What's on in the libraries

Date

11 November 2024

Time

5:30pm to 7pm

Location

Cambusbarron Library

Event details

Have you picked up a book, started it, and then never got around to finishing it?

Join us at Cambusbarron Library as we get warmed up for our week of book related
celebrations for Book Week Scotland. Bring along your Book-You’d-Like-to-Finish or your pile of B-I-L-F, and join other like-minded bookies for book swap, book chat, or just a bit of quiet reading time to finish that book!

It might not be that it’s a ‘bad’ book, perhaps you just stopped and didn’t get around to
finishing it.

Drop-in, tea, coffee, cake provided.

How to book

No booking required

Date

14 November 2024

Time

5:30pm to 6:30pm

Location

Bridge of Allan Library

Event details

Join us at Bridge of Allan Library as we chat to Dr Jade Scott about her new brilliant biography of Mary, Queen of Scots.

For almost two decades before her or execution at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots was a prisoner. From her chambers, she wrote countless letters, many encrypted using complex ciphers to prevent her communications from being intercepted. In this way, she used language to exert her will and her influence, even while incarcerated. More than 400 years after Mary’s death, the discovery of further encoded letters has led to renewed interest in the breadth of her encrypted correspondence in captivity.

In Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots historian and expert on Mary’s correspondence Dr Jade Scott draws on hundreds of Mary’s letters and those sent to her, to paint a vivid portrait of one of history’s most compelling figures. She interrogates Mary’s complex relationships with friends and enemies throughout her imprisonment, illuminating her strategic expertise and bringing Mary’s captivity to life as never before.

Dr Jade Scott is a historian specializing in Mary, Queen of Scots and an expert on her letters. She is an affiliate in History at the University of Glasgow, an associate fellow of the Royal Historical Society and Secretary of the Scottish History Society, researching early modern Scottish women and their correspondence. She lives in Stirling with her husband and two St Bernards.

How to book

Free event, book sales cash only. To book please contact Bridge of Allan Library on
01786833680 or email bridgeofallanlibrary@stirling.gov.uk 

Date

15 November 2024

Time

7pm to 8pm (doors open 6:30pm)

Location

Central Library

Event details

Join us at Central Library for an evening of poetry and literary chat. This event will be a celebration of all the achievements of Stirling Makar past and present. We will hear Laura Fyfe read from her newest poetry collection and the event will include a star performance from Anita Govan.

Laura Fyfe

A lapsed parachutist, Laura Fyfe suffers from a chronic low boredom threshold. She writes poetry out of compulsion, stories for fun and novels for the challenge. Laura's poetry has been published in literary magazines including Butcher's Dog, Poetry Scotland and Gutter, and has been shortlisted in competitions such as the Bridport and Plaza. She lives in river deep, mountain high Stirlingshire, facilitates writing workshops and communities across Scotland, and supports writers worldwide. 

For the last four years, as Stirling Makar, Laura has celebrated our people, places and history. She has gathered our ideas to be projected online and onto the Wallace Monument, worked with many of us both online and in person to encourage our confidence in our own writing, and provided safe, welcoming platforms upon which to share our writing.

Anita Govan

Anita Govan is a neurodiverse spoken word poet, performer, and teaching artist based in Edinburgh. Across her almost 30-year creative practice and career, Anita has appeared on TV and radio with her work featured by STV, BBC Radio Scotland, and BBC Radio 7. She was Stirling Makar from 2012 to 2015, Poet-in-Residence for UNESCO in 2023, and Poet-in-Residence at ITAC3 in 2016. Anita has performed her poetry around the world at festivals including the Amnesty International Refugee Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Glastonbury, Wigtown Book Festival, and StAnza. She has performed at the Nuyorican in New York, USA, London Soho Theatre in London, UK, and Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary, Canada.

How to book

Free event, book sales cash only. To book contact Central Library on 01786 237760, or email centrallibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Date

19 November 2024

Time

7pm to 8pm

Location

Bridge of Allan Library

Event details

Join us at Bridge of Allan Library as we chat to acclaimed crime writer Neil Broadfoot, the author of the Connor Fraser series of crime thrillers set in Stirling. We’ll be talking to Neil about the latest book in the series, ‘Unmarked Graves’ which sees Connor on the trail of a double killer, and we will get to hear a bit about ‘Exit Wounds’ the seventh book in the series due to be released in January 2025.

Neil Broadfoot worked as a journalist for 15 years at both national and local newspapers, including The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Evening News, covering some of the biggest stories of the day. Falling Fast, which was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize, is the first in the Edinburgh-set McGregor and Drummond series of thrillers.

His Stirling-set series, which begins with No Man’s Land and features close protection expert Connor Fraser, has been hailed as “tense, fast moving and bloody” and “atmospheric, twisty and explosive” with a “complex cast of characters and a compelling hero”.

No Man’s Land was longlisted for the 2019 McIlvanney Award. He is one of the Four Blokes In Search of a Plot, a quartet of crime writers who live write a story based on suggestions from the audience. The Four Blokes have appeared in England, Spain and Scotland, including at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

How to book

Free event, book sales cash only. To book a space at this event contact Bridge of Allan
Library on 01786833680 or email bridgeofallanlibrary@stirling.gov.uk 

Date

19 November 2024

Time

7pm to 8pm

Location

Thomas Graham Library, Strathblane

Event details

Join us at the Thomas Graham Library, Strathblane as we chat to popular contemporary novelist Anstey Harris about her latest release ‘The House of Lost Secrets’.

“Gorgeously written, evocative and compelling, The House of Lost Secrets is a heartfelt ode to female friendships. It's a hauntingly beautiful, poignant story about complex relationships and the power of forgiveness. I highly recommend it.” — Sarah J. Harris, author of Meet Me On The Bridge.

Anstey Harris is a British author of contemporary fiction. She writes about the things that make people tick, the things that bind us and the things that can rip us apart. In 2015, she won the H G Wells Short Story Prize for her story, Ruby and The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton (a Richard and Judy pick for July 2019) won the RNA Sapere Books Romantic Novel of the Year title in 2020.

How to book

Free event, book sales. To book a space at this event contact Thomas Graham Library,
Strathblane on 01360770737 or email strathblanelibrary@stirling.gov.uk 

Date

21 November 2024

Time

6pm to 7pm

Location

Central Library, Stirling

Event details

Join us at Central Library during Book Week Scotland. We’ll be chatting to Lin Anderson about ‘Whispers of the Dead’ the latest pulse pounding instalment of the Rhona MacLeod series.

Lin Anderson is best known as the creator of the forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod series of crime thriller novels, and for her part in founding ‘Bloody Scotland’ the international crime- writing festival which takes place annually in Stirling. ‘Driftnet’ was the first novel in the Rhona MacLeod series, published in 2003. It turned out to be a Scottish bestseller and the series now totals eighteen books in total including a novella. She loves writing literary short stories, has a children’s book series starring ‘Blaze Dog Detective’, and is also well known for the ‘Cannes Cosy Mystery’ series.

How to book

Free event, book sales cash only. To book contact Central Library on 01786237760, or
email centrallibrary@stirling.gov.uk 

Date

21 November 2024

Time

6pm to 7pm

Location

Callander Library

Event details

Join us at Callander Library as we listen to Jim talk about Watching Wildlife and some of his other books about nature.

With decades of close observation of wild animals and birds, Jim Crumley has found himself up close and personal with many of our most elusive creatures, studying their movements, noting details, and offering intimate insights into their extraordinary lives.

In Watching Wildlife – In the Moment, Jim draws us into his magical world, showing how we can learn to watch wildlife well, and what doing so can mean for our ability to care for it, and care for ourselves.

Jim Crumley is a Scottish nature writer. Born and raised in Dundee, Jim has lived much of his adult life in and around Stirling, the Firth of the Tay and its surrounding lands and coasts. He is the author of more than 40 books, mostly on the wildlife and wild landscapes of Scotland, many of them making the case for species reintroductions, or rewilding.

His Seasons series, a quartet of books exploring the wildlife and landscapes and how climate change is affecting our environment across the four seasons, is highly acclaimed. The Nature of Autumn was longlisted for the Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize 2017 and shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize 2017. The Nature of Spring was BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. The Nature of Summer, published in 2020, was shortlisted for the 2021 Highland Book Prize. 

How to book

Free event, book sales cash only. To book a space at this event contact Callander Library, 
01877331544 or email callanderlibrary@stirling.gov.uk 

John Murray’s experiences of the Crimean War

Date

21 November 2024

Time

6:30pm to 7:30pm

Location

Dunblane Library

Event details

This talk is based on a series of letters held as part of the papers of the Murray family of Polmaise and Touchadam. These are from John Murray, a Lieutenant Captain in the 1st Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards written to his mother, father and other family members during his time on active service in Crimea between 1854 and 1856.

The letters provide an insight from a local perspective on an event of national and international importance – John Murray fought at the siege of Sevastopol and was involved in the action that led to the taking of the Redan Fortress there that relieved the siege. It also gives an intimate insight into the life of a young officer abroad in the Victorian army, as John Murray describes the conditions both he and the ordinary soldiers lived in whilst on campaign, and gives details of the activities he engaged in whilst away from the front line.

The talk is fully illustrated with extracts from the letters.

How to book

Free event, to book contact Dunblane Library on 01786823125, or email
dunblanelibrary@stirling.gov.uk