Programme for SATURDAY 29
10.30am Remembered Remedies. Anne Barker provides a fascinating insight into the ways plants have featured in Scottish life for generations.
11.30am George Orwell: The Socialist Who Loved Nature (talk by Norman Bissell). George Orwell was one of our finest political writers who wrote it as he saw it in his essays, novels and memoirs. Yet in his diaries he wrote about the weather, bird life, walking and fishing. He was a socialist who loved nature. In this talk, Norman Bissell, who has been researching Orwell’s life for a feature film script he is writing, will reveal the unknown Orwell and discuss his continuing significance today.
1pm James Kelman and the Art of Commitment. Mitch Miller and Johnny Rodger trace the history and details of James Kelman’s political writing and activism. The authors will also show film footage and play some of Kelman’s work that has been put to music.
2.30pm Framing Muslims. Peter Morey and Amina Yaqin discuss their book and look at the way Muslims are depicted (and depict themselves) across a range of areas in political, legal, public and media discourses.
4pm Radical Gardening. George McKay travels an alternative route, through history and across landscape, linking propagation with propaganda. From window box to veggie box, from political plot to flower power, he uncovers and celebrates moments, movements, gestures, of a people’s approach to gardens and gardening. George McKay has been Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Salford since 2005.
6pm Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is Possible. (FILM: 90 minutes) see Thursday 27th
7.30pm An evening of readings, music and comedy. Guests include Alistair Findlay whose work include s Dancing with Big Eunice and performed extracts from the new book by David Torrance Great Scottish Speeches, plus gaelic singers and other surprises. Bar and cafe open until late.
Radical Gardening talk: Saturday 29 October 2011 at 4.00pm