Why is Speedway Britain's forgotten sport?  Speedway was once Britain's second most popular sport, filling Wembley Stadium and getting regular coverage in national newspapers. Now crowds are numbered in the hundreds and it's ignored by mainstream media. But there are still those who believe in its future and are working to keep it alive as…

Join Geoff Aird in conversation about his debut novel, Within the Walls, a contemporary crime thriller set in Berwick upon Tweed.  Geoff says, 'Growing up in Berwick I always thought that the physical layout of the town would be a great setting for a murder mystery, with its bloody history, narrow cobbled streets and dark…

The book is a unique emblem of human culture and civilization, providing a record of what it means to be human. So, how did author Daniel Smith choose his selection of fifty of the most influential of all time – from Gilgamesh and the Analects of Confucius to Don Quixote and Catch-22?  Daniel Smith has…

A whistle-stop tour through the history of papermaking from its origins in East Asia to the state-of-the-art teabag machine at Chirnside papermill. Lucy Baxandall will demonstrate Western and Eastern hand papermaking processes and bust a few paper myths along the way. You’ll never take paper for granted again, and there might even be some samples…

Bloodaxe Books has revolutionised poetry publishing in Britain over four decades. In this session, founder Neil Astley will introduce three Bloodaxe authors. Jo Clement lectures in Creative Writing at Northumbria University and is the Managing Editor and Creative Director of Butcher's Dog poetry magazine. Her first book-length collection of poems, Outlandish, was published by Bloodaxe…

Make a comic and change the world Join author-illustrator Emily Haworth-Booth for a short reading from PROTEST! How People Have Come Together To Change the World, followed by a hands-on drawing and writing workshop in which participants will be guided through the process of making their own comics on the theme of activism and changing…

Our greatest challenge? Feeding Britain and preparing for climate change are two key issues - yet there’s no strategy for managing that most precious resource: our land. While the UK government has made many promises, there’s little sign of action, as farming subsidies in England are phased out leaving farmers in limbo. Thousands might leave…

Neil Astley presents the ultimate reader’s companion to poetry: 100 classic poems from five centuries with lively “companion” commentaries illuminating each poem – edited by him with the late Brendan Kennelly. Poets include Delmore Schwartz, whose sense of conflict between self and society produced the anthology’s title-poem, The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me.  Neil…

Historical fiction with a touch of magic Sean Lusk’s spellbinding debut novel The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley, a Sunday Times historical fiction and Scottish Book Trust book of the month, has been receiving rave reviews since its publication in June. Sean will tell us about what inspired him to write his first novel, and…

Join world-wide best-selling author and raconteur Alexander McCall Smith for an evening of witticisms, giggles and stories. Find out all the latest goings on in Botswana and the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, the news from 44 Scotland Street, and which moral dilemma is currently challenging Isabel Dalhousie. Alexander will also introduce his new collection…