Dundee Literary Festival from cradle to grave: on pregnancy, mental health, death and more
Published On Tue 18 Oct 2016 by Cara Longmuir
Books exploring our physical and mental wellbeing, birth and death, will be part of this year’s Dundee Literary Festival, which takes place this week.
Local author Tina McGuff will be talking about her life-or-death struggle with anorexia at the Bonar Hall on Thursday, 20th October at 12pm. She will be revealing more about her memoir Seconds to Snap, an extraordinary tale of a girl at war with herself.
A further three events will be taking place on Friday, 21st October starting with journalist Chitra Ramaswamy. She will be taking us on a journey with her book, Expecting, an extraordinary series of essays reflecting on the most surprising and confusing experience of pregnancy. Her talk will take place at the Bonar Hall at 12pm.
Dundee Literary Festival will join forces with Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival to explore mental health in two special events at the Bonar Hall. Young adult authors Cat Clarke and Keith Gray will have a frank discussion about children’s mental health and the difficulties faced by young people today at 3:30pm. Then at 5pm, in That Way Madness Lies, an expert panel will investigate Shakespeare’s fascination with minds in turmoil.
That same day, Susana Moreira Marques and novelist Zoe Venditozzi take to the stage at Verdant Works to discuss the importance of storytelling, the power of oral history and why it’s time to look at death with fresh eyes.
Peggy Hughes, Programme Manager of the Dundee Literary Festival, said, “Our programme is jam packed with events for readers of all sorts.
“Health and wellbeing is something that is important to us all, and we all know someone who has been affected by some of the issues that will be discussed at this year’s Literary Festival.
“I would encourage people to come along to these events and take part in the discussion surrounding health.”
The Dundee Literary Festival will take place from Wednesday, 19th October to Sunday, 23rd October, with an additional event on 25th November.
This year it will feature X-Men and Goldeneye star Alan Cumming, singer-songwriter Roddy Woomble and former Makar Liz Lochhead.
For the full programme and to purchase tickets go to www.literarydundee.co.uk.
Dundee Literary Festival is produced by Literary Dundee and is a University of Dundee-led initiative that connects books, readers, writers and the brightest ideas, thanks to the University of Dundee and partners throughout the city and beyond.
For media enquiries contact:
Cara Longmuir
Media Relations Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 385243
Email: c.z.longmuir@dundee.ac.uk