Aye Write! All Write: 10 Years of Literature in Glasgow
We discover how literary festival Aye Write! has become a key date in the Glasgow cultural calendar, speaking to its guest programmer and the writers who have grown with it: Louise Welsh, Christopher Brookmyre, Alan Bissett and his birthday suit.
"One year I didn’t want to talk about my novels anymore, so I dressed up as a woman and gave the audience a play instead," says Alan Bissett, when I ask him about what makes Aye Write! – Glasgow’s book festival – so special. "It was an unusual thing to do, because everybody knew me as a novelist, not a playwright – but I got away with it." Part of the appeal of Aye Write!, he says, is its friendliness towards new ideas. There’s no stuffiness about it – which has allowed Bissett to try out new material. "I did all sorts of adventurous things. One year I took off all my clothes on stage. Afterwards, I was coming down the stairs in my pants, and I met James Naughtie." He laughs. "I thought, 'That’s it – I’ll never be taken as a serious political novelist again.'"
Aye Write! will be ten years old when it opens on 17 April this year. It was an instant success when it first took over the Mitchell Library in 2005 and it’s now an annual fixture in Glasgow’s calendar. Bissett’s nakedness aside, what’s made it so successful? To find out, we spoke to Bob McDevitt, this year’s programmer, and the three authors who’ve been regulars since the start: Alan Bissett, Louise Welsh and Christopher Brookmyre.
One thing they all agree on: it’s strange that Glasgow didn’t have a book festival before 2005. Scotland’s biggest city is home to plenty of writers, and has been the inspiration for lots of books – not just gritty crime fiction. It was a big omission on the festival circuit, so perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s done so well. It also fits around ordinary lives – unlike the Edinburgh International Book Festival, most of the events happen in the evenings and at weekends. Glasgow’s identity has come from the working class, says Bissett, so it makes sense for the festival to fit around the working day.
"People are up for it," claims Welsh. "Aye Write! shows that people in Glasgow are literate, switched on, and keen to get involved. They don’t just want to come and listen, they get involved in discussions, workshops, plays... everything." That sense of interaction with the audience is special in Glasgow. "People here aren’t shy to speak up," says Brookmyre, who’s been at events where discussions with the audience have extended way beyond the allotted time. For Welsh, that can be a really useful process – talking to a room full of people who know your work can give you a fresh perspective, new ideas, and can allow you to make connections you hadn’t considered previously.
In the same way that Bissett uses the festival to test new ideas, so Welsh finds it energising to have that connection and feedback from an audience. "I’ve never seen anyone reading my book," she says, "I don’t know what I’d do if I did. But being at a festival gives you that sense that there are people out there who are reading what you’ve written." And the best bit, she says, is when you hit a moment of realisation. "You’re often working towards one of those moments, and it’s slow work – then the light bulb ping happens at a festival. Not very often, but once or twice it has."
The location of the festival, in the Mitchell Library, is a central part of its success. Welsh says this is perhaps the most important thing – that it takes place in a library. The book festival is also a library festival, and there are few libraries as lovely as the Mitchell. Of course, all book festivals – and all writers – want to sell books. Aye Write! isn’t exempt from that, but the fact that it encourages people to read in whatever way they can is heartening. "They can splash out on the tickets," says Welsh, "and then borrow the book. And I’m the same, I can’t go around buying hardbacks all the time, either." Getting people inside the library – people who might not think that libraries are for them – is a crucial aspect of the festival. "And," she adds, "the café is excellent."
The festival has been enormously successful, but it’s not resting on its laurels. This year, Bob McDevitt has worked hard to put together as diverse a programme as possible: it’s a huge mix of big names, sports personalities, crime, literary fiction, debut writers and non-fiction. The festival has strong partnerships – from mental health charities through to Scottish PEN (who are chairing a 19 April event on Charlie Hebdo). There’s a big strand of music and art this year too – not least with appearances from George the Poet, who stands in the shady space between poetry and rap, and graphic novelist Mark Millar, who’s seen enormous success with Kick-Ass and Kingsman.
"Glasgow’s identity has come from the working class, so it makes sense for the festival to fit around the working day"
"We’ve got a really strong group of women’s memoirs this year as well," says McDevitt. "International writers like Mona Siddiqui, Ghada Karmi, and Jane Hawking will be here." Has it been an intentional choice, to include more women in the programme? "Gender balance is really important, but to some extent we’re bound by the books. We’ve been lucky this year, and I’ve been careful not to feature too much on war and sport." This diversity increases the festival’s appeal – and McDevitt is keen to attract as many people as possible from all walks of life, especially those who might not normally attend a book festival.
The breadth of Aye Write! is part of its appeal, says Welsh. "I love walking through the library when the festival is on, and you see one audience coming out of an event and another waiting to go in to something completely different – and everybody all mingling together. All those conversations going on, and the possibility of getting switched on to something you hadn’t heard of before." And is it different, appearing at a festival on your own doorstep? "Absolutely," she agrees, with a note of conspiracy in her voice. "When you go to Cambridge, you can pretend you’re somebody else – a serious, proper writer. But I can’t do that here. As a writer there’s always a nervousness about doing things on your own pitch, near the shops you go to, next to your house. It’s daunting, but you’re always greeted with a lot of kindness and warmth. An event I did last year was just really, really warm – and it was nice to look out and recognize people. Some of them were even customers in the bookshop that I ran all those years ago."
What sort of a ten-year-old is it, then? It’s lively, inclusive, and wants to talk to everybody. It’s in rude health for sure – this year it’s bigger than ever. Bob McDevitt has done a masterly job with the programme – now it’s up to the writers, hosts, and the audience to make full use of the space. Let’s just hope Bissett keeps his clothes on.