From best-selling authors Sir Alexander McCall Smith and Sir Ian Rankin and two former Scottish Makars (National Poets) Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead to debut novelists who have been shortlisted for numerous awards, the line-up for the new Scots in London St Andrew’s Book Festival is exciting, ambitious and wide-ranging in its appeal. With a cross-border aim to celebrate Scotland in London, the first ever Scots in London St Andrew’s Book Festival will take place in central London
from 25 November to 1 December 2024.
Jackie Kay, CBE, National Poet of Sotland 2016 - 2021, © Denise Else
A whole host of best-selling authors have now been announced including Sir Alexander McCall Smith, a prolific international best-seller of well over 300 books; tennis legend Judy Murray; Andrew O’Hagan, author of Mayflies, and TV icon Lorraine Kelly. Crime fiction enthusiasts will have plenty to enjoy, with events featuring Sir Ian Rankin, the multimillion-copy worldwide bestseller of over thirty novels and creator of John Rebus; Ann Cleeves, best known for her detectives Vera Stanhope, Jimmy Perez and Matthew Venn who can be found on TV in ITV’s Vera, BBC One’s Shetland and ITV’s Long Call respectively and Chris Brookmyre, creator of investigative journalist Jack Parlabane. Other fiction authors include Hugo Rifkind and Malachy Tallack.
Lorraine Kelly © Nicky Johnston
Whatever types of books are your bag there will be events to match. There are memoirs
and biographies from Simple Minds guitarist Derek Forbes, Scottishwriter and broadcaster Damian Barr who hosts The Big Scottish Book Club, plus Chitra Ramaswamy on the story of her decade-long friendship with Holocaust survivor Henry Wuga. There will be politics from Gavin Esler and James Naughtie, best known for presenting BBC Newsnight and Radio 4’s Today programme respectively, and Jen Stout discussing her coverage of the human cost of the conflict in Ukraine. Two historians are also joining the line-up - Alistair Moffat, one of Scotland’s most respected popular
historians and journalist Alan Taylor who is currently writing an ‘autobiography’ of Edinburgh. There is also geography and the environment with Kat Hill’s tour of the UK in search of bothies.
The programme also includes a spoken word showcase chaired by Michael Pederson, a prize-winning Scottish poet and author and the Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh. 'A Fantastic Racket' will feature spoken word musician Bee Asha, Scottish artist, musician and writer Bill Drummond and two former Makars (National Poets of Scotland) Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead. Jackie Kay has been awarded an MBE and CBE for services to literature, and Liz Lochhead received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2015.
Michael Pederson, © Porty Books
Scotsin London is also proud to be providing a London platform to debut and early career writers through two dedicated events. The first event will feature winners of this year’s Saltire Awards for which entries are currently open. The shortlist will be announced mid-September. Scots in London is also delighted to have secured funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland to
support a debuts’ showcase and promote cross-border literary connections.
The debuts’ showcase will include four new writers: Genevieve Jagger with her gothic, queer and magic realism novel Fragile Animals; Lynsey May writer, reader and café-lover based in Edinburgh with her blackly comic debut novel Weak Teeth; Andrés N. Ordorica - a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh who was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s Poetry Book of the Year and Chris Carse Wilson with his debut novel Fray,a missing-person mystery set in the menacing Scottish highland wilderness.
The final programme will be announced later this summer when box office sales will also open. To stay up to date with all the latest Festival news head over to www.standrewsbookfestival.org where visitors cansign up to the newsletter, become a Festival friend and also follow the Festival on social media.