Book Week Scotland

Book Week Scotland author events in Falkirk LibrariesBook Week Scotland, the nation’s annual reading love-in, is back and this year the theme is rebellion!

So, it’s time to rebel against your reading habits. Head to your library to pick up something new, bag a free Book Week Scotland Book,  and find authors you don’t yet even know you love!

We’ve lined up a programme of authors and storytellers who know a thing or two about rebellion…

You can find out about free tickets for all the events below on our website: www.falkirkcommunitytrust.org/libraries/book-week-scotland.aspx

E.S Thomson’s Gothic Crime
Thursday 22nd November, 6.30pm, Larbert Library

ES Thomson Book Week Scotland

The Blood, the third installment of Elaine Thomson’s Jem Flockhart series, is one of our favourite books of this year, so we’re thrilled to bring her to our libraries for the first time.

Jem, the star of the three books so far in the series, is a rebel with cause. Set in a beautifully-realised Victorian London, she lives as a man, allowing her to work as an apothecary… and get caught up in grisly crimes.

Elaine’s books are dark, gothic and atmospheric. Her Victorian London is so richly detailed that when you look up from the page, you’ll be surprised to find yourself in 2018!

Kirkland Ciccone
Thursday 22nd November, 11am, Grangemouth Library

The word rebel might have been invented for the one, the only Kirkland Ciccone!

Kirkland Ciccone has taken the teen scene by storm, with his larger-than-life personality and punk rock-fuelled pop-art style giving him the edge he needed to grab attention. A favourite with librarians and teen readers for his anarchic live events, Kirkland is in much demand. But what he does best is write twisty, weird YA fiction for the freaks/geeks/punks/teens who want to read something a little bit quirkier than the usual fare. His fiction is crammed with memorable characters, spiky dialogue, and Kirkland’s own observations.

Maggie Craig: Falkirk’s Rebels
Friday 23rd November, 10.30am, Forth Valley Sensory CentreMaggie Craig Book Week Scotland author event

Maggie Craig has been bringing Scotland’s history vividly to life throughout her career. She’s written about the workers fighting for their rights on red Clydeside, knows a heck of a lot about the Jabobite Rebellion and has a particular interest in the unsung women who have played a role in Scotland’s past.

She joins us for a very special event at the Forth Valley Sensory Centre. As well as hearing Maggie’s tales of Falkirk’s Rebels, it’s a great chance to find out more about the work the Centre does to support people with hearing and sight loss – and grab a cake and a cuppa in their excellent cafe!

James Oswald
Friday 23rd November, 2.30pm, Grangemouth LibraryJames Oswald Book Week Scotland author event

You might say that James Oswald is a bit of a rebel himself.  He doesn’t spend his days sitting in pretty Edinburgh coffee shops with his notepad and pen, he’s out roaming the fields with his Romney sheep and Highland cows!

By day, James farms and by night he writes classic fantasy and a series of eerie crime novels starring Detective Inspector Tony MacLean. DI MacLean is himself an unusual man, who is unlucky enough to see beyond the veil and the menacing evil that lurks beneath the seemingly ordinary crimes he investigates.

Jan Bee Brown: Rebel Stories
20th/21st November at Bonnybridge, Denny and Meadowbank Libraries

Storyteller Jan Bee Brown joins us for some seriously silly and rebellious tales aimed at primary age children.

Jan loves to share stories from traditional Scottish and European folktales to ancient myths and Celtic legends. She loves stories of the sea that include quests, monsters, the world at war and journeys that cross borders.

Jan speaks German and having lived and worked in Europe is drawn to Nordic myths, dark forests, tales of intrepid travellers and brave women.

Bag a book!


Grab a free copy of the Book Week Scotland book in libraries and at events.

You can also listen to all the stories, right now on the Book Week Scotland website.

Vote!

Vote for your favourite read of 2018 with Falkirk Libraries

 

 

 

 


T
ell us your favourite book of this year.  You can cast your vote in the library, or comment below right now!

The book can be fiction or non-fiction, for any age. As long as it’s a paperback, hardback, graphic novel, audiobook or eBook released in 2018, it counts!

Hurricane Book Club 2019

Hurricane Book Club 2019

The new season of the Hurricane Book Club starts soon and we’re recruiting members for our live studio audience!

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last year or so, the Hurricane Book Club is the Twitter-based reading group we share with Orkney, Glasgow and Shetland Libraries, all brought together by those nice folks at Pan Macmillan.

Each group meets in person and discusses the book like a regular reading group (sometimes with the  real live author right there in the room!),  while a fleet-fingered Librarian tweets what the group are saying and shares what the other groups think.

Date and books

All of Falkirk Libraries’ physical group meetings will take place at Larbert Library on the dates below. Everyone who joins the library reading group receives their very own free copy.

Thursday 28 February: Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, a truly haunting novel about the final days of a young woman accused of murder in Ieland in 1829

Thursday 25th April: The End We Start From by Megan Hunter in which a new mother navigates a dystopian world

Thursday 27th June: The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal, an intoxicating debut about art, obsession and possession

Get involved

Anyone aged over 16 can join, but you need to commit to attending all the meeting dates, as listed above. If you’d like to join the group that meets in Larbert Library, please email us at falkirklibraries@gmail.com. Places are going fast, so act quickly!

If you can’t join us in person, follow on Twitter:

You can also visit the Hurricane Book Club website for more information.

Check out some of our highlights from 2018

Falkirk Libraries Comic Takeover

https://photos.app.goo.gl/mtkFQ3TtT9uL0du62

Around 1000 people came to our Comic Takeover of Falkirk Library on Saturday 25th November. Creator panels, Comic Kids area, Big Quiz, Green Screen Photo Booth and loads of hugely talented artists, crafters and writers sharing their work on our stalls.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Nqj148RSOyKiWkln1

A packed day included our Big Geek Quiz. Our winners claimed a tidy haul of Image Comics. Thanks to Image for sending that big box of goodies across the pond!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GPwtmccgGoCvDint1

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Our Green Screen photo booth was huge hit! We dropped visitors into the photo background of their choice, so some boldly went into space, while others stopped at The Shire for second breakfast!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GPERldlY1iwEuzaA2

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Look at our cute cosplayers! All hail Adventure Time’s Ice King, our costume competition winner!

Our comic kids area was busy all day with Lego and superhero design. We didn’t specify height, so we did get some big kids joining in on the action.

New item by Falkirk Libraries / Google Photos
New item by Falkirk Libraries / Google Photos

We recorded our panel, which you’ll be able to hear shortly here on this blog! Sha Nazir of BHP Comics chaired the discussion with artist Clare Forrest and David Bishop, author and former editor of 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine.

New item by Falkirk Libraries / Google Photos

Here’s Kevin and Grant, regular contributors to our Library Love podcast, with the freebies donated by DC Thompson and the Phoenix Comic.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/T8xOJphjJ4E7ETbe2

Some fine examples of comic creating, produced with printables from our friends at Comic Clubs Blog.

Thanks to everyone who came along! Get more of the story over on Google photos at http://bit.ly/comictofpics.