What's on in the libraries

Bookbug says Hello!

A celebration of all the languages spoken by families across Scotland.

Dates

Monday 13 May to Saturday 19 May 2024

Event details

Join us at Stirling Libraries for Bookbug Week for ‘Bookbug says Hello’ a celebration of all the languages spoken by families across Scotland. Bookbug sessions are free, friendly, fun, and have songs, rhymes and stories for babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and their families and carers to enjoy together. Each session lasts around 30 minutes in a relaxed environment and has been designed to support children’s development while having fun.

Our Stirling Council Libraries and Archives book and culture festival ‘Off the Page’ is returning this year starting Wednesday 22 of May 2024 and running till Friday 31 of May 2024.

Our theme is Mystery, Malevolence and Murder and we have an excellent programme of events planned across our libraries and rural communities. Events will feature historical literary figures, showcase fascinating stories from our archives, and feature some of our favourite Scottish authors.

Guest Speaker Professor Alison Cathcart from Stirling University

Date

Wednesday 22 May 2024

Time

7pm-8pm

Location

Legends Coffee House

Event details

Join us for our annual George Buchanan lecture at Legends Coffee House. This event kicks off our Stirling Libraries and Culture Book Festival ‘Off the Page’ for 2024. This year’s lecture is being given by Professor Alison Cathcart, from Stirling University’s History Department.

Better known for his Latin poetry and teaching Greek to the young James VI, as well as fluency in French, Hebrew, Spanish and possibly Italian, George Buchanan was a native Scots and Gaelic speaker. This lecture will examine Buchanan’s writings about the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland: the Highlands and Isles, and the region’s inhabitants. It will assess his comments about clanship, his description of the islands around Scotland found in his 1582 Rerum Scoticarum Historia, and the significance of these aspects of his writings.

How to book

Suggested donation (£5)

Visit Stirling District Tourism on Eventbrite to book

Doors open 6:30pm

For further information email info@sdtourism.org 

Keynote Speaker author James Robertson

Date

Thursday 23 May 2024

Time

2:30pm - 4pm

Location

Central Library

Event details

This year, Stirling Central Library is celebrating its 120th anniversary! Join us for the launch of a new exhibition, tracing the library's journey from opening in 1904 to the modern-day. Our key-note speaker is best-selling author and poet James Robertson, who will be taking a trip down memory lane to share his experiences visiting Central Library as a boy. 

How to book

To book a space on this event call 01786 237760 or email centrallibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Author Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Monday 27 May 2024

Time

2:30pm-3:30pm

Location

Gartmore Village Hall with support from Stirling Libraries Mobile Van

Event details

Join us at Gartmore Village Hall where we chat to local author Suzy Aspley about her chilling gothic thriller ‘Crow Moon’. Steeped in folklore this debut novel is set amid the mountains and ominous dark forests of the Trossachs.

An investigative reporter gives up her job when her young twins are killed in a fire, but when she stumbles across the body of a missing teenager, she's thrust into a chilling investigation that will leave no one unscathed….“Dark, gothic, and dripping with dread, this spellbinding debut is a triumph.” C J Cooke

Originally from the north east of England, former journalist Suzy Aspley has lived in Scotland for almost 30 years. She writes crime and short stories often inspired by the strange things she sees in the landscape around her. Suzy won Bloody Scotland’s Pitch Perfect competition in 2019 and a month later was shortlisted in the DHH Literary Agency New Voices Award in London.

How to book

To book a space on this free event call 01786 237553 or email mobilelibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Speaker, Pam McNicol from Stirling Council Archives

Archives Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Monday 27 May 2024

Time

6pm-7pm

Location

Cambusbarron Library

Event details

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Scotland was gripped by a wave of paranoia and hysteria surrounding witchcraft.

Joins us at Cambusbarron Library for a fascinating talk from Stirling Council Archivist Pam McNicol featuring stories from the records held at the Council Archives of people who were accused of witchcraft and investigated by their local Parish and the Presbytery of Stirling.

These were real, often marginalised, people who became caught up in a period of hysteria about the presence of potentially evil influences in tight-knit local communities where health care for people and animals was virtually non-existent. All of which took place during a time of extreme political and religious upheaval.

How to book

Limited numbers. To book a space on this free event call 01786 473873 or email cambusbarronlibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Author Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Tuesday 28 May 2024

Time

6:30pm-7:30pm

Location

Doune Library

Event details

Come along to Doune Library to meet the author of the Viv Fraser Mystery series.  We’ll be chatting to Vicki Clifford about her mystery series of books featuring a hairdresser who is also a super sleuth. If you ever thought the life of a hairdresser was tranquil, then think again! This is no ordinary hairdresser. Viv Fraser Ph.D. and stylist to the Edinburgh establishment, has a double life as an investigative journalist and finds herself involved in some hair-raising, not to mention explosive scenes, as she trawls the seamier side of her city.

How to book

Free event, to book visit Doune Library, call 01786 841732, or email: dounelibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Author Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Wednesday 29 May 2024

Time

6pm-7pm

Location

Central Library

Event details

Author S.G. MacLean is coming to Central Library to talk to us about ‘The Bookseller of Inverness’, a brooding historical crime novel centred on a bookseller and Culloden survivor who is drawn into a web of intrigue when a stranger is found murdered in his shop.

Shona MacLean was born in Inverness and brought up in the Highlands. She has a PhD in History from the University of Aberdeen. She is the author of both the Alexander Seaton and the Damian Seeker series of historical crime novels, for which she has twice won the CWA Historical Dagger, as well as of Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year 2023, The Bookseller of Inverness.

How to book

General admission cost: £4

Concession cost: £2

Payment for admission: on booking, or on entry to the event

Waterstones book sales: cash only

To book a space on this event call 01786 237760 or email centrallibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Author Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Thursday 30 May 2024

Time

2:30pm-3:30pm

Location

St Ninians Library

Event details

Join us at St Ninians Library as we chat to one of Stirling Libraries favourite authors, Craig Robertson, about his latest novel ‘The Trials of Marjorie Crowe’.

How do you solve a murder when everyone thinks you’re guilty? Marjorie Crowe lives in Kilgoyne, Scotland. The locals put her age at somewhere between 55 and 70. They think she’s divorced or a lifelong spinster; that she used to be a librarian, a pharmacist, or a witch. They think she’s lonely, or ill, or maybe just plain rude. For the most part, they leave her be. But one day, everything changes. Local teenager Charlie McKee is found hanging in the woods, and Marjorie is the first one to see his body. When what she saw turns out to be impossible, the police have their doubts. And when another young person goes missing, the tide of suspicion turns on her. Is Marjorie the monster, or the victim? And how far will she go to fight for her name?

How to book

General admission cost: £4

Concession cost: £2

Payment for admission: on booking, or on entry to the event

Waterstones book sales: cash only

To book a space on this event call 01786 472069 or email stninianslibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Stirling Council Archeologic: Dr Murray Cook

Talk and Q&A

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Thursday 30 May 2024

Time

5:30pm-6:30pm

Location

Bridge of Allan Library

Event details

Join us at Bridge of Allan Library to learn about the history of tartan and the craft of kilt making. We’ll be talking about tartan from its origins, through the Victorian era to its use today. We will be joined by our esteemed Stirling Council archaeologist Dr Murray Cook, who will be along to tell us a bit about a recent project setting out to rediscover the archaeology and history of the textile mill at Bannockburn, Stirling. In its heyday during the late 18th and 19th centuries, it was one of the largest producers of tartan, furnishing many of the Highland Regiments with their uniforms.

How to book

Limited numbers. To book a space on this free event tel. 01786 833680 or email bridgeofallanlibrary@stirling.gov.uk

Stirling Makar Laura Fyfe

Off the Page Book Festival

Date

Friday 31 May 2024

Time

6pm - 7pm

Location

Dunblane Library

Event details

Let creativity cast a spell on your writing. Join us for Spellbound: a Poetry Workshop led by Stirling Makar Laura Fyfe. Bring an old poem to rework or let your imagination run wild. We’ll be getting creative with our writing, and for those who would like to, sharing some of our poems aloud. We hope guest poet Madhu Raghavendra will be joining, Madhu is the current Charles Wallace Fellow at Stirling University.

How to book

Limited numbers. To book a space on this free event visit Dunblane Library, call 01786 823125 or email dunblanelibrary@stirling.gov.uk