‘State of the Art’ radio-play - casting news
June 26, 2008Last week on his blog, Paul Cornell reported that no less a British stage luminary than Anthony Sher KBE will be playing the voice of the GCU Arbitrary in the forthcoming BBC4 radio adaptation of 'State of the Art', which Paul has scripted and Iain Banks is reportedly very pleased with indeed.
More news as Paul reveals it...
[Thanks to Dave H of 'The Banksoniain' for the heads-up]
Download ‘The Wasp Factory’, FREE, via The Independent and Audible.co.uk
April 8, 2008The Independent and Audible.co.uk have teamed up to bring you a free, yes, that's right, a completely FREE - audio download of the new audiobook version of The Wasp Factory.
The Independent explains:
"Over the course of the week [the offer went live on April 2nd*] you will be able to download the chapters from this celebrated novel and by Friday April 11th you will have all of the parts you need to make up the complete 6-hour audiobook."
Full details of the offer are available from www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books.
And check out www.audible.co.uk/iainbanks for a special offer on a range of Iain Banks audio titles from Audible.co.uk, which are available at a 30% discount until April 18th.
*Apologies for the late posting of this one, folks... if you're quick, you can still catch it!
Cumbernauld Theatre Company touring ‘The Wasp Factory’, April - June 2008
March 21, 2008Doug Martin of Glasgow's Tron Theatre has been in touch with the details of a forthcoming tour of the Cumbernauld Theatre company's production of The Wasp Factory.
Here's the press release:
The Tron Theatre is thrilled to announce that Cumbernauld Theatre will premiere their new production of Iain Banks' celebrated cult novel, The Wasp Factory, at the Tron, from 17th – 26th April, before embarking upon a Scottish tour.
The Wasp Factory, the controversial debut novel which launched Iain Banks to literary acclaim, is told from the perspective of the sixteen year old protagonist Frank. A perfectly ordinary sixteen year old serial killer, whose mother has deserted him, whose father measures his own eccentricities on an imperial scale and whose brother, confined to a secure hospital for setting fire to dogs, has recently escaped.
A tale of childhood and growth towards maturity within the insular confines of a small island and a warped family, the novel caused storm and controversy as many readers found Frank's view of the world more than a little disturbing.
Brought to the stage for the first time in 1992 at Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre, Cumbernauld Theatre Director Ed Robson remounts Sutherland's adaptation with a cast that features Nicola Jo Cully as Frank, Robbie Jack as Frank's psychotic brother Eric and Ian Sexon as his emotionally detached and highly eccentric father.
Plus, join Director Ed Robson and the cast of The Wasp Factory after the performance on Wednesday 23rd April, as part of the Tron Theatre's on-going 'RE: PLAY' post-show discussions series, in association with The Herald.
And here are the tour dates:
Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Previews: Thu 17 – Sat 19 April
Tue 22 – Sat 26 April, 8.00 p.m.
Tickets: Previews: £7
Tue – Thu £10 (£6), Fri + Sat £14 (£10)
Box Office: 0141 552 4267
www.tron.co.uk
Audio Described and BSL interpreted performance Thu 24 April.
Full Scottish Tour:
- Tue 29 + Wed 30 April - Macrobert, Stirling
- Sat 3 May - An Lanntair, Stornoway
- Thu 8 May - Brewery Arts, Kendal
- Thu 15 May - Regal, Bathgate
- Fri 16 May - Ryan Centre, Stranraer
- Sat 17 May - Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock
- Mon 19 – Wed 21 April - Cumbernauld Theatre
- Thu 22 – Sat 24 May - Dundee Rep
- Tue 27 May - Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy
- Wed 28 + Thu 29 May - Eden Court, Inverness
- Fri 30 + Sat 31 May - Byre Theatre, St Andrews
- Tue 3 June - Falkirk Town Hall
- Wed 4 - Sat 7 June - Traverse, Edinburgh
- Thu 12 – Sat 14 June - Lemon Tree, Aberdeen
Please contact the individual venues listed above for ticketing information, and see the Wasp Factory Tour website for updates.
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]
Out Now: Iain Banks’ ‘The Wasp Factory’, Audio CD, read by Peter Kenny
March 6, 2008A brand new audio adaptation of Iain Banks' career-launching debut novel, The Wasp Factory, is available now on CD Audiobook from Hachette Audio.
The narrator is Peter Kenny, an actor and singer who has worked widely in theatre and broadcasting, appearing with, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company, A&BC, Coventry Belgrade, and the BBC Radio Repertory Company.
Click on the cover for more info on The Wasp Factory:
Out Now: ‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ UK paperback edition
February 28, 2008Another official Iain Banks release date today, this time for the UK paperback edition of The Steep Approach to Garbadale, although copies may already be available in UK bookstores.
Click on the cover image to read an extract from this novel of families and the games they play:
Out Now: ‘Matter’ - US hardback edition
February 27, 2008Today is the official publication date for the US edition of Matter (although there's a good chance you may already have seen copies of the book in US stores).
Click on the cover image to read an extract from the new Culture novel, courtesy of publisher Orbit Books:
Paul Cornell to adapt ‘State of the Art’ for BBC Radio 4
February 25, 2008Over on his LiveJournal, science fiction writer Paul Cornell has announced that he has been commissioned to adapt the Iain Banks novella 'State of the Art' into a play for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 later this year.
Paul, who is best known for his work as a writer for Doctor Who and also writes novels and comics, said of the project:
"My producer is the wonderful Nadia Molinari, and we're looking to keep all the SF goodness of the original. I'm enjoying how serious and thoughtful the brief is. The story is about Banks' spaceborne utopian civilisation, the Culture, encountering Earth. Some interesting casting of a Ship voice ahead, I should think, and who should be Diziet Sma? I'm anticipating the process hugely."
Further details as they become apparent...
Iain Banks named in Times list of ‘50 greatest postwar writers’
February 21, 2008Iain Banks has been named alongside 49 other British literary luminaries in the (London) Times' list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
In their quick summary of Mr Banks' achievements to-date, they note:
"Although reviewers of Iain Banks’s debut The Wasp Factory were not entirely convinced of its moral value, they couldn’t deny that it heralded the arrival of a brilliant new imagination ... An entertaining and outspoken writer, at 53 Banks still has something of the enfant terrible about him."
Visit the Times website to read their Iain Banks profile piece and see the full list of 50.
‘The Steep Approach to Garbadale’ short-listed for new Scottish fiction prize
January 23, 2008The Clare Maclean prize for Scottish Fiction is a new award that will be announced by the organisers of Aye Write!, the Bank of Scotland Book Festival on March 15th.
The Steep Approach to Garbadale is one of six short-listed novels, all of which were first published in 2007, that have been nominated for the inaugural award. Fingers crossed!
