Latest News: 2025

5th October: Rodge featured at Snack Magazine – interview by Ted Bajer

There’s a new interview with Rodge in this month’s Snack magazine, discussing writing communities, Glasgow, mentoring and writing real lives. Thanks to TED BAJER for the piece. Extract here. Link to full article below.

‘Connection reaches into Rodge’s work not just as a responsibility, but through his writing method as well. As a biographer, Rodge does not take the objective approach. His attempt to understand a subject requires a close relationship, built on trust. As such, he finds himself as a supporting character in all his work. Building those relationships takes effort, and the approach results in portraiture over a long period of time. Perhaps this is why the close relationships he already had – with Joshua’s family and Alasdair Gray – have yielded some of Rodge’s best work.’

Rodge Glass looks back to moving to Glasgow, first meeting Alasdair Gray, and his new book ‘Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir’ (interview)

3rd October: Rodge’s Thought for the Day in the wake of the Manchester synagogue attack

Rodge appeared on Thought for the Day to respond to the Manchester synagogue attack on Yom Kippur the day before, 2nd October. You can listen here (Thought for the Day at 1h 22). Rodge also appeared on Connie McLaughlin’s phone-in show afterwards alongside leaders from multiple faith communities. You can listen to the phone-in show here (from the start). Below: Armed police at the scene.

Here is the full text of Rodge’s Thought for the Day:

‘News of the attack on a synagogue in Manchester yesterday has shaken Jewish communities here in Scotland and across the UK. Many expressed shock that this could happen here, especially on Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. This may have been the first terrorist attack on a UK synagogue but for many Jewish people this tragedy has been a long-held fear. Jews across the country feel vulnerable, antisemitism is rife and the devastation in Gaza has only intensified that. This is not paranoia. Yesterday’s incident comes when attacks on members of the Jewish faith are at an all-time high. But antisemitism has been remarkably consistent over thousands of years, its tropes, its fixations, its distortions.    

I grew up in the Manchester Jewish community and know the Heaton Park synagogue well. In fact, I grew up in two communities: one Orthodox, one Reform. They had much in common, but also very different outlooks.  And those differences remind me that when we say, of any religious group, ‘the community’, we are pulling at multiple threads. Even within one room, there is a multiplicity of views. This, for me, is key. The temptation today is to make assumptions: about the perpetrator, the motivation, the sense behind the senselessness. But we cannot know. We can only talk to each other, and ourselves. To try to imagine, with compassion, how others see the world.  

How can this help us live our lives, especially when despair might feel a reasonable response? Yom Kippur encourages Jews to reflect on how we lived in the past year. That is, to be accountable. Antisemitism has much in common with prejudices of other kinds; Islamophobia has also seen a devastating rise, and we might do well not to turn inwards in pain, but outward, to see our common humanity afresh.   

Let us not carry our prejudices, our assumptions, with us, as we move about the world. It is at times of grief, under pressure to become divided, that we see might the value of coming together.’

28th September: Rodge back on Sunday Morning show presented by Zara Janjua on BBC Radio Scotland

Rodge was back on the Faith Forum on BBC Radio Scotland on Sunday 28th September, alongside fellow panellists Mona Siddiqui and Ronnie Convery, discussing the UN Congress, the new Kim A.Snyder documentary THE LIBRARIANS, about book bans in the United States, and the significance of dreams. You can listen to the whole episode here.

28th September: Rodge appears at Byres Road Book Festival in Glasgow’s West End

Rodge will be appearing at the BYRES ROAD BOOK FESTIVAL on Sunday 28th September at 16.30, where he’ll be in conversation with Ross Wilcock about his book JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR. This year’s festival features the likes of Michael Pedersen (below, left) in conversation with Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch, Maisie Chan (below, right), Kirsty Logan, Andrea Gibb with Aisling Walsh, Chris McQueer and more. All events are FREE but ticketed.

You can find the full programme for this year’s festival here.

11th September: JOSHUA IN THE SKY longlisted for Saltire Society Nonfiction Book of the Year Award

Announced today: Rodge’s book JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR, has been longlisted for Scotland’s National Book Awards, at the Saltire Society. A shortlist will follow in a few weeks, then winners on 30th November, St. Andrew’s Day. Rodge is nominated in the non-fiction category alongside: Gerry Cambridge, Jenni Fagan, Kahleen Jamie, Chris Hoy, David Farrier, Sarah Moss, Katie Goh, Howard Amos and Louis D. Hall.

You can find all the Saltire 2025 Longlists here.

1st September: Rodge’s book MICHEL FABER published TODAY in expanded paperback edition by Liverpool University Press

Rodge’s 2023 book MICHEL FABER: THE WRITER & HIS WORK has been updated and expanded to include new material on Faber’s autobiography through music, LISTEN, his photography projects and future unpublished writing. You can get a 20% discount on the new paperback by ordering direct from the publisher here.

Reviews of the book include:

‘A brilliant, well-researched and accessible study.’

The Scotsman

‘Glass is well equipped to examine [Faber]’s somewhat unusual and interesting career… a critical work enriched by conversation and correspondence with its subject.’

Allan Massie, The Scotsman

‘What you see in these pages is, with careful scholarship and attentiveness – and thanks, no doubt, to a lengthy email correspondence with Faber himself – one mind working out the expansively imaginative dimensions of another.’

David Robinson, Books from Scotland

‘This volume offers an engaging and insightful overview of Michel Faber’s writing. Combining archival material and correspondence with close readings, Glass provides the best current introduction to Faber’s diverse body of work, with analysis and background that will fascinate both new readers and experts. This is a witty, thoughtful book that deserves a wide readership.’

Timothy C. Baker, Personal Chair in Contemporary and Scottish Literature, University of Aberdeen, and author of Reading My Mother Back

‘Glass takes an author who resists easy categorisations or a simple analysis by chronology, and embraces that, examining Michel Faber’s oeuvre by “world” and highlighting the common thread of compassion throughout them all. Illuminating and enriching, this is the perfect book for Faber fans.’

Ever Dundas, author of HellSans and Goblin

‘There were so many “ah-hah” moments in Rodge Glass’s masterful overview of Michel Faber’s work. He takes that singularly disparate oeuvre and teases out the themes that run through the hearts of each book: connection, alienation and a deep, deep compassion. It made me want to go back and start reading Faber all over again from the start.’

Mat Osman, author of The Ghost Theatre and The Ruins

The Bottle Imp’s review recently said this of the book:

‘Readers new to Faber or engaging with criticism on his writing for the first time will find plenty of insight into overarching themes across his multi-genre and multi-form fiction. For more dedicated fans and academics, Glass’s engagement with never-before-seen materials is fresh and exciting. What most makes Michel Faber a worthwhile read, however, is the strong appreciation for Faber and his work that shines through. For all its discussions of alienation and the alien, this is a very human book, brimming with compassion.’ You can read the full review here.

There is a dedicated section on this website for MICHEL FABER: THE WRITER & HIS WORK. You can find it here.

August 31st: Rodge on BBC Radio 4’s TAKE FOUR BOOKS, recorded live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, in conversation with MELISSA LUCASHENKO & presenter JAMES CRAWFORD

Rodge is back on BBC Radio 4’s TAKE FOUR BOOKS for a special LIVE episode (well, it was recorded live) at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The event was 21st August at 16.00, but the broadcast on BBC Radio 4 is available from 31st August at 16.00 here. In discussion with the indigenous Australian author MELISSA LUCASHENKO about her multi-award-winning novel EDENGLASSIE, and presenter JAMES CRAWFORD, the programme focuses on the books that shaped the making of Lucashenko’s novel, including Sebastian Barry’s THE SECRET SCRIPTURE, Keri Hulme’s THE BONE PEOPLE and the memoirs of Scottish colonialist TOM PETRIE. The Take Four Books homepage is here.

July 27th: Rodge back on Faith Forum on BBC Radio Scotland, discussing the Art of Protest, the new Jimmy McGovern drama UNFORGIVABLE & Living with Purpose

Rodge appeared on the Radio Scotland show hosted by Tony Kearney alongside fellow guests Sydney Switzer and Yahya Barry discussing protests against Trump’s visit to Scotland and, amongst other things, the excellent new Jimmy McGovern drama UNFORGIVABLE, starring Anna Friel. You can listen back here.

AUGUST 2025: HOSTING EVENTS – Edinburgh International Book Festival – David Baddiel, Rachel Cockerell & Joe Dunthorne, James Yorkston & Callum McSorley, also Tony Tulathimutte and Memoir & Biography workshop @ The Alasdair Gray Archive, Glasgow

Rodge is hosting a rash of events at EIBF (Edinburgh International Book Festival) and at the Alasdair Gray Archive in Glasgow, with a series of dates forthcoming. You can find links for tickets and info here.

10th – David Baddiel @ EIBF (20.30-21..30) Discussing his memoir MY FAMILY, based on the highly successful touring stand-up show

https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/david-baddiel-a-family-affair

11th @ 15.00 @ EIBF Rachel Cockerell & Joe Dunthorne @ EIBF: Tickets here.

15th – Tony Tulathimutte (with Elle Nash & Rodge Glass) at the Alasdair Gray Archive (Tickets are FREE, email info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org – scroll down for more below on this event)

16th – Incorporating Memoir & Biography Writing: Towards Inclusion & Social Justice workshop for postgraduate researchers, at the Alasdair Gray Archive (TICKETS by emailing info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org – see https://thealasdairgrayarchive.org/event/ for more)

19th @ 17.30 – Callum McSorley & James Yorkston @ EIBF: SOLD OUT (Please note, Callum is also appearing at a Scottish writing showcase alongside Katie Goh and others)

15th August: Rodge with National Book Award nominee Tony Tulithamutte and Elle Nash @ The Alasdair Gray Archive, tickets strictly limited – FREE

Rodge will be in conversation with Tony Tulathimutte at the Alasdair Gray Archive on 15th August @ 14.00-16.30. This is part of a special two-part event, where Tony will be interviewed by novelist Elle Nash about his new book-in-stories REJECTION (Best of New York Times, Time Magazine, GQ, 2024) in the first half. The second half will see Rodge talking to Tony about the influence on his work of Alasdair Gray. You can book tickets by emailing info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org and requesting a space.

Text from advert via The Alasdair Gray Archive:

‘The Alasdair Gray Archive is excited to announce ‘Rejection in Fiction with Tony Tulathimutte’, taking place on 15th August from 12:00–2:30pm at AGA, with writers Elle Nash and Rodge Glass. The event will open with a conversation between Tony Tulathimutte and Elle Nash about his latest short story collection, REJECTION. This will be followed by a discussion with Rodge Glass exploring Tulathimutte’s relationship to the work of Alasdair Gray.

Tony Tulathimutte is the author of the acclaimed novel Private Citizens, hailed by New York Magazine as “the first great millennial novel.” A graduate of Stanford University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, VICE, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, n+1, The New Republic, The Believer, Playboy, The Paris Review, and more. His accolades include a 2017 Whiting Award and an O. Henry Award, and he has appeared as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers. His new book Rejection has been nominated for a National Book Award in the US, and was featured by the likes of Time magazine, Publishers Weekly, The New York Times and Esquire among their Best Books of 2024.

Elle Nash is a British-American author & editor based in Glasgow, Scotland. Born in England and raised in the U.S., Elle is now pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. Notable works include: Animals Eat Each Other (2018) published by Dzanc Books (U.S.) and 404 Ink (UK), praised by O Magazine and Publishers Weekly as “a complex, impressive exploration of obsession and desire”; Nudes (2021), a short story collection that delves into working-class lives, sexuality, eating disorders, and obsession; Gag Reflex (2022), a novella written as LiveJournal-style entries, examining anorexia and psychosexual trauma; and Deliver Me (2023), a novel exploring motherhood, mental illness, and societal expectations, which was nominated for Fiction Book of the Year by the Saltire Society in 2024.’

July 20th: New Alan Bissett play, When Billy Met Alasdair’, forthcoming at Edinburgh Fringe 2025, based on photo gifted to Rodge by Alasdair Gray (and a bit on Rodge’s biography of Gray, too)

This August, playwright, novelist and performer Alan Bissett brings his new show WHEN BILLY MET ALASDAIR, in which he plays the parts of Alasdair Gray and Billy Connolly (as well as himself), to the Edinburgh Fringe. You can learn more about the show and buy tickets via Alan’s website, here. Commissioned by The Alasdair Gray Archive and the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, it has a long history, and is partially based on a photo Alasdair Gray once gave to Rodge, 20 years ago, as payment for work when he’d run out of money. This photo showed Gray and Connolly at the launch of his seminal novel LANARK in Glasgow in 1981. (Rodge then gave the photo to Alan as a present, a decade later.) Alan imagines the conversation between the two men that night, and draws on Rodge’s biography of Gray as well as many other sources to pull together a dazzling story, from a mysterious photograph by George Oliver. You can find the photograph below. The play has already received great notices in The Herald, The Sunday Post and was partially performed at Gray Day 2025.

30th June: New Review of Rodge’s book MICHEL FABER @ The Bottle Imp

There’s a new review of Rodge’s book MICHEL FABER: THE WRITER & HIS WORK @ The Bottle Imp, by Dr. Gina Lyle.

‘Readers new to Faber or engaging with criticism on his writing for the first time will find plenty of insight into overarching themes across his multi-genre and multi-form fiction. For more dedicated fans and academics, Glass’s engagement with never-before-seen materials is fresh and exciting. What most makes Michel Faber a worthwhile read, however, is the strong appreciation for Faber and his work that shines through. For all its discussions of alienation and the alien, this is a very human book, brimming with compassion.’

You can find the full review at The Bottle Imp here.

22nd June: Rodge on Sunday Morning, BBC Radio Scotland, presented by Zara Janjua

Rodge was back on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning Faith Forum on 22nd June, discussing the Summer Solstice, the 30th Anniversary of Pride, and the evolving conflict between the US, Israel and Iran, alongside Fiona Stewart of the Outspoken Bible podcast. You can find the show here.

Rodge to Chair two events at Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 2025: Rachel Cockerell & Joe Dunthorne, Callum McSorley & James Yorkston

The Programme for this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival has been announced, and you can find full listings here. This year Rodge will be hosting two events – one focused on family memoir, featuring Rachel Cockerell (author of Melting Point) alongside Joe Dunthorne (author of Children of Radium), and one focused on contemporary Scottish fiction, with Callum McSorley (author of Paperboy, also Squeaky Clean) alongside novelist and musician James Yorkston (author of Tommy the Bruce, also Three Craws). Info below.

You can buy tickets for Rachel Cockerell & Joe Dunthorne here. Callum McSorley & James Yorkston is now SOLD OUT.

Rodge on @ Mount Florida Books in Glasgow with ALICE MAH as part of #IndieBookshopWeek, 21st June @ 19.00

Rodge will be appearing alongside ALICE MAH at Mount Florida Books on 21st June, on Glasgow’s South Side, as part of Indie Bookshop Week. Tickets are free but limited. You can book here.

Here is the text from the Mount Florida Books website, with info on Alice Mah’s RED POCKETS and Rodge’s JOSHUA IN THE SKY:

‘Join us for the final night of Indie Bookshop Week. Alice Mah and Rodge Glass will be in store to discuss their latest works.

In Red Pockets Alice Mah returns to her family’s rice village in South China, and discovers that her ancestors are almost forgotten, and there are no tombs left to sweep. Instead, there are incalculable clan debts to be paid. Here Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of South China to her home in post-industrial England, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she grew up, to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives.

As years pass and fires rage on, she becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors’ neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief. A haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration, Red Pockets confronts the hungry ghosts of our neglected ancestors, while searching for an acceptable offering.

Rodge Glass’s nephew Joshua died the same day he was born, from a blood condition they both share.  Joshua in the Sky charts the five years around Joshua’s life and death as Rodge attempts to make sense of this loss. A family memoir and a memorial to a short life, it asks the questions: Whose life deserved to be remembered? And how?

Alice Mah is a Chinese Canadian-British writer and Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies at the University of Glasgow. Originally from a small town in northern British Columbia, she has a long-standing interest in ecology and place. Her award-winning research focuses on toxic pollution and environmental justice, the subjects of her most recent books: Petrochemical Planet and Plastic Unlimited. 

Rodge Glass is the author of eight books,  No Fireworks, Hope for Newborns  Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography  Dougie’s WarBring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs Stories for the EasyJet Generation and the new nonfiction book Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir . He is also the author of two audio stories for children: ‘A Little Light’ (2023) and ‘The Magic of Stories’ (2024), both available on BBC Sounds as part of the ‘Time for a Story’ series. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Take Four Books, as well as BBC Scotland’s Sunday Morning programme as a commentator, and regularly appears at book festivals internationally as both an author and a host. Rodge is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, where he is Convener of the MLitt in Creative Writing.’

26th May: Photos Courtesy of The Alasdair Gray Archive, by Alasdair Watson, from the Enrico Terrinoni event on 23/5

With huge thanks to The Alasdair Gray Archive, our Custodian host Sorcha Dallas and to photographer Alasdair Watson for capturing the day in his inimitable style, here are a selection of Alasdair’s photos from the event with the Italian Cultural Centre and Prof. Enrico Terrinoni, Italian translator of Alasdair Gray. Enrico read from Gray’s novel Lanark in Italian, Rodge read from Lanark in English, there was a discussion of the challenges of translating Gray and other major English language writers (Enrico is also the translator of James Joyce, amongst others) and there was a chance for Italian visitors to tour the Archive and explore Gray’s library as well as chat with attendees at the event. Thanks to all involved. You can donate to the Alasdair Gray Archive here.

23rd May @ The Alasdair Gray Archive (12 noon) – Rodge & Prof. Enrico Terrinoni – ‘Translating Alasdair Gray’ – limited places

Rodge will be appearing at a special one-off event at The Alasdair Gray Archive on 23rd May alongside Italian translator of Gray’s work ENRICO TERRINONI. Tickets are FREE, but very limited.

BLURB via THE ALASDAIR GRAY ARCHIVE:

‘We are delighted to announce a forthcoming event ‘Translating Alasdair Gray’ an in conversation with Professor Enrico Terrinoni (translator of Gray’s work in Italian) and Dr. Rodge Glass (Gray’s biographer). This event will happen at Midday (until 1.30pm) on 23.05.25 at The Alasdair Gray Archive. Spaces are limited so please email info@thealasdairgrayarchive.org to reserve your spot. Please let us know of any access requirements. Refreshments will be provided. This event will be recorded.’

ENRICO TERRINONI is currently Professor in residence at the Italian National Academy “Lincei” and Chair of English Literature at the Università per Stranieri di Perugia. He was Visiting Fellow at the University of Notre Dame, Mendel Fellow at University of Indiana, Visiting Scholar at Marsh’s Library, and Visiting Professor at the National Taiwan Normal University. He translated many authors such as Brendan Behan, James Stephens, Oscar Wilde, Michael D. Higgins, GB Shaw and James Joyce. For his translations he won several prizes: the City of Naples Award, the Annibal Caro Prize, The City of Florence – Von Rezzori Prize, The Capalbio International Prize. His study of Joyce’s time in Rome (Su tutti i vivi e i morti) won the De Sanctis Prize, the Viareggio-Répaci Prize and the Perosa Prize. His study of Joyce’s friendship with writer Italo Svevo, La vita dell’altro won the Fiuggi Storia Award. His first novel, A Beautiful Nothing was published in 2024.

RODGE GLASS is the multi-award-winning author of nine books, including Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography, which won a Somerset Maugham Award. He has been writing about Alasdair Gray for 20 years. Rodge is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde.

This event is generously supported by The Italian Cultural Institute, Edinburgh @iic_edimburgo Design by @abbycarterstudio

Rodge on Sunday Morning show on BBC Radio Scotland, talking The Handmaid’s Tale, Louis Theroux’s documentary The Settlers, healthy relationships, and Dying Matters Week

From BBC Sounds: ‘Our Faith Forum panellists this week: are Jewish author Rodge Glass, professor Mona Siddiqui and Rector of the Holy Trinity Melrose, Philip Blackledge. Together they’ll be discussing Louis Theroux’s new documentary “The Settlers” which follows the growing community of Israeli citizens who have settled in the occupied West Bank. As the final series of dystopian drama The Handmaid’s Tale begins, our panellists will also explore the relevance of Atwood’s story today. And finally, with the revelation that celebrity A-listers George and Amal Clooney have never had a fight, our panel ponders the pros and cons of the argument.’ You can listen to the show here,

ANNOUNCEMENT: FORTHCOMING – Expanded new paperback edition of Rodge’s book on Michel Faber due August 31st 2025

ANNOUNCEMENT – Rodge’s book MICHEL FABER: THE WRITER & HIS WORK will be published in paperback later this year with Liverpool University Press. The book will appear in a new, updated edition which covers Faber’s recent projects, from his autobiography through music LISTEN (Canongate, 2023) through to his photography work with the Intrepid Blonde, as well as rare short fiction, private writing and various works in progress. Including new interviews with the author. You can find out more about the book here.

April 17th: ‘A heroic attempt to rescue his legacy’: Rodge quoted in London Review of Books article by Dani Garavelli on the essential work of Sorcha Dallas and The Alasdair Gray Archive

Rodge is quoted in a new piece by Dani Garavelli in the London Review of Books (Vol. 47 No.7, 17th April 2025) that explores the legacy of Alasdair Gray’s work, how the archive came to be, how it survives, and the precarious state of archives in Scotland.

Here’s a short extract, focusing on the work on Custodian Sorcha Dallas: ‘She wanted to create something that honoured Gray’s quirky personality and practice. And so, when you enter the archive, you find yourself in a living room dotted with motley furniture. To your left there’s the two-legged desk Gray found in a back lane and had drilled into the wall for stability. To your right there’s a table overflowing with paint pots and palettes and brushes and spray mount. On the wall, an octagonal tabletop has been transformed into a luminous artwork. And in the centre of the room there’s the green chair on which many models sat in thrall to its owner’s monologues, and which appears – as a throne – in his mural of the Book of Ruth in an East Renfrewshire church. On the two-legged desk is a photograph of a young Alasdair – Billy Bunter in a beret – with his sister, Mora; a chicken bone, inscribed with the date of the chicken’s consumption; a handful of pens in an old prunes can; and a selection of his books. There is a fuller library, laid out exactly as it was in his flat, in the room next door.’

You can read the full article here.

April 6th: Rodge back on Sunday Morning show on Radio Scotland, talking forgiveness, isolationism, and the new BBC comedy drama Austin with Tony Kearney

Rodge was back on the Sunday Morning show on Radio Scotland on 6th April, talking about forgiveness (after the Justin Welby interview on Laura Kuenssberg), openness and isolationism (after the worldwide US tariffs and subsequent crash in markets) and about the new BBC comedy drama Austin, which follows a narcissist father who develops a relationship with his newly discovered autistic son. The show is on BBC Sounds across the UK. You can listen here.

COMING UP: May 23rd 2025 – The Insatiable Ones – An Evening with Rodge Glass

Rodge will be teaming up with the Suede fan group THE INSATIABLE ONES for a special one-off online event on Friday 23rd May @ 20.00 GMT to discuss THE SUEDE REUNION YEARS. Here’s the advert:

‘Come join THE INSATIABLE ONES for a special, hush hush, online event celebrating Suede’s reunion years, hosted by SAM HAND, alongside writer RODGE GLASS (novelist, biographer and huge fan) as we gather memories and reflections on 2010-2025 for a future, major Suede-related project.
RODGE GLASS is the author of 9 books published since 2005 – novels, short stories, graphic novels – though he’s perhaps best known for his distinctive approach to writing about his own life, as well as for his biographies of creative people. His last book was JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR (Taproot Press, 2024). Rodge’s work has been widely translated, he’s won multiple awards for his work (including a Somerset Maugham Award for Nonfiction and the Anne Brown Prize) and he’s been a Suede fan since 1992. Rodge will discuss some of his close-up experience with the band over the last 2 years, share what he’s working on, chat with Sam about what makes Suede different, and invite folks to share their own love of the band. Strictly limited to 100 spaces. Free to join, but please let us know if you book a place then can’t make it – so others can take advantage.
To book your place, please email theinsatiableonesfanclub@gmail.com

COMING UP: Rodge at the Boswell Book Festival, May 10th-11th 2025 – Joshua in the Sky, Chairing Juano Diazm Sara Sheridan & Charlie English

The programme for the 2025 Boswell Book Festival, the world’s only festival of biography and memoir, has just been announced. This year, Rodge will be appearing in several events, as both author and interlocutor. As well as an event for JOSHUA IN THE SKY (Saturday 10th May @ 18.00), Rodge will also be chairing the historical novelist and campaigner SARA SHERIDAN (Saturday 10th @ 10.45), discussing her book ON STARLIT SEAS, the artist and photographer JUANO DIAZ (Saturday 10th @ 15.15) discussing his memoir SLUM BOY, as well as CHARLIE ENGLISH (Sunday 11th @ 15.15) discussing THE CIA BOOK CLUB, which tells the true story, for the first time, of George Minden, the head of a covert intelligence operation known as the ‘CIA books programme’, which aimed to win the Cold War with literature as it infiltrated over 10 million banned titles into the Eastern Bloc. You can access the full programme for the Boswell Book Festival here. Selected events will be streamed online.

18th March: Rodge & Andrew Meehan on Take Four Books, The Craft of Writing, & Lecturing @ Strathclyde University

A new interview with Rodge is up on Strathclyde University’s website, where he is interviewed alongside Andrew Meehan, the novelist and Lecturer in Creative Writing. Rodge and Andrew discuss their recent appearances on the Radio 4 book programme TAKE FOUR BOOKS, reflecting on the craft of writing, how Take 4 Books works, and the ways that their work with students on the Creative Writing degrees at Strathclyde complements their own practice.

(Above: Andrew Meehan)

You can find the full article with Rodge & Andrew Meehan here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/whystrathclyde/news/2025/thecraftofwritingexploredontheradio/

4th March: Ten Minutes with…Rodge Glass, via the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literature, with Arianna Introna, Atilla Dosa & more

A new interview with Rodge is now available via the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literature website, alongside interview with the likes of Arianna Introna and Atilla Dosa. Rodge is interviewed by Marie Hedon, Professor of British Literature at the University of Aix-Marseille. The interview covers Rodge’s move to Scotland, Alasdair Gray, Michel Faber, responses to Scottish literature in his work from Ever Dundas to Kathleen Jamie, and specifically Joshua in the Sky, which contains multiple responses to Scottish writers and writing. You can find all the interviews with various members of the IASSL here.

21st February: Rodge in Conversation with AL Kennedy at Paisley Book Festival – confirmed for April 25th

Today the line-up for this year’s Paisley Book Festival has just been announced. Rodge will be in conversation with Costa-award-winning and twice Booker-nominated author, AL Kennedy. You can get tickets below – here’s the blurb from the Paisley Book Festival website:

• Friday 25th April, 5-6pm, Paisley Town Hall, Tickets – £10/£12

‘We’re thrilled to welcome A L Kennedy to Paisley, a Dundee-born writer and stalwart of contemporary British fiction, whose prolific career has won her a host of awards, and whose witty and insightful prose cuts to the heart of the brutal times we are living through. Her latest novel, Alive in the Merciful Country, follows a primary school teacher during the pandemic who is trying to educate nine-year-olds on Zoom, whilst parenting a son who won’t leave the house, nurturing her budding relationship despite enforced distance, and contending with a betrayal that still haunts her. An unexpected piece of post brings fresh surprises in a tale full of intrigue and drama, in which personal and political threats are countered by hope, resilience and the power of truth.

Find out more as A L Kennedy is joined in conversation by fellow author and memoirist, Rodge Glass.’

Unforgiving Times: A L Kennedy

16th February: Rodge appears on Take Four Books on Radio 4, with Susan Barker

Rodge returns to BBC Radio 4’s Take Four Books to discuss Susan Barker’s new novel Old Soul with the author and presenter James Crawford. Susan Barker’s three chosen influences on her novel are: Michel Faber’s Under the Skin, David Mitchell’s Ghostwritten, and Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye. You can listen to the full episode here. You can read an AP News review of Old Soul here.

31st January: Joshua in the Sky among Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 2024 in Product magazine

Rodge’s new memoir Joshua in the Sky was reviewed as part of Product magazine’s Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 2024, alongside the likes of Bram E. Gieben, James Kelman, Jenni Fagan and Katy Lironi. You can find the full article here.

‘Unlike anything else published this year, or perhaps in any year, Rodge Glass’ Joshua In The Sky is an intensely personal book which will nonetheless inspire empathy in all who read it. Rodge’s nephew Joshua died the same day he was born, and this is an attempt to make some kind of sense of this loss, if that is even possible. Joshua and Rodge share a blood condition called Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) and this connection is at the core of Joshua In The Sky, which touches, often viscerally, on grief, guilt, and notions of self-worth. Examining a different theme in every chapter, Glass returns to important texts from his life and work, reassessing them, and himself, along the way. Ultimately, it’s not so much about finding answers as the process itself. Joshua In The Sky will break your heart, then carefully picks up the pieces to leave you with a greater understanding of your own life, and those of others.’

The Best Non-fiction Books of 2024

30th January: Rodge on the Sunday Morning show on BBC Radio Scotland, now available on BBC Sounds – plus Molly Brodak’s ‘In the Morning, Before Anything Bad Happens’

Rodge was back on the Sunday Morning show last Sunday, discussing Trump’s inauguration, social disconnection in the UK, and Burns Night poetry. The show was hosted by Zara Janjua. This time, Rodge’s fellow panellists were Prof. Mona Siddiqui of Edinburgh University and Prof. Bob Davis of the University of Glasgow. Rodge read Molly Brodak’s poem, ‘In the Morning, Before Anything Bad Happens’, which you can find alongside 2 other poems, ‘How Not to Be a Perfectionist’ and ‘The Crowd’, at NY Tyrant, here.

You can listen to the Sunday Morning show on Radio Scotland here.

In the Morning, Before Anything Bad Happens

by Molly Brodak

The sky is open
all the way.

Workers upright on the line
like spokes.

I know there is a river somewhere,
lit, fragrant, golden mist, all that,

whose irrepressible birds
can’t believe their luck this morning
and every morning.

I let them riot
in my mind a few minutes more
before the news comes.

27th January: Rodge @ Creative Conversations, University of Glasgow, discussing Joshua in the Sky – free, in person or online

In the first of a series of appearances in 2025, Rodge will be appearing at the University of Glasgow reading series Creative Conversations on 27th January, at 1pm, discussing Joshua in the Sky, and his writing life more broadly. The event is free, in person at the Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, but is also available online, for anyone who wants to join. All welcome. Tickets are available here.

5th January: Rodge’s children’s story ‘The Magic of Stories’ back on BBC Sounds

Rodge’s audio story for children, ‘The Magic of Stories’, is now back on BBC Sounds as of this week, read by the author, Produced by Gill Davies, and with a specially commissioned illustration by artist MNeil Slorance. You can listen to the story here. It will be available throughout 2025.

From BBC Sounds: ‘Isobel likes to read, all the time. Her little sister, Sophia, wonders why. But in her books, Isobel finds a world and a space of her own. A helpful story for discussing neurodiversity and respecting difference.’

ARCHIVE – 2024

17th December: Rodge, in conversation with Michel Faber @ the New College Festival of Books & Belief, now online

In November, Rodge appeared at the New College Festival of Books & Belief in Edinburgh alongside Michel Faber, subject of his book Michel Faber: The Writer & his Work (Liverpool University Press, 2023). The event, called FAITH, UNFAITH, FICTION, ranged across all Faber’s works, his approach to compassionate storytelling, as well as exploring his relationship with writing faith in a genuine, searching way. Rodge and Michel had only shared a stage once before, in 2023. Now that event is available for free, to watch online. With thanks to the New College Festival of Books & Belief.

16th December: Rodge appears on new Radio 4 series TAKE FOUR BOOKS with AL Kennedy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00261ts

This week, Rodge appeared on the new Radio 4 books programme Take Four Books, now available on BBC Sounds across the UK, alongside the twice Booker-shortlisted novelist AL Kennedy. The discussion focused on her new novel ALIVE IN THE MERCIFUL COUNTRY, to be published in early 2025 by Saraband Books, as well as interrogating how creative influence works. As her three influences, AL Kennedy chose Andrei Bely’s 1913 pre-revolutionary novel PETERSBURG, JRR Tolkein’s LORD OF THE RINGS and Herman Melville’s classic MOBY DICK. The episode will be available on BBC Sounds for a year.

29th November: Rodge’s children’s story ‘A Little Light’ back on BBC Sounds for Chanukah

Rodge’s Chanukah story for children, ‘A Little Light’, is back on BBC Sounds as of this week, read by the author, Produced by Gill Davies, and with a specially commissioned illustration by artist Madeline Pinkerton. You can listen to the story here.

19th November: Rodge is now on Bluesky, the open social media app alternative to Twitter/X

Rodge’s new Bluesky handle is simply @rodgeglass – from now on, Rodge won’t be posting on Twitter/X. Rodge is also on Facebook, and on Instagram @rodge.glass.

10th November: Rodge appears on Sunday Morning panel programme on BBC Radio Scotland, hosted by Tony Kearney

Rodge returned to the Faith Forum on BBC Radio Scotland on 10th November alongside Bob Davis, Professor of Religious and Cultural Education at the University of Glasgow, an former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, The Very Reverend Sally Foster-Fulton. The panel discussed the new BBC Radio 4 genealogy documentary THE GIFT, the changing face of Remembrance Sunday, and the challenge to remain hopeful in the time of the re-election of Donald Trump in the US. You can listen back to the episode here.

15th October: JOSHUA IN THE SKY audiobook NOW AVAILABLE

The brand new audiobook of JOSHUA IN THE SKY, read by the author and produced by Gill Davies, is now available (free on Spotify Premium) or £7.99 to buy for those without Premium. It’s also available internationally from places such as Walmart and Barnes & Noble (USA). If you listen to the audiobook and enjoy it, please consider reviewing it, to help the book find more listeners.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/0OsQ6xbofqnHYpaqyR2SUS?utm_source=generator

12th October – AUTUMN 2024 – more Joshua in the Sky events, Jay Prosser & Absent Friends Festival, Edge Hill, plus Rodge interviews Jen Stout & Michel Faber

More events have been confirmed for Rodge’s ongoing tour in support of Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir, as well as several new ones related to Rodge’s previous work on Alasdair Gray, Michel Faber and others. For a full list of the Joshua tour dates, please see the dedicated Joshua in the Sky page on this site. Here are the dates for October-December 2024:

16th October @ 19.30 – SOLD OUT – London launch for Joshua in the Sky, West Hampstead, West End Lane Books (in conversation with James Angtay)

24th October @ 19.00 – Joshua in the Sky at Wedale Bookshop, Stow (in conversation with Alan Bissett). Tickets here.

4th November @ 13.00 – Creative Conversations, University Chapel, University of Glasgow, Rodge interviews JEN STOUT, author of NIGHT TRAIN TO ODESA. Tickets and info here.

5th November @ 18.30 – Joshua in the Sky, as part of Absent Friends Week. Mitchell Library, Glasgow, tickets and info here.

9th November @ 18.00 – Rodge interviews MICHEL FABER at The New College Festival of Books and Belief in Edinburgh. Tickets and info here.

13th November @ 14.30 – ‘Writing Real Lives: From Alasdair Gray to Joshua’ at Stewartry Literary Society, Kircudbright, tickets and info here.

26th November @ 18.30 – An Evening with Rodge Glass, at Edge Hill University Arts Centre. Tickets and info here.

2nd December @ 16.00 – ‘Memoirs of Love and Loss’ with Rodge Glass & Jay Prosser, University of Edinburgh, tickets and info here.

https://divinity.ed.ac.uk/news-and-events/divinity-events/memoirs-love-and-loss-seminar-rodge-glass-and-jay-prosser

8th October – ‘Michel Faber: Faith, Unfaith, Fiction’: Rodge announced as Interviewer for Michel Faber event at the New College Festival of Books & Belief on 9th November 2024

A rare opportunity to see Rodge in conversation with Michel Faber, subject of his 2023 book Michel Faber: The Writer & his Work, has just been announced as the closing event of the New College Festival of Books and Belief, in Edinburgh, on November 9th (18.00 start). You can buy tickets here.

The festival website describes the event this way: ‘Our 2024 festival closes with celebrated author of fiction and nonfiction, Michel Faber, interviewed by his biographer and fellow award-winning author Rodge Glass. Join us for an expansive conversation about creativity, memory, connection, belief and nonbelief with this author whose striking array of work continues to defy categorisation.

29th September – Rodge appears on BBC Radio Scotland Sunday Morning with Cathy MacDonald

Rodge was back on Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning show this week, alongside fellow guests, the Hindu scholar Ravi Ladva & Gina ethicist and theologian Gina Menzies. The debate section of the show covers Non Disclosure Agreements, power & corruption, emotive language in political discourse (after Wes Streeting’s description of the NHS as ‘broken’), as well as turning to the upcoming Hindu festival of Shardiya Navratri, which is dedicated to divine female energy, as well as the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). The first hour of the show includes interview with Stuart Murdoch of the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian discussing his new novel Nobody’s Empire, which fictionalises his experience of ME as a young musician. You can listen to the show here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0023fqf

26th September – ‘Good Writing Has to Hurt’: Deep dive interview with Rodge by Lindsay Johnstone in the Glasgow Review of Books

A new deep dive interview with Rodge on how Joshua in the Sky came to be is now available over at the Glasgow Review of Books. Covering everything from approaches to biography, collaborating with Joshua’s parents, changed relationships with storytelling as well as finally coming to terms with Jewishness, this is one of the most raw, vulnerable and intimate interviews Rodge has done.

‘Put simply, Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir is a memorial for a baby who lived for only three hours outside of the womb. It asks – and triumphantly answers – the question of whose life is any more deserving of our attention. Who is any more deserving of a book written in their name?’

You can read the interview in full here.

13th September – Review of Joshua in the Sky in The Scotsman: ‘brave, original, and ultimately devastating’

David Robinson’s review calls Joshua in the Sky ‘brave, original and ultimately devastating’, describing the book’s approach as ‘processing grief by processing texts’, an attempt to ‘unravel life’s complexities’. The review, which also gives space to explaining what the blood condition HHT is and how it affects Joshua’s family, is available in full here [paywall].

9th September – Selected photos by Alasdair Watson from Glasgow publication day launch for Joshua in the Sky, hosted by Sara Sheridan

On publication day for Joshua in the Sky, 5th September 2024, Rodge was hosted by novelist Sara Sheridan at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, in a sold out event. Here is a selection of images taken by the photographer Alasdair Watson. More of these can be found across this website.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along to the Glasgow event and made it such a warm, inclusive, celebratory evening in Joshua’s memory. You can find more of Alasdair Watson’s work here.

8th September – YouTube link to Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre event for Joshua in the Sky – available now

In the week of publication for Joshua in the Sky, Rodge did an online event with Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre, where he was interviewed by David Ian Neville about the book. The event is now available on YouTube. You can access it here. With thanks to the Live Literature Scotland fund at the Scottish Book Trust.

2nd September – Rodge’s new children’s story ‘The Magic of Stories’ available NOW on BBC Sounds across the UK

Following Rodge’s first audio story, ‘A Little Light’ in 2023, Rodge was commissioned to write another audio story for children as part of the Time for a Story Series on BBC Sounds. This time, Rodge worked with his daughters, with their support and collaboration, to write about how the act of reading can help children cope with a sometimes overwhelming world. The illustration is by artist Neil Slorance. You can listen to the story here and learn more about it: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jkxrzx.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1829504348226740535

1st September – New Dedicated JOSHUA IN THE SKY PAGE on rodgeglassauthor.com

There is a new, one-stop-shop page for all things Joshua in the Sky on this website. It includes media, endorsements, tour dates, blurb, links to order the book, bookings and more. You can find it here: https://rodgeglassauthor.com/joshua-in-the-sky-a-blood-memoir-3/

August – JOSHUA IN THE SKY: Tour dates for Autumn 2024 announced! Including launches in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Wigtown – further book festivals, talks & workshops through Autumn 2024

Rodge’s new book JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR, is published by Taproot Press on 5th September 2024, in hardback. Rodge will be on tour through September and October, with more dates to come in November and December too, relating to his previous books such as Michel Faber: The Writer & his Work. In between one-off events and festivals, Rodge will be doing some talks, workshops and more. Rodge is available for further bookings for JOSHUA IN THE SKY – all fees and author profits go to Joshua’s charities. NB: Further dates have been added to the graphic below.

JOSHUA TOUR DATES

4/9 @ 19.30 – Joshua in the Sky @ Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre, interviewed by David Ian Neville (online, free, all welcome) – https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/64973

5/9 – Joshua in the Sky PUBLICATION DAY LAUNCH @ Glasgow Waterstones Sauchiehall Street (with party after, Chaired by Sara Sheridan) – https://www.waterstones.com/events/in-conversation-rodge-glass-with-sara-sheridan/glasgow-sauchiehall-street

6/9 – Joshua in the Sky @ Cove Park, Helensburgh: https://covepark.org/book-launch-joshua-in-the-sky-by-rodge-glass/

8/9 – Scottish Jewish Archive Open Day @ 14.00-16.00 on ‘Scottish Jewish Writing in the 21st Century’ – discussing Chitra Ramaswamy & Eleanor Thom’s work –https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/66329?

18/9 @ 18.00 – Joshua in the Sky @ Edinburgh, Waterstones West End (Chaired by Esa Aldegheri)

In Conversation: Rodge Glass & Esa Aldegheri | Events at Waterstones Bookshops

27/9 @ 15.00 – Strathearn Arts Centre (Chaired by Alan BIssett)

Buy tickets – JOSHUA IN THE SKY by Rodge Glass – CRIEFF LAUNCH – In conversation with Alan Bissett – Strathearn Arts (tickettailor.com)

3/10 @ 15.00 – Joshua in the Sky @ WIGTOWN BOOK FESTIVAL – Tickets here: https://tickets.wigtownbookfestival.com/sales/main-programme/events/wbf-2024/events/joshua-in-the-sky-with-rodge-g

16/10 – Joshua in the Sky @ WEST END LANE BOOKS, WEST HAMPSTEAD, LONDON – (19.00, w/ Mat Osman) *NB This event is limited tickets, and is private invite only. If you would like to come, please contact Rodge direct through this site.

24/10 @ 19.30 – Joshua in the Sky @ STOW, THE STATION HOUSE – WEDALE BOOKSHOP (with Alan Bissett)

ALSO COMING UP:

9/11 – EDINBURGH FESTIVAL OF BOOKS & BELIEF (18.00: Michel Faber & Rodge Glass),

Michel Faber: Faith, Unfaith, Fiction 

Text from the festival: ‘Our 2024 festival closes with celebrated author of fiction and nonfiction, Michel Faber, interviewed by his biographer and fellow award-winning author Rodge Glass. Join us for an expansive conversation about creativity, memory, connection, belief and nonbelief with this author whose striking array of work continues to defy categorisation.’

13/11 – KIRCUDBRIGHT: Stewartry Literary Society (talk on Alasdair Gray), 26/11 – Edge Hill University Arts Centre, Ormskirk & more…

11th August: Rodge appears on Sunday Morning show on BBC Radio Scotland, hosted by Zara Janjua, discussing recent riots & the value of storytelling

Rodge is back on the Faith Forum on Radio Scotland, this time hosted by Zara Janjua, alongside Jehan Al-Azzawi & Fiona Stewart, talking about the recent riots across the UK, social media responsibility (& our responsibility to ourselves), also about the value of the arts & storytelling culture in the month of the Edinburgh Festivals. Full episode available here. Faith Forum is the second hour of the show: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0021wvb

August 6th: Programme for Wigtown Book Festival announced – Rodge appearing with Joshua in the Sky, 3/10/24 – article in The Bookseller featuring Rodge, Irvine Welsh & the next Anne Brown Prize

Rodge is confirmed to appear at the Wigtown Book Festival on October 3rd 2024 @ 15.00, whose programme has just been announced, and is available in full here.

From The Bookseller: ‘Lee Randall, the festival’s programmer, said: “I hope this year’s programme, with all its range and reach, proves a hit with our regular visitors while also enticing first-timers into the fold.”

The festival will also see the announcement of the winners of the annual international Wigtown Poetry Prizes for poems in Scotland’s three indigenous languages: English, Scots and Gaelic.

The former BBC Scotland political editor Brian Taylor will present the third Anne Brown Essay Prize for Scotland. Last year’s winner, Rodge Glass, will return to the festival with his memoir, Joshua in the Sky (Taproot Press).’

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/william-dalrymple-irvine-welsh-and-frank-cottrell-boyce-to-speak-at-the-wigtown-book-festival

30th July: New Series of Author Photos of Rodge by Alan Dimmick Available

Photographer Alan Dimmick has taken a series of new photos of Rodge ahead of the publication of Joshua in the Sky in September 2024. You can find this on this site at: https://rodgeglassauthor.com/author-photos-for-press-2024/. Please just credit Alan if using the photos for press purposes, or contact the author direct through the Contact feature for high res images. This is a selection of the images, taken in and around Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens in Summer 2024.

2nd June: Rodge appears on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Morning Faith Forum with Cathy MacDonald – discussion of A House in Jerusalem by Rami & Muayad Alayan

Rodge appears back on the Sunday Morning show on BBC Radio Scotland hosted by Cathy MacDonald as part of their Faith Forum. Alongside Edinburgh Central Mosque Imam Yahya Barry & Dr Rosa Murray of the University of Edinburgh, Rodge discusses Carlo Acuti, the Catholic Church’s first Millennial Saint, the idea of a new Celebration Day, as well as interrogating the new film A HOUSE IN JERUSALEM by brothers Rami & Muayad Alayan, which explores the complex legacies of Israel-Palestine and the 1948 war through the eyes of two children on either side of a ‘divide’ neither of them recognises. You can listen back tot he episode below. Rodge, Yahya & Rosa in conversation in the second hour of the show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ztkz

21st May: ***PRE-SALE OPEN*** FOR RODGE’S NEW BOOK, JOSHUA IN THE SKY, plus interview on Taproot Press website, video on socials & interview: ‘Some Kind of Magic Trick’

Today the pre-sale has opened for Rodge’s new book, JOSHUA IN THE SKY: A BLOOD MEMOIR. You can order the book in hardback here for £14.99.

‘Some Kind of Magic Trick’: An Interview with Rodge Glass on Joshua in the Sky

16th May: Event with The Rest is History’s Tom Holland on his book PAX: War & Peace in Rome’s Golden Age now available on YouTube

At Boswell Book Festival, Rodge Chaired the world-renowned historian and co-host of the world’s most popular history podcast, The Rest is History, Tom Holland. The event was sold out, but is now available for anyone to watch online via YouTube for the next 4 weeks. you can access the event in full here.

13th May: Event with Kirsty Logan, Len Pennie & Jen Stout available via YouTube

At Boswell Book Festival, Rodge Chaired the Scots poet and author of the bestselling Poyums Len Pennie, author of the queer motherhood memoir The Unfamiliar Kirsty Logan and Shetlandic journalist Jen Stout, author of Night Train to Odesa. The event is now available on YouTube until mid-June. you can find it here.

9th May: Anne Brown Brown Essay Prize 2024 launched, Rodge interviewed about winning in 2023

In 2023, Rodge won the Anne Brown Essay Prize for ‘On the Covenant’, a chapter from his forthcoming book, Joshua in the Sky (Taproot Press, 5th September 2024, forthcoming). Next year’s competition has just been announced here, with leading Scottish journalist Brian Taylor announced as this year’s judge as part of the Wigtown Book Festival.

This from the Wigtown Book Festival website: ‘Brian Taylor, one of the best-known figures in contemporary Scottish journalism, will lead the judging panel for this year’s Anne Brown Essay Prize. The annual award, which champions Scottish writing talent, carries a £1,500 prize. Mr Taylor, who is a commentator, columnist and former BBC political editor, has a close interest in essays as a means of offering fresh perspectives on contemporary life. He said: “Now more than ever it is vital to attempt to make sense of our confused and confusing world. A succinct essay can do just that, getting to the core, providing insight and enlightenment.”  The competition, organised by Wigtown Book Festival is for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland.

Last year’s prize was won by Rodge Glass, for On The Covenant, and will be included in his forthcoming book Joshua in The Sky: A Blood Memoir, published this September. He said: “I’d encourage anyone in Scotland interested in writing nonfiction to enter the Anne Brown Prize. “It was wonderful to be able to share the work publicly and raise awareness of the issues I discussed – one of which is HHT, the rare blood condition shared across my family, which is so little understood. “Last year’s shortlist was full of writers I really admire like Kirsty Logan and Jen Stout, and I’m convinced nonfiction in Scotland is strong. It’s essential to have a home for the essay that gives it more of a profile.”

Rodge’s essay ‘On the Covenant’ is available here.

7th May: ‘Strange and Complex Love’: Rodge interviews Kirsty Logan for the Glasgow Review of Books

Ahead of her Boswell Book Festival appearance on 12th May, alongside Len Pennie and Jen Stout, Rodge (who will be Chairing that event) interviews Kirsty Logan about her queer motherhood memoir, THE UNFAMILIAR. You can find the interview in full here.

‘You and your partner want a baby. But your two bodies can’t make a baby together.’

‘Kirsty Logan’s memoir, ‘The Unfamiliar’ has been described as “Cold, hard, raw writing that somehow sets your heart on fire”. In this new, exclusive interview with Rodge Glass for The Glasgow Review of Books, Kirsty shares her insights into the process of writing memoir, the constraints and limits of trying to capture complex, real-life on the page and what the experience of motherhood has taught her about love.’

Kirsty Logan, Glasgow Review of Books interview: ‘None of the characters in my fiction are me, but also they’re very much me. I’ve never danced on a circus boat with a bear, or performed as a mermaid on a haunted island, or been a teenager in the Middle Ages, like the characters in my novels. But I have confessed so much in my fiction. It feels safe to do so, because no one knows which parts are true and which parts you’ve made up. And although this memoir is the most raw and honest thing I’ve ever written, I don’t recognise myself in it. The ‘Kirsty Logan’ in the book is me, in that everything in the book is something I experienced, thought, said or felt – but also I feel like I don’t know her. She’s very distant to me now, like someone I knew in another life.’

14th April: Rodge appears on Sunday Morning show on BBC Radio Scotland with Connie McLaughlin, alongside Rupa Mooker & Amanullah De Sondy

Rodge joins Rupa Mooker, Employment Lawyer and columnist, and Amanullah De Sondy, Head of Religions at University College, Cork, to discuss news, culture and religion on their Sunday Morning show. You can listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001y9m5. The episode also features poet and disability activist Nuala Watt discussing her new book of poems, The Department of Work and Pensions Assesses a Jade Fish.

From BBC Sounds: ‘To pour over some of the stories that are making the news, digging a little deeper to reveal what they tell us about ourselves, our faith and spirituality, and the communities we live in, Connie is joined by Aman de Sondy, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam at University College, Cork, writer Rodge Glass, who grew up in the Jewish faith, and lawyer and member of the Sikh community in Glasgow. Rupa Mooker. They discuss the uncomfortable rub between military conscription and religious or moral conviction, as Israel tries to overturn a previous conscription exemption for Haredi Jews. In light of outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins recent comments about being culturally Christian, what does being culturally religious mean. The consequences of being ‘the other’, as they look at Channel 4 series ‘Defiance: Fighting The Far Right’, about how Asian communities in the UK stood up to Far Right factions in the late 1970s and early 80s.’

1st April: Rodge’s essay on HELLSANS by Ever Dundas published via Open Access in French & English, in Special Disability Studies Issue of ETUDES ECOSSAISES

Rodge’s extended essay on the work of the Scottish ‘queer-crip’ writer Ever Dundas is now published in the open access journal Etudes Ecossaises, in a special Disability Studies issue edited by Arianna Introna and Gavin Miller. The Special Issue is titled: ‘Les imaginaires de la maladie et du handicap dans la littérature et la culture écossaises’. (Photo of Ever Dundas, below, by Cinn Curtis).

Rodge’s essay, ‘Moving from “the Realm of Hospital Room to the Realm of Political Minority”: Ever Dundas’ HellSans and the Radical Contemporary Disability Novel’ is available in full here. The other contributors to the Issue, in English titled ‘Recovering Imaginaries of Illness and Disability in Scottish Literature and Culture’, are: Lorna MacBean on R.D. Laing, Laura MacDonald on Nasim Marie Jafry, Fred Spence on Andrew O’Hagan, Mathieu Bokestael on Tamsin Calidas, Gabrielle Fath on Muriel Spark, and Dana Graham & Holly Faith Nelson on Elizabeth Storie. You can access their work below.

• Lorna MacBean Disabling States of Surveillance: R. D. Laing’s The Divided Self (1960) and James Kelman’s How Late It Was, How Late (1994) [Texte intégral]La « schize de l’identité » dans How Late It Was, How Late de James Kelman (1994)
• Laura MacDonald Temporalities in Nasim Marie Jafry’s The State of Me [Texte intégral]Les différentes temporalités dans The State of Me de Nasim Marie Jafry
• Fred Spence Illness beyond the Scottish National Imaginary: Anorexia and Scots-Italian Historical Trauma in Andrew O’Hagan’s Personality [Texte intégral]La maladie au‑delà de l’imaginaire national écossais : anorexie et traumatisme historique scoto-italien dans Personality d’Andrew O’Hagan
• Mathieu Bokestael Insular Iconicity and Utopian Immunity: Inoculating the Self in Tamsin Calidas’ I Am an Island (2020) [Texte intégral]Iconicité insulaire et immunité utopique : l’inoculation du soi dans I Am an Island de Tamsin Calidas (2020)
• Gabrielle Fath The Satire of Gerontophobic Ableism in Muriel Spark’s Memento Mori: A “Salutary Scar” [Texte intégral]La satire du validisme gérontophobe dans le roman Memento Mori de Muriel Spark : une « cicatrice salutaire »
• Dana Graham Lai & Holly Faith Nelson “There Was Death in the Powder and He Knew It”: Dis/ability and Tactics of Resistance in the Autobiography of Elizabeth Storie [Texte intégral]« There was death in the powder and he knew it » : handicap, validité et stratégie de résistance dans l’autobiographie d’Elizabeth Storie

Intro by Arianna Introna & Gavin Miller:

‘Since the 1980s Scottish literary and cultural studies have expanded beyond a concern with nation to attend to the imagination of gendered, classed and racialized subjects. Disability studies and the medical humanities are though yet to be brought fully into critical dialogue with Scottish literature and culture—a fundamental step for the theorisation of the many illness and disability representations to be found there.
This special issue of Études écossaises provides a space for exploration of this richness and diversity. Contributors reflect on what recovering imaginaries of illness and disability in Scottish literature and culture might involve. Contributors engage with the imagination of experiences of illness and disability in Scottish culture, or reflect on why we might want to embrace illness and disability as legitimate categories of analysis within Scottish cultural interpretation and critique. Contributions deal with a number periods of Scottish culture, and a wide variety of sources and media.’

You can find the whole issue for free here.

30th March: Audio of Rodge’s interview with Sara Sheridan (and of Rodge discussing Alasdair Gray) via Jewish Cultural Centre, Edinburgh

Following Rodge’s event with Sara Sheridan and Eleanor Thom at the Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre in February 2024, audio is now available of both Rodge’s interview with Sara, also Rodge being interviewed on Alasdair Gray as part of the event, by David Neville.

28th March: Rodge’s events at Boswell Book Festival 2024 announced: with Tom Holland, Len Pennie, Jen Stout, Kirsty Logan + a workshop on Writing Real Lives

The line-up for the 2024 Boswell Book Festival has been announced: you can see the full programme, which features the likes of Jackie Kay, Rory Stewart, Xinran and Alexander McCall Smith, here. Most of the events take place at Dumfries House in Ayrshire. Boswell is the world’s only book festival of biography and memoir.

Rodge will be taking part in three events:

1 – Chairing leading historian and co-host of the world’s #1 history podcast, The Rest is History, TOM HOLLAND (11/5 @ 15.30) about his Sunday Times bestselling book PAX: WAR & PEACE IN ROME’S GOLDEN AGE

Info from the Boswell Book Festival website: ‘The Pax Romana has long been revered as a golden age. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, and contained perhaps a quarter of humanity. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had yet seen. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, from slaves to emperors, and beginning in 69AD, a year that saw four Caesars in succession rule the empire – and ending some seven decades later with the death of Hadrian, Pax presents a dazzling history of Rome at the height of its power. From the gilded capital to realms beyond the frontier, historian Tom Holland portrays the Roman Empire in all its predatory glory: from the destruction of Jerusalem and Pompeii to the building of the Colosseum and Hadrian’s Wall and the conquests of Trajan. Holland co-hosts The Rest Is History, the world’s most popular history podcast.’

2 – Chairing a nonfiction panel of KIRSTY LOGAN (author of THE UNFAMILIAR: A QUEER MOTHERHOOD MEMOIR), JEN STOUT (author of NIGHT TRAIN TO ODESA: COVERING THE HUMAN COST OF RUSSIA’S WAR) & LEN PENNIE (author of POYUMS), discussing the art of writing about our own lives and the lives of others. Tickets here.

Info here: ‘The art of biographical writing as defined by its rising stars. Three young emerging non-fiction writers discuss writing their own lives alongside the lives of others. Kirsty Logan is an award-winning novelist whose memoir The Unfamiliar focuses on her motherhood and on her family around her, challenging our assumptions about pregnancy, gender roles, queer identity and what it means to be a parent. Len Pennie draws on her life in her bold, unashamedly frank debut collection of poems Poyums. Moving deftly between English and Scots, she writes letters to her younger self, advocates for women’s rights and adapts fairy tales to process an abusive relationship. Jen Stout is a journalist, writer, and radio producer from Shetland, frequently working in Ukraine. Her first book Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War is a highly personal journal of one young Scot’s experience of war and of the Ukrainians. Chaired by biographer Rodge Glass.’

3 – Leading a nonfiction workshop on autobiographical and biographical writing entitled WRITING REAL LIVES. Tickets here.

Info here: ‘Open to all, whatever stage you are at in your writing life. A laid-back and inspiring workshop on biographical writing concentrating on how to bring your real-life characters vividly to the page. Led by Rodge Glass, biographer of Alasdair Gray and Michel Faber. Whether you’re writing about historical characters, about yourself or your family, come along and explore the possibilities of writing real lives in a welcoming, relaxed setting, learning how to construct a portrait of a subject by looking at elements such as the voice, physical mannerisms and background.’

25th February: Rodge interviews Denise Mina at Gray Day 2024, as she reads from her new Gray Creative Commission 

The 4th annual Gray Day takes place hosted by the Alasdair Gray Archive in association with Canongate Books at Oran Mor Glasgow from 11am-2pm on Sunday 25th February. Hosted by actor and theatre maker Tam Dean Burn and featuring a talk from Gray artistic collaborator Nichol Wheatley as well as stalls from Glasgow Print Studio, it also sees the first reading from the hugely acclaimed crime writer Denise Mina’s new Gray Creative Commission. This is a partnership between Creative Writing @ Strathclyde University & the Alasdair Gray Archive, following previous commissions from the likes of Chitra Ramaswamy, Michael Pedersen, Maria Sledmere & Juana Adcock. Rodge will be interviewing Denise as part of the event about her new work.

Tickets available here: https://www.ticketweb.uk/event/gray-day-oran-mor-tickets/13459413

18th February: Rodge appears alongside Sara Sheridan & Eleanor Thom in Edinburgh, tickets £5

Rodge will be discussing his fiction, nonfiction, and the recent Oscar-nominated Poor Things film based on the novel by Alasdair Gray on a bill alongside novelists Sara Sheridan and Eleanor Thom at Edinburgh Jewish Cultural Centre. Sara Sheridan’s new novel, The Secrets of Blythswood Square, is published in hardback on 8th February 2024. She is the bestselling author of over 20 books. Eleanor Thom’s novel Connective Tissue was published by Taproot Press in 2023, who will be also publishing Rodge’s forthcoming 2024 memoir, Joshua in the Sky. Eleanor Thom previously won the Saltire First Novel Award for her debut book. Details below.