Crime author says book festival is like the 'spine' of her career

Denise Mina has been part of the festival since it began

Last year it looked as if Glasgow's Aye Write book festival would not make its 20th anniversary.

It came close to cancellation due to a lack of funding – and just a few pop-up events took place instead.

However, the celebration of two decades of the festival is now in full swing, although six months later than normal.

It is the first full-scale version to go ahead for two years and will see 130 events with 180 authors taking part.

Crime writer Denise Mina has been a stalwart of Aye Write since the beginning, appearing at the first ever event in 2005 and only missing three since.

"It's felt like the spine of my career," she says.

The Aye Write festival will take place across Glasgow until 16 November

Mina came to prominence with her Garnethill trilogy in 1998, which established her as a key figure in the Tartan Noir, a genre of crime fiction known for its dark, gritty, and realistic portrayal of Scottish life.

She now ranks alongside other prominent writers in the genre such as Ian Rankin, Val McDermid and Louise Welsh but Mina says she did not really feel part of a writing community until events like Aye Write came along.

"I was kind of working in a vacuum at the time because I had kids," she says.

"I didn't really feel part of a community and Aye Write really created a community."

Twenty years on and Mina is established as crime-writing royalty and will be discussing her 20th novel The Good Liar when she appears at the festival next weekend.

She says she loves the energy of the Glasgow audiences and the event feels very natural.

"It doesn't feel like a festival superimposed on the city," she says. "It feels like very much part of Glasgow."

"It never felt that it was a festival company coming in here and putting up tents."

'A drunk at a funeral'

Mina, who was born in East Kilbride in 1966, spent much of her childhood in places such as Paris, London, Bergen and Perth, moving around with a father who worked in the oil industry.

She returned to Glasgow in 1986 and says the festival makes her feel at home unlike other places which can be much more reserved.

"Quite often I feel like a drunk at a funeral," she says.

"You're always too extroverted for wherever you go.

"But in Glasgow, the audiences respond like that."

However, she concedes that interacting with Glaswegians might not be for everyone.

"I think we are quite heavy going," she says.

"If you get it, you get it. And if you like it, you like it."

Debut author Aimée MacDonald said it was surreal to promote her book

This year's Aye Write is going ahead after Creative Scotland awarded £262,500 to Glasgow Life, which will provide expenses for this year's programme and the next two.

It means new writers such as Aimée MacDonald can experience the event for the first time.

She took part in a panel for debut authors, on the first day of the festival, at Waterstones in Sauchiehall Street.

"I think you could definitely feel a kind of buzz," the writer says.

She says her appearance felt strange because she had studied in the bookshop with her friends at university.

"It's quite surreal to be on the other side of that and imagine my book in there," she says.

The Last Witch on the Knock, Aimée's debut novel, is about a girl escaping to the Scottish Highlands and becoming caught up in a witch-filled past.

Novelist Callum McSorley will take part in a panel of award-winning Scots writers

Award-winning author Callum McSorley was part of Aye Write in 2023 when he was promoting his debut novel Squeaky Clean.

He says it was "quite a shock" when the 2024 festival was cancelled.

"Glasgow has a really impressive and important literary heritage so for our city to not have its own literary festival is mad," he says.

"It's brilliant to see it back again."

McSorley, whose new book is called Paperboy, says he finds writing a lonely profession and like Mina sees festivals as a way of interacting.

He says book festivals help people discover their new favourite books by interacting with novels they might not have before.

And he says that's exactly the experience he has had himself at previous festivals.

"We're making sure we're still shining a light on people who are living in this city and working here," he says.

Aye Write tries to focus on Scottish authors and writers

Aye Write's programmer Bob McDevitt says he is excited to see the festival come back to life.

He says he is excited to see the audience fully in action again after the festival's multiple cancellations.

Aye Write started at a single venue 20 years ago, Glasgow's Mitchell Library, where it was library staff who began it all.

McDevitt says he still likes to focus on Scottish authors when it comes to choosing the programme to make sure the festival is rooted in the city.

He says: "Aye Write is for the people of Glasgow."

Events will continue until Sunday 16 November.

Among the authors taking part are Irvine Welsh, Jeanette Winterson, Sally Magnusson, Dougie Donnelly and former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Venues include the festival's birth place, The Mitchell Library, as well as Waterstones Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow's Film Theatre and the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

Some events will branch out from the city centre to venues such as The Burrell Collection in Pollok Park.