nicola balkind

Where has the week gone? Can we do it all again, please?

My Book Week Scotland experience came to a close at the wonderful Words Per Minute event. Organised and presented by Kirstin Innes in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council, the event was themed around "home". With The Glad Café in Shawlands as its host, it was a cosy get-together of writers and musicians, seven acts performing for 10 minutes each.

After a week of travel around some of Book Week Scotland's top spots and events, I returned home to Glasgow to take in the Pop Up Festival at the Mitchell Library – a Saturday jam packed with events.

Since the week was almost over, I binged on literary treats at Battle for the Book, My Favourite Place with Liz Lochhead and Aidan Moffat, and Literary Death Match.

The Book Week Scotland spirit was alive and well at Comely Park Primary School in Falkirk.

The pupils and teachers have been celebrating books and reading all week with author visits, reading time with grandparents, arts and crafts, and dressing up. I visited the school this morning as they got ready to ring in Reading Hour. 

The first thought that sprang to mind when I was offered a ticket to the Sacred Texts event at Scottish Poetry Library was, "An event about books that should never be adapted to film?" I hope you'll forgive me this indiscretion. I'd had my nose buried in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations for the past couple of weeks in preparation for the latest film adaptation.

Book Week Scotland is certainly keeping me busy – today I hopped on a train from Glasgow to Dundee at 10.20am to make it in time for a couple of fantastic events.

North Lanarkshire residents turned out in droves for Wishaw Library's first Book Week Scotland event – the Dickens Debate.

The evening was a good old community get-together to commemorate the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens. It provided food for thought as well as actual food provisions, partnering with the Lanarkshire-based charity Basics Food Bank, which helps individuals and families in crisis with food and hygiene packs.

Stirling MacRobert kicked off its Book Week Scotland celebrations yesterday with a My Favourite Place reception and two very special events.

Hello and welcome to the Book Week Scotland daily blog!

My name is Nicola and I'll be your official Book Week Scotland blogger.

This week I'll be attending events from Wishaw to Dundee (and many places in between), experiencing as much of Book Week Scotland as I possibly can and bringing you along with me.