• 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.]

Iain Banks returns in April with his new novel - a dark, fast-paced and brilliant thriller that deals with adolescence, love and vengeance, and the perils of coming home.

We're very excited about it, and with less than three months to wait until Stonemouth is released on the 5th of April, the countdown to publication has well and truly begun. We have a limited amount of signed and numbered reading copies of Stonemouth to giveaway to 5 readers - all we ask in return is for the lucky recipients to let us know what they think of it once they've read it!

To win one of the copies, just fill in the form below and tell us why you'd like to recieve a proof copy. We'll choose the 5 best ones and put the winners names on the website. Once the winners have written their review, they can just send it to us and we'll post them here. The review can be as long or short as you like, though the more in depth the better. No spoilers though! For terms and conditions see here.

The competition has now closed. The winners will be contacted via email shortly. Good luck to all who entered!

After so many of you voted to see an Iain M Banks title on the World Book Night 2012 list, we were thrilled when it actually happened and The Player of Games made the final list of twenty-five titles.

World Book Night 2012 will be held on April 23, and they’re looking for 20,000 ‘givers’ to volunteer. These givers will have the opportunity to give away twenty-four copies each as a way to share their enthusiasm for The Player of Games.

Share your love for Iain’s books and The Player of Games by signing up as a giver. Simply register through the World Book Night website before February 1st, and select The Player of Games from the Book Choice drop down.

More information can be found on the BBC Radio 6 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017pncn

Listen to Iain discussing 'Meet On The Ledge' by Fairport Convention from the show.

"The Wasp Factory will be featured on the BBC Radio 4 programme Bookclub on Sunday November 6th (and repeated on the 10th). It was recorded in Edinburgh on Monday."

There's no scheduled programme information on the R4 Bookclub page just yet, so keep an eye out for confirmation nearer the time, or check the Bookclub iPlayer page after Nov 6th for online access.

Update: Scheduling Info as follows:

BBC Radio 4 Book Club with Jim Naughtie – 4pm on 06.11.11 and 4pm on 10.11.11 as well as Podcast on i-player.

See www.bbc.co.uk for more information.

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.

From RadioTimes.com:

"Season 16 Episode 6 sees Suzi Perry and Ortis Deley create their own interactive e-books, using digital technology to revamp two classic novels - Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Best-selling author Iain Banks judges the results of their task. Repeated on Saturday 24 at 04:30 and 10:50."

Many thanks as usual to The Banksoniain's David H for the heads-up.

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.

If you're as keen as we are to see a Banks book on the final list of 25 that will be sent out to thousands of participating readers, you can do your bit to make that happen by creating an account on the worldbooknight.org website and then choosing The Wasp Factory as one of your favourite books.

Voting closes on the 31st of August, folks.

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.]

• 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.

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

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

One again, the narrator is Banks-regular Peter Kenny and the download is available via Audible.co.uk, Audible.com (for US-based listeners) and the iTunes store.

The show will be repeated on Friday 12th at 08.00 and 16.00 on Sky Arts 1, as well as at 17.15 on Friday 12th, 11.15 on Saturday 13th and three times on Thursday 16th, so plenty of opportunities to tune in or to set your Sky+ boxes to record.

Here's a short taster clip from the interview, via thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk.

[Thanks to David H of The Banksonian for the heads-up!]

The narrator is Banks-regular Peter Kenny and the download is available via Audible.co.uk and the iTunes store.

And December 2nd is the official release date for the unabridged audio download edition of The Player of Games, once again narrated by the multi-talented Peter Kenny and available from Audible.co.uk and iTunes. Details will be posted on (or around) publication day.

"Banks’'ability to combine humour and horror, the cosmic and the human, as he builds an action-packed story on a moral framework, as well as his wonderfully original characters and, of course, the lavish descriptions of weapons and spaceships, makes Surface Detail all you could ask for in a space opera. Nobody does it better."

[I'd normally link to the full article, but it's behind the Times Paywall, so there's not a lot of point.]

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

• 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.

• 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).

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.

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.

'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.

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).

Iain's response? "My own app... how deeply cool. This pleases as much as seeing my first novel in print."

The release of the app is timed to coincide with the publication of the paperback edition of Transition and will act as a companion to the novel, offering exclusive material including: unseen chapters, character biographies, commentary from Iain and his original notes and plan for the novel.

A unique barcode printed in the back of the paperback edition will unlock the exclusive content. Just point your iPhone's camera at the code for scanning, and the companion features for the book will be transmitted to your App screen. Fans who already own the hardback edition of Transition can unlock this content as well, by following the simple instructions contained within the app.

And this App won't stop with Transition. Content and features on future titles will be added as the App develops, Banks fans will have ongoing access to the most up to date news and features.

The App has been developed for Little,Brown by New Zealand & UK based digital agency TradeMobile. Founder Jen Porter said of the project: "At TradeMobile, we believe mobile technology must enhance and enrich the user's experience. So unlocking the 'story beyond the story' with one of the world's leading publishers is an extraordinary project and a UK first that will quite simply transform the reading experience for ever."

Iain will be reading from his latest novel Transition and taking questions from the audience. The event starts at 19.30 and is scheduled to last for two hours. Tickets are £2.50.

More information from www.fife.gov.uk.

[Thanks again to David H of The Banksonian for the heads-up]

Tickets are £6, and are available from www.thebooth.co.uk, but also by post or in person.

The event listing says: "Join Iain as he gives us an exclusive preview from his new and unpublished Science Fiction work and take the opportunity to ask him a question or two."

More information from: www.ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk.

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

Iain will be discussing his career and work with Alan Taylor, writer and journalist, as well as reading from Transition and taking questions from the audience. The event is free, complimentary drinks will be served and pre-booking is essential. See www.edinburghcityreads.net for details or email events@edinburghcityreads.net for details.

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

To access the free podcast episodes, you'll need to download and install the iTunes software. The podcast files (three episodes are available so far) should then be free to access, although you'll need to sign up to the iTunes store in order to leave a rating.

Don't forget to subscribe to the channel as well - let's get Transition into the top ten!

N.B. The US / Canadian iTunes store won't be carrying the podcast until the US / Canadian edition of Transition is published, on September 23rd.

Episode I will be shown tonight, Wednesday, 9th September 2009, at 22:00 and will be repeated on Sunday 13th at 23:50.

More details on the series website at www.bbc.co.uk.

Update: Sorry folks, doesn't look like the series will be available via the BBC iPlayer.

Not entirely sure if the programme will be available to viewers outside Scotland at the time of broadcast, but you should be able to view the show online via STV's catch-up player once the show has gone out.

Thanks to DaveH of The Banksoniain for the heads-up!

Update 09.09 STV's Andrew Coyle has been in touch to let us know that the footage of Ian's appearance on the Hour has been posted at entertainment.stv.tv. Cheers Andrew!

The show is currently available to listen to via the the BBC website / iPlayer console.

Check out the end of the segment for a quick mention of Iain's plans for his next book...

"Iain Banks will be the guest on Clive James in Conversation on Tuesday 18th August (i.e. TODAY!) at the Assembly Rooms George Street, Edinburgh."

See www.clivejamesguests.com for more information.

You can find out more about the programme at www.bbc.co.uk and can book free tickets for the recording via www.venue150.com.

[Thanks to Dave H of The Banksoniain for the heads-up]

And sincere apologies for any confusion caused by last week's post (since removed from the site) about the Forbidden Planet signing. It turned out that FP had posted the wrong details on their website (which is where I got the info from) and in my rush to let everyone know about the event I neglected to double-check the details with the publicity people here at Little, Brown. My fault entirely... apologies again.

The correct date for that signing event is most definitely Saturday, October 3rd, as per the updated appearances page and the revised Forbidden Planet events listing.

DT, webguy

Unfortunately you can't read the full piece on the Prospect website unless you're a magazine subscriber, but the first couple of paragraphs are available and non-subscribers can take it from us that the rest of the piece draws some very favourable conclusions indeed, with novelist Naomi Alderman saying:

"Transition is a clever novel: an exhilarating read that leaves a timebomb of philosophical engagement ticking in the reader's mind."

This particular ticking timebomb is set to explode into a bookstore near you (or through your letterbox via your online retailer-of-choice) early next month...

If you missed the show, you can listen again via the BBC website until Saturday August 1st.

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)

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.

See the Islay Book Festival website for more information on Iain's appearances, plus details of the other attendees.

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...

Tickets are

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 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.

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!

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

]]> http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/03/21/cumbernauld-theatre-company-touring-the-wasp-factory-april-june-2008/feed/ 0 http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/03/19/iain-banks-to-appear-at-latitude-festival-2008/ http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/03/19/iain-banks-to-appear-at-latitude-festival-2008/#comments Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:23:20 +0000 Darren http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/03/19/iain-banks-to-appear-at-latitude-festival-2008/ Iain 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]

]]> http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/03/19/iain-banks-to-appear-at-latitude-festival-2008/feed/ 0 http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/28/out-now-the-steep-approach-to-garbadale-uk-paperback-edition/ http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/28/out-now-the-steep-approach-to-garbadale-uk-paperback-edition/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:03:18 +0000 Darren http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/28/out-now-the-steep-approach-to-garbadale-uk-paperback-edition/ Another 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:

]]> http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/28/out-now-the-steep-approach-to-garbadale-uk-paperback-edition/feed/ 0 http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/22/quick-reminder-iain-banks-signing-tour-starts-monday-feb-25th/ http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/22/quick-reminder-iain-banks-signing-tour-starts-monday-feb-25th/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:45:42 +0000 Darren http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/22/quick-reminder-iain-banks-signing-tour-starts-monday-feb-25th/ Iain 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.

]]> http://www.iain-banks.net/2008/02/22/quick-reminder-iain-banks-signing-tour-starts-monday-feb-25th/feed/ 0