Aye Write, originally stylized as Aye Write!'','' is an annual

book festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...

which takes place in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland in late February or early March.

History

The first Aye Write festival was in 2005. Originally intended to occur once every two years, Aye Write announced in 2007 that the book festival would become an annual event. In response to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the festival was cancelled in 2020, and was online-only in 2021. Aye Write returned to in-person festivities in 2022. The 2024 festival was announced as being cancelled after a failure to secure funding from

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( ; ) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the execut ...

, however a large donation then allowed organisers to run a slimmed programme, with pop-up events now planned to take place across 2024.

Participants

The 2016 line-up included

Chris Brookmyre Christopher Brookmyre (born 6 September 1968) is a Scottish novelist whose novels, generally in a crime or police procedural frame, mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan No ...

Limmy Brian Limond (born 20 October 1974), known as Limmy, is a Scottish comedian, author, and Twitch streamer. While working as a website designer and Flash developer, Limmy began releasing comedy on his website and blog, Limmy.com, which containe ...

, and

Stuart Cosgrove Stuart John Francis Cosgrove (born 12 November 1952) is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and television executive. As a journalist, Cosgrove served on the ''NME'' (as media editor) and '' The Face'' during the 1980s, before joining Channel 4 i ...

. People who have taken part in the festival include: Edwin Morgan,

William McIlvanney William Angus McIlvanney (25 November 1936 – 5 December 2015) was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works ''Laidla ...

Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan (born 21 June 1948) is a British novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of the ...

Iain Banks Iain Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies (). After the success of '' The Wasp Fact ...

, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh,

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

Andrew Motion Sir Andrew Peter Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and a ...

Lynne Truss Lynne Truss (born 31 May 1955) is an English author, journalist, novelist, and radio broadcaster and dramatist. She champions correctness and aesthetics in the English language, which is the subject of her 2003 book, '' Eats, Shoots & Leaves: ...

Jenny Colgan Jenny Colgan (born 14 September 1971, Prestwick, Ayrshire) is a Scottish writer of romantic comedy fiction and science fiction. She has written for the ''Doctor Who'' line of stories. She writes under her own name and also using the pseudonyms ...

John Burnside John Burnside (19 March 1955 – 29 May 2024) was a Scottish writer. He was one of four poets (with Ted Hughes, Sean O'Brien and Jason Allen-Paisant) to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for a single book – in th ...

, and others.Glasgow West End info on 2007 festival
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Clare Maclean Prize

The Clare Maclean Prize for Scottish Fiction was awarded at the 2008 festival in memory of Claire Maclean, the partner of

Mike Gonzalez Mike Gonzalez or González may refer to: * Mike Gonzalez (pitcher) (born 1978), American baseball pitcher * Mike González (catcher) (1890–1977), Cuban baseball catcher * Mike Gonzalez (historian) (born 1943), British historian and literary critic ...

, with a £3000 first prize. It was open to any book written by a Scottish author (or someone working in Scotland) in the previous twelve months.

References

External links

* Literary festivals in Scotland {{UK-festival-stub