Friday 24 October 2014
At 10.30 Alan Riach will introducing his latest book “Arts of Independence: The Cultural Argument and Why it Matters Most” in a talk entitled “The Community of Scotland and the Arts of Independence”, . This will be a wideranging and possibly eye opening discussion about why independence in Scotland is fundamentally about culture.
At 2 pm. He will discuss Poetry in Company with readings of his own poetry
Alan Riach is the Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University and a well known poet who from 1986 to 2000 worked in New Zealand at the University of Waikato, where he held the post of Associate Professor of English and Pro-Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. In 2001 he returned to Scotland and took up the post of Reader in Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.
Riach has contributed to many collections and written other books, including the monograph, Hugh Macdiarmid’s Epic Poetry, which was based on his PhD dissertation and was published in 1991 by Edinburgh University Press. He is also the General Editor of Carcanet’s multi-volume, The Complete MacDiarmid.
Since 2003, Alan Riach has held a Professorship in Scottish Literature and is currently Head of Department.
Part of Alan’s talk will be devoted to the work of the late Professor Marshall Walker, a lover of both Lismore, where he spent many happy holidays during his Glasgow boyhood, and Sibelius. In Marshall’s book “Dear Sibelius: letters from a Junky“ he recounts episodes from his life, including his visits to Lismore, and the impact of Sibelius’s music on them.
Book week October 2014 Marshall Walker
Book week October 2014 Alan Riach