Book Week Scotland Promo Photos with Author Denise Mina

Today Scottish Book Trust launches Book Week Scotland, beginning on November 15th and celebrating it’s tenth year. As such, the festival’s theme is Celebration, so for our photoshoot that’s exactly what we did!

Joining us for these photos was award winning author Denise Mina, who is kicking off the festival with a new documentary film, The Women Writers of Garnethill, in which she discusses the contribution women writers have made to the area and the city of Glasgow.

For our backdrop, we went along to Glasgow Women’s Library, a museum and archive dedicated to the lives, histories, and achievements of women - a fantastic institution, beautiful building, and one of the only collections of its kind in the country. (I recently wrote about contributing my images to their archive of the Reclaim These Streets vigils, which you can read here).

Having recently been transfixed by Mina’s Rizzio, a brutal recount of the murder of Mary Queen of Scots’ private secretary, I really enjoyed getting a chance to chat to her about the book and the horrors of that period, as I’m a big history nerd, and she paints such a dark and bloody picture of it all. She’s also bloody hilarious, and a pleasure to shoot with. We took the opportunity to shoot a couple of headshots while we were at it.

50,000 free copies of the Celebration book, pictured, will be available from libraries and other community venues during Book Week Scotland, and includes real life stories from people around the country, and authors like Eòghan Stewart, Mòrag Law and Ross Sayers. Dozens of events will be taking place during the festival week too, with many free online get-togethers like last year, which are thankfully also complimented by the return of offline events the length and breadth of the country.

“Book Week Scotland has become a highlight of Scotland’s literary calendar, the national event where a huge range of partners celebrate the connective power of reading and writing. It is where communities all over Scotland gather together to have conversations with writers and other readers, and where individuals all over the country share their love of books and the books they love. We look forward to celebrating ten years of Book Week Scotland with a fantastic line-up, with events both online and in person.”

- Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust

Scottish Book Trust is a national charity that believes everyone living in Scotland should have equal access to books. Their work provides opportunities to improve life chances through books and the fundamental skills of reading and writing.

For previous Book Week Scotland festivals, I’ve shot in locations all over the central belt, and at all kinds of events - one highlight being a live conversation between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and author Maggie O’Farrell, in the stunning grand hall of Stirling Castle. Equally as exciting for me was a quick shoot in the depths of Tramway theatre Glasgow with Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, and a super shoot on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile with comic book artist Frank Quitely and the Man of Steel himself. You can see a few of these highlights below.

This year, I’m glad to see real world events, which weren’t possible last time, return to the programme - I always love being a part of Scottish Book Trust’s brilliant work