August 18

Few people can claim to be both a successful author and stand-up comic, but AL Kennedy’s career spans both - “It’s all telling stories,” she says. Her quirky sense of humour became clear as soon as she walked on stage. Grimacing as the chair read out her list of achievements, her constant self-deprecation made the audience laugh as if they were attending a Fringe comedy event rather than a book reading.

Kennedy read from her sixth, as yet unfinished novel, due for completion next year. The extract dealt with the imagined joys and fears of a potential relationship, combining the mundanity of buying furnishings together with a poetic mediation on the nature of love and commitment. 

When asked if the success of her last novel, Day, has made the writing process harder, she replied: “I don’t know - it’s always horrible because you always have to be better than the last time.”

She admitted to being too ashamed to read her earliest works, and expressed frustration that her first-person female characters are widely assumed to be autobiographical: “Because there’s a woman in it, and she’s alive and has hair, they’ll assume it’s me.” She advised anyone looking for her in her work to examine the small animals and middle-aged men, because the female characters “are the last place I would hide.”

Deyan Sudjic, architecture critic and biographer of Lord Norman Foster, was not joined by the great architect himself for today’s talk. Foster, who had been scheduled to attend, was forced to cancel due to other commitments. But Sudjic’s talk, enhanced by slides showing images of Foster, his parents, colleagues, plans and finished buildings, was wide-ranging and comprehensive without Foster’s presence. 

Sudjic spoke initially of his reason for writing the biography. “Architecture is too interesting and important to leave to architects,” he said. “It needs to become part of a larger cultural discussion.” He described his approach to the biography, and the challenges posed by writing about a living subject. He and Foster discussed the framework in which he would write, a process which Sudjic described as “a game, a two-way dialogue.” 

Despite the focus on Foster’s long and successful career, Sudjic was also careful to point out that each building is the work of many people - engineers, planners, builders - and not just one man. He wanted to “look beyond the myth of the architectural genius”, and used Foster as a starting point for a wider discussion about recent architectural developments.

Alasdair Gray’s adaptation of Goethe’s Faust has, astonishingly, never been performed.  Gray has approached many theatres, but despite the enduring popularity of the Faust legend and Gray’s own reputation, Fleck has not been accepted. So to watch Gray and a group of actors perform the prologue and Act I of Fleck felt like something of an honour. 

The performance took place against a backdrop of Gray’s own drawings, projected onto the screen behind. Gray made a beguiling Old Nick, and seemed to be enjoying his performance as much as the audience. 

Gray remained true to Goethe’s version in Act I, but then departed from it in such a way that he felt compelled to rename Faust. “Why did you choose the name Fleck?”, asked an audience member. “I wanted something monosyllabic, and there was a Scottish footballer named Fleck, so I chose that,” explained Gray, to much laughter. He is currently in discussion with a Scottish music and drama school who are interested in performing Fleck - here’s hoping they are successful in doing so.

Martin Bell’s often humourous take on the Parliamentary expenses scandal does nothing to undermine his seriousness. A Very British Revolution is the former BBC correspondent and MP’s examination of the events that unfolded last summer. “My first reaction was one of profound regret,” he said. “It never occurred to me that I could claim for my hanging baskets.” 

Bell’s indignation at the abuse of the expenses system “by people who were supposed to set an example”, was clearly shared by his audience. His talk, which ranged from duck houses to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the need for electoral reform was punctuated by poems he had written lampooning the greed and shamelessness of some MPs. 

But rather than despairing at the state of British politics, Bell said that now is a time for optimism. He believes that the 200 new MPs who have been voted into Parliament in the last election will be sensitive to the need to uphold their reputations. But, he agreed that the system is still far from perfect. “I want MPs I can be proud of,” he said, to applause from the audience.