Scottish Writers Showcase
Tuesday, 3 June
8:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Join us when David Farrier, Mairi Kidd, Ewan Morrison and Elspeth Wilson discuss their work and read from their latest books.
This free event is made possible by Publishing Scotland. No registration necessary.
David Farrier's latest book, Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet (Canongate), explores what we can learn from species about adapting to life on a human planet. His book Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils (Fourth Estate) explored humanity's deep time traces, from plastic and nuclear waste to space junk and mega cities. Footprints was a 2020 Book of the Year in The Times and The Telegraph. His writing has been translated into ten languages and has appeared in Emergence Magazine, Orion, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post. He is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh.
Mairi Kidd is a writer, publisher and all-round book person. She has an abiding interest in history and especially unheard voices and historical injustice. Her debut novel The Specimens explores the experiences of the women in the lives of notorious serial anatomy murderers Burke and Hare. Her non-fiction explores women's stories in history and includes We Are All Witches, Warriors and Witches and Damn Rebel Bitches and Feisty, Fiery and Fierce. Mairi has been Head of Literature for Creative Scotland, CEO of Seven Stories the National Centre for Children's Books, and MD of award-winning publishing house Barrington Stoke. She is currently Director of The Saltire Society where she has the privilege of directing Scotland's National Book Awards. Mairi is a fluent Gaelic speaker with a First in Celtic Studies from Edinburgh University, and is a regular contributor on BBC Alba, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC Radio Scotland. She also writes in Gaelic, and for children.
Ewan Morrison is the author of nine books including the award-winning Nina X (Fleet) and Close Your Eyes (Jonathan Cape). His latest novel, For Emma, is a troubling but utterly human dive headfirst into Silicon Valley and the big issues of our age. Described as the ‘most fluent and intelligent Scottish writer of his generation’ by Booker Prize judge Stuart Kelly, Morrison’s writing has been praised by renowned authors Lionel Shriver, Ian Rankin, Fay Weldon, Douglas Coupland, James Frey, Irvine Welsh, James Robertson, Luke Rhinehart and Hanif Kureishi among others.
Elspeth Wilson is a Scottish writer and poet with an interest in how we live in our bodies and how we make them homes. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Too Hot to Sleep, is published by Written Off Publishing and was shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s 2023 Poetry Book of the Year. Her debut novel, These Mortal Bodies, is forthcoming with Simon and Schuster in July 2025. Her work has been supported by Creative Scotland and the Royal Society of Literature.
