Tuesday 14th April 2015; 7pm to 8.30pm,
CCA Club Room, Glasgow:
Whose Voice Is It Anyway?
Two of Scotland’s finest writers, novelist Margaret Elphinstone and poet Chrys Salt, will discuss the challenge of writing in the voices of other cultures. Does an author have to belong to the culture about which they want to write? Many authors fear that if they write about people from a different tradition or ethnic group, then they will be guilty of ‘voice appropriation’ and intruding upon another’s heritage. But is culture a turf to be ‘defended’ from outside writers?
Margaret is the author of eight novels – among them, The Sea Road, Voyageurs, and The Gathering Night. Her fiction, mostly historical, spans many periods including Mesolithic Scotland, Viking Iceland, and nineteenth century Canada. Her work is characterised by journeys to the edge – islands, frontiers – where ideas meet and evolve. She is a graduate of Durham University and an Emeritus Professor of Strathclyde University, where she was a member of the English Studies Department for eighteen years.
Chrys has authored four poetry collections, several pamphlets, and seven books for actors (under the imprint of Methuen Drama). Her poem, The Burning, was selected as one of the 20 Best Scottish Poems of 2012. In 2013, her pamphlet collection, Weaver of Grass, was shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award; she was awarded a Writer’s Bursary by Creative Scotland to finish her latest collection, Dancing on a Rock, and received an MBE in last year’s Honours List for Services to the Arts in Dumfries and Galloway
Tickets: £6 (£3 for concessions). Free to SWC members.
