dave H has pointed us in the direction of a podcast recording of the panel session on the Guardian website. Cheers Dave!
Reminder: Iain Banks appearing at 2008 Latitude Festival
July 14, 2008Just a quick reminder that Iain Banks will be appearing at this coming weekend's Latitude Festival.
The Literary Arena page has been updated recently and lists Iain as appearing on Saturday, possibly round about lunch-time (ish). So if you're already heading on down to the festival this weekend (Saturday day passes are sold out, so it's probably best not to turn up on spec) and want to see our Mr Banks do his thing (whatever that thing turns out to be) then it looks like Saturday is the day to hang around the Literary Arena. Presumably they'll give you an actual timetable of events when you get there on the day, so you'll know roughly what time to turn up. So that should be okay...
Iain Banks on Radio 4 next week
July 10, 2008Via Dave H of The Banksoniain fanzine, we hear that Iain is listed as a contributor to the programme 'The Disappearing Art of the Mix Tape', which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 11:30 next Thursday, July 17th.
The blurb says: "Broadcaster and journalist David Quantick celebrates the home-produced compilation cassette, a disappearing art form in an age when music can be readily downloaded. Contributors include novelist Iain Banks and poet Simon Armitage."
More information from www.bbc.co.uk.
Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’ to feature in The Guardian
June 26, 2008Over the next four weekends, starting on June 28, John Mullan - professor of English at University College London - will be discussing Iain Banks' The Wasp Factory for the Guardian Book Club. Iain will also write a response piece, which will be published on July 12. We'll bring you links to any online content as we discover it, of course.
Banks-fans and other interested readers can also join the professor and the author for a discussion of the novel on Thursday July 10 at the Newsroom, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1. Doors open at 6.30 p.m. and entry costs
Iain Banks appearing at the 2008 Edinburgh Book Festival
June 17, 2008The Edinburgh International Book Festival recently published its 2008 events schedule, so we can now confirm that Iain [M] Banks will be appearing on Wednesday August 13th, from 8.00 to 9.00 p.m. in a session billed as 'The Biggart Bailey Event'.
Tickets are
Iain Banks appearing in Gateshead, September ‘08
June 3, 2008David from The Banksoniain has been in touch to let us know that Iain Banks is scheduled to put in an appearance in Gateshead on Friday September 12, as part of Gateshead Libraries' National Year of Reading events programme.
Initial info has been posted at www.asaplive.com, with more details to follow in due course, which we'll post as soon as we have them.
Iain Banks appearing at 2008 Islay Book Festival
May 16, 2008It was announced a while ago, but we've recently been sent some additional information on Iain's forthcoming appearance at the 2008 Islay Book Festival, which runs over the weekend of September 6th and 7th at Port Ellen Primary School on Islay.
Iain will be taking questions from the audience during a panel session on Saturday 6th at 10.30 a.m. and will then be talking about his latest novel, Matter at a second session on Sunday 7th at 2.00 p.m.
More information is available on the Islay Book Festival website: www.islaybookfestival.com.
Iain Banks to appear as GoH at 2008 Oslo Science Fiction Festival
March 22, 2008Iain will be making an appearance as Guest of Honour at this year's Oslo Science Fiction Festival, which takes place from Thursday July 31st to Sunday August 3rd at Helga Eng's House, Blindern, University of Oslo.
More information on the Festival at www.oslosf.no.
[Thanks to DaveH of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod AyeWrite! appearance - video available
March 20, 2008If you didn't manage to get to Glasgow for the AyeWrite! Book Festival earlier this month and therefore missed the on-stage appearance of Iain Banks and Ken MacLeod, then do not despair, you now have a chance to catch up...
A video excerpt of the reading and discussion session has now been posted over at the AyeWrite website. And you can download a full MP3 recording of the event if you prefer to listen at a later date, which has also been posted as a Podcast to iTunes.
[Thanks to DaveH of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Iain (M) Banks confirmed as Guest of Honour for Satellite 2, July 25th-26th 2009
March 19, 2008Iain Banks will be the Guest of Honour at Satellite 2, a convention being be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow over the weekend of July 25th and 26th, 2009.
Early days yet, so more details will be forthcoming at a later date, but memberships are already available from www.satellite2.org.uk.
[Thanks to DaveH of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Iain Banks to appear at Latitude Festival 2008
March 19, 2008Iain has been confirmed as one of the leading lights of the line-up for the Literary Arena at this year's Latitude Festival, which takes place at Henham Park, Southwold in Suffolk from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July.
Iain will be appearing on the same bill as fellow literary heavyweights Hanif Kureishi, A L Kennedy and Irvine Welsh. Check out the Latitude 2008 website for the full line-up of bands, writers, comedians and poets.
[Thanks to DaveH of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Quick reminder: Iain Banks signing tour starts Monday Feb 25th
February 22, 2008Iain Banks will be meeting his public and signing copies of his brand new Culture novel Matter (and, most probably, the paperback edition of The Steep Approach to Garbadale) at City Books in Hove, Waterstone's Bristol, Waterstone's Norwich and Waterstone's Lincoln from Monday to Thursday next week.
Full details can be found in the Appearances section of the Extras page of the site.
Site update: forthcoming appearances info added to Extras
February 15, 2008Just a quick note to say that information on a number of Iain Banks' forthcoming public appearances has been added to the Extras section of the site.
Currently listed are Iain's forthcoming signing tour to promote Matter, as well as later appearances at the 'Aye! Write' festival in Glasgow (March '08), the Lincoln Book Festival (May '08) and the Newcon4 sf convention in Northampton (October '08).
He's also making an appearance (so we understand) at the Islay Book Festival / Port Ellen Book Festival, but details are currently a bit sketchy. Info will be posted as soon as the details have been confirmed.
