HINGS LAUNCH!!!

For the next seven days, it’s going to be all HINGS all the time here at interrobang.scot!!!

Hing oan a minute...
Aye, that’s definitely a Hing

Interrobang Season One may be over, but we’re hosting a very special event on Friday, 28th July – THE EDINBURGH LAUNCH OF CHRIS MCQUEER’S HINGS!!!

We reckon Chris has assembled got the best line-up of live lit you can see in Scotland this year, and as much McQueer as you can handle. It’s going to be a book launch like you’ve never seen before.

Chander! You can’t sleep through this!!!

And that’s not just a promise, that’s a threat. So. Already got your copy of HINGS from 404 INK or a good bookshop near you? Then book a free ticket via Eventbrite.

Not got a copy of HINGS? Book a £3 ticket, also via Eventbrite, and enjoy a discounted £5 copy of Chris’s awesome debut.

Yep, £5. We found a magic money tree.

Not convinced yet? Then check out what the experts are saying:

And like we say, STAY TUNED!!!

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Keep Watching…

Just two more sleeps until We Are Watching, and the Interrobang crew are getting increasingly excited! Ricky absolutely refuses to calm down.

What a shower!
Jacques! You said this was cold water!!

The reasons for our excitement are manifold. We’ve got Edinburgh Makar, CHRISTINE DE LUCA! We’ve got Beth Cochrane inspiration and writer-in-residence supreme, MARJORIE LOTFI GILL!! We’ve got broadsheet favourite and Scottish PEN board member, LAURA WADDELL!!! We’ve got consummate poet and performer COLIN MCGUIRE!!!!

What? Ancient references, Ricky?!
But wait! There’s more!!

Indeed there is, ancient references’ Jimmy Cricket! We’ve got brilliantly on-point music from SUPER INUIT! NIK WILLIAMS is going to talk about why we should all care about our surveillance society!! And there will be Live! Art!! HAPPENINGS!!!

And possibly humour, and prop-assisted storytelling!!!!

Because that's not a thing
But not at the same time, we promise!

So get along to the Bongo Club’s event page and secure your ticket – don’t miss the excitement!

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Interrobang Interrogation – Ricky Monahan Brown

Since we started INTERROBANG?! Ricky’s quietly fantasised about getting to do an Interrobang Interrogation. And with our exciting We Are Watching show with Scottish PEN just around the corner – Friday, 30th June at 7pm, at the Bongo Club – this seemed like a good time to take the plunge.

They're less easily noticed
Short people are watching…

As well as curating and hosting the adorably edgy INTERROBANG?! –  winner of the Saboteur Award 2017 for Best Regular Spoken Word Night – with Beth Cochrane, Ricky’s fiction and non-fiction has been published in various books, magazines and journals, most recently 404 Ink’s The F Word. He’s also in the world’s most science-literate band with Stephanie and Paul. Take that, Prof. Brian May!

And here’s how he answered the questions in our latest Interrobang Interrogation:

?!:  You’re a writer, an artist, and you’ve been granted the opportunity to be a fly on the wall anywhere, any time, and collect material. Where do you go?

RMB:  

We had a similar question for our Now Is Not The Time show, and folks tended to want to go back in time. I think I’d like to go to… 2030. Things are so different to when I was in my early teens – from domestic and international politics to how we watch TV – I’d love to see what a kid born today would be seeing in thirteen years.

"Hey, I'm only 11 at that point!"
The future from the perspective of Ricky’s birth?!

?!:  We are watching – a piece of theatre, TV, cinema, performance art to chill out before the show. What is it?

RMB: 

I dunno about “chill out”, but I’ve always been intrigued by the BBC’s BAFTA winning Edge of Darkness. That chilly mid-eighties drama vibe seems to resonate with some of the themes of surveillance and investigation. (Actually, watching that sort of thing is exactly how I chill out.)

?!: What’s the secret that you’re keeping close? The internet won’t tell anyone, promise! ?

RMB:  

I don’t believe you, t’internet. But I will tell you that there is a secret I’m keeping right now, and I drove co-host Beth mad with it until I unwittingly spilled the beans ‘cos I was so excited. Stay tuned…

?!:  Wait! Someone’s listening in on your secret! You put on a piece of music to drown it out. What are we listening to?

RMB:  
The Hood remix of Mogwai’s Like Herod. The quietquietLOUD aspect of it should blow out the mic or the headphones or something.

?!:  The spooks are listening in to learn about what you’re planning to share with us at We Are Watching. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about what they hear?

?!:  

It’s two short bits. One’s a quite light-hearted piece – called History, I think. The other probably involves props?!

Thanks a lot to Ricky for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation! (You’re welcome Ricky!) Ricky’s going to be introducing some fantastic talent at INTERROBANG with Scottish PEN: We Are Watching – and some surprises, too.

Find out more at the Bongo Club’s event page, and save 17% on admission for spending on tasty, tasty booze.

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We Are Watching?!

Hey, TJ Eckleburg!
Don’t turn around?!

Our upcoming gig in association with Scottish PEN at the Bongo Club is a really important one to us, so we’ve asked Nik Williams, Policy Advisor at Scottish PEN, to explain why and share a few words a few words about their Surveillance campaign.

Over to Nik…

Are we free to write if we are being watched? As surveillance increases, as the state legislates for sweeping powers that enable them to see our web browsing habits, who we communicate with and seek to remove encryption from our most sensitive conversations, Scottish PEN ask, where does this leave the right to free expression in the UK?

Scottish PEN has been opposing the Investigatory Powers Act for the last 18 months as it demonstrates a distinct threat to how we can communicate, share information, research and take part online free from the prying eyes of others. We do not believe pervasive surveillance powers are compatible with our human rights protections that enable everyone, irrespective of background, belief, gender, income, race or ethnicity to fully realise their fundamental freedoms.

Privacy is not an out-dated human right, it ensures we can all cultivate a space, however small, that we can call our own, where we can create and form the ideas that shape our identity and place in society. Suspicionless surveillance undermines this space, leaving nowhere for us to call our own and without this space how can we be sure what we create, who we communicate with and what we share with others is truly of our own making free from outside influence?

Thanks a lot to Nik for that. You can read more of his thoughts on surveillance and what is now the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 in The Herald.

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Interrobang Interrogation – Jonatha Kottler

Now is not the time for even more talent, surely?!

‘Fraid so – the latest guest for INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?!  on Saturday, 24th June at 2pm, at The Biscuit Factory is Jonatha Kottler. Jonatha is from Albuquerque, NM where she was a lecturer at The University of New Mexico. She is a happy member of Edinburgh’s Write Like A Grrrl community and runs a reading and writing group for the local charity ECAS. She read a piece at Story Shop in the EIBF 2016, has an essay in 404 Ink’s Nasty Woman, and has written for The Guardian.

Don't even think about shaking that bough!
More talent than you can shake a bough at!

Phew! And amid all that, she somehow found time to respond to the Interrobang Interrogation for Now Is Not The Time. Let’s find out her secret!

?!:  If now is not the time, in what era would you prefer to live and why?

JK:  I’d love to live in the 1960s in the US, when there was a lot of activism that was changing things for the better.  Either that, or be a really rubbish Jane Austen character.

DISCLAIMER: Interrobang has no opinion on the quality of the Bridget Jones series
I think you’ll find that role’s taken, thank you very much!

?!:  In whatever time you live, you’ve been granted the power to slow down time. What are you going to do while time is stopped? Run through a field of wheat? Or something less naughty than that?

JK:  Slowing down time would really improve the efficiency of my binge-watching.

?euqinhcet naihcyL ti si ro ,nwod dewols emit sah – gnilrad ,llet t'nac I
I can’t tell, darling – has time slowed down, or is it Lynchian technique?

?!:  What’s that thing you’d really like to do that keeps getting put off until another time?


JK: I always have to be careful, or it’s the writing that keeps getting put off to another time. Also, answering these questions.

?!:  Hey! OK, now that’s done, it’s time to share your work with the Now Is Not The Time audience! What’s that piece of music that’s putting you in the mood for the right here, right now?

JK:  Straight up the theme to the new Wonder Woman movie.

?!:  Boom! Use that slow motion machine when you take the stage! Now, as you gaze out into the audience, they’re ready for you, they’re present. It’s time. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about what they’re going to hear?

JK:  They are going to hear things that I really mean, and hopefully find my jokes funny. I like to contrast between what is ridiculous and what is meaningful.

Ridiculous and meaningful? That’s exactly the vibe Interrobang goes for! Thanks a lot to Jona for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation.  If ridiculous and meaningful is your thing too, come along to INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?! at The Biscuit Factory on 29 April (£5 suggested admission) and  find out what she has to share with us. Thanks!

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Interrobang Interrogation – Becca Inglis

Say kids, what time is it?!

It’s almost time for INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?!  We kick off on Saturday, 24th June at 2pm, at The Biscuit Factory.

We’re delighted that Becca Inglis will be joining us – Becca’s one of our favourite people on the Edinburgh arts scene, and if you’ve read her blazing intellect and insight at work in 404 Ink’s Nasty Woman, she’s already one of yours, too.

Break glass in case of fire
CAUTION: Blazing intellect at work!

Becca Inglis is an Edinburgh-based writer who regularly reviews theatre and poetry for TV Bomb, with a special focus on women writers and artists. As well as Nasty Women, she’s also been published in the Dangerous Women Project and blogged for Hollaback!, Linguisticator, and Lunar Poetry.

And here’s how she answered the questions in the Interrobang Interrogation for Now Is Not The Time:

?!:  If now is not the time, in what era would you prefer to live and why?

BI:  Definitely the 90s – being a 90s kid is a bit rubbish because we were too young to make the most of all the good pop and underground music that was going around at the time. If I could shift my birth date back a decade and go to even just one original jungle night, I would.

Settle down, old fella!
Someone’s talking Ricky’s language!

?!:  In whatever time you live, you’ve been granted the power to slow down time. What are you going to do while time is stopped? Run through a field of wheat? Or something less naughty than that?

BI:  Can you walk on water when time’s frozen? That sounds fun. Otherwise, walking from one end of Princes Street to the other without all the tourists slowing me down would be pretty satisfying – I like to dream big.

?!:  What’s that thing you’d really like to do that keeps getting put off until another time?


BI: Do you mean putting away that laundry that now just lives on a drying rack in my kitchen, or buying a plane ticket to Japan?

?!:  Let’s push the boat out – both! When you’re done, it’s time to share your work with the Now Is Not The Time audience! What’s that piece of music that’s putting you in the mood for the right here, right now?

BI: How about Soul Time by Shirley Ellis?

?!:  Awesome! We think the number of Northern Soul fans we have as Interrobang guests reflects well on us. Now, as you gaze out into the audience, they’re ready for you, they’re present. It’s time. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about what they’re going to hear?

BI:  A true story about the time British politics seemed weirdly in sync with my personal life. There’s a message in there somewhere about making bad decisions actually being really good for you.

Please note: does not apply to Brexit, or anyone named Boris.

Thanks a lot to Becca for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation. What could her story possibly be about? We can’t wait to find out! Come along to INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?! at The Biscuit Factory on 29 April (£5 suggested admission) and you can find out, too. Thanks!

Interrobang Interrogation – Jen McGregor

Is it time? Is it time?! Well, almost. Kind of?! INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?! kicks off on Saturday, 24th June at 2pm, at The Biscuit Factory.

And we’re thrilled to welcome Jen McGregor back to INTERROBANG?! after her triumphant turn at the Hidden Door Festival with Ghosts Of The Citadel.

GEDDITTT?!?!
Jen gets into the, er, spirit

Jen McGregor is an Edinburgh-dwelling Dundonian raised by Glaswegians. Her plays have appeared at the Piccolo Theatre in Milan, the Traverse, and the Festival Castel dei Mondi. She has been published by New Writing Scotland, Bare Fiction, and 404 Ink. You can find her at www.jenmcgregor.com and on the Tweetie box: Jen McGregor

And here’s how she answered the questions in our latest Interrobang Interrogation:

?!:  If now is not the time, in what era would you prefer to live and why?

JMcG:  During the Enlightenment so that I could hang out with David Hume, convince Deacon Brodie that his criminal gang needed a token female, and nip down to London to find out how many of my suppositions about Mary Wollstonecraft are correct. Plus, the clothes!

Beauty tips with Mary Wollstonecraft
“Let’s talk about hair, girlfriend!”

?!:  In whatever time you live, you’ve been granted the power to slow down time. What are you going to do while time is stopped? Run through a field of wheat? Or something less naughty than that?

JMcG:  In my chosen time or my actual time? If I could slow down time in the 18th century I would hang around the great writers of the era, waiting for them to reach the point where they’d almost completed their great works, then I’d steal them, slow down time, copy them out, destroy the originals and publish them as my own. If I could slow it down in my own time I’d probably just fit in more Netflix binges and video games, not gonna lie.

?!:  What’s that thing you’d really like to do that keeps getting put off until another time?


JMcG:  Crossing Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express. Someday…

?!:  It’s time to share your work with the Now Is Not The Time audience! What’s that piece of music that’s putting you in the mood for the right here, right now

JMcG:  Muse – Our Time is Running Out.

?!:  The lads are getting their Dr Strangelove on, we see. As you gaze out into the audience, they’re ready for you, they’re present. It’s time. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about what they’re going to hear?

JMcG:  It’s a little piece of speculative fiction about people whose days are numbered and the importance of not killing the vibe, and it’s called Party Time.

Thanks a lot to Jen for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation. We can’t wait to hear more about Party Time – she never receives a less than rapturous ovation when sharing her stories. Don’t miss out! Come along to INTERROBANG: Now Is Not The Time?! at The Biscuit Factory on 29 April (£5 suggested admission). Thanks!

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Now Is Not The Time?!

It’s been one heck of a time since our last regular INTERROBANG?! event.

Yes. Often.
Did we mention this?!
  • We were voted Best Regular Spoken Word Night at the 2017 Saboteur Awards.
  • We had the huge pleasure of presenting our collaborative single-story night Ghosts of the Citadel at the Hidden Door Festival.
  • Some other things happened, too.
Whatever you do, don't mention fields of wheat!
Eh? Wot?!

And some grimmer stuff, as well.

So, come bury your head in the sand with your hosts BETH COCHRANE and RICKY MONAHAN BROWN and Edinburgh’s greatest living writer of the volunteer-perfomed, two-handed, comedic playlet, JACQUES TSIANTAR, as the very slightly naughty, Saboteur Award-winning INTERROBANG?! returns to the Biscuit Factory for an afternoon of storytelling, creative non-fiction and music, possibly with a small side of teeth-gnashing and farmer-bothering.

Crikey, Sting's looking a bit rough
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!*

THE LINE-UP:

JEN MCGREGOR is an Edinburgh-dwelling Dundonian raised by Glaswegians. Her plays have appeared at the Piccolo Theatre in Milan, the Traverse, and the Festival Castel dei Mondi. She has been published by New Writing Scotland, Bare Fiction, and 404 Ink.

• BECCA INGLIS is a creative non-fiction writer and theatre reviewer based in Edinburgh. Her essay Love in a Time of Melancholia appeared in 404 Ink’s collection Nasty Women, and her article When Women Steal the Patriarchy’s Toys: Feminism as Terrorism was published by the Dangerous Women Project. Becca has also blogged for Hollaback!, Linguisticator, and Lunar Poetry.

• JONATHA KOTTLER is from Albuquerque, NM where she was a lecturer at The University of New Mexico. She is a happy member of Edinburgh’s Write Like A Grrrl community and runs a reading and writing group for the local charity ECAS. She read a piece at Story Shop in the EIBF 2016, has an essay in 404 Ink’s Nasty Women, and has written for The Guardian.

THE DIRTY LIES are a Scottish alternative group whose influences include Can, Radiohead and The Velvet Underground. Their guiter-laden sound is infused with synth noise, electronic drums and jazz. Blurring the line between indie and electronica, they have been steadily making a name for themselves in the Lowlands following 6 Music airplay with their debut EP, Release, and followup Cellophane. Their live set is raucous and expansive, while embedded with delicate harmonies. “It’s all about good tunes, tight playing, a real sense of dynamics and a walk on the dark side” – John Robb, Louder Than War.

Suggested £5 on the door.
(*Wheat not included.)

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Interrobang Interrogation – Aurora Engine

It’s almost time to journey into inner and outer space! INTERROBANG: Lost in Space?! blasts off tomorrow – Saturday, 29th April at 2pm, to be precise.

As evidenced by our Lost in Space Interrobang Interrogations, we’ve assembled something of a dream line-up. We’ve been mad keen to have the brilliant AURORA ENGINE on the bill since we were blown away by her at the Hidden Door festival‘s contributors’ party!

(3) Awesome dresses!
Things INTERROBANG?! love: (1) harps; (2) Aurora Engine

Aurora Engine is a harpist / singer-songwriter / electronic musician living and working in Leith. Originally from County Durham, she sings in her dialect – something between Geordie and Pit Yacker. Her live performances bring harps, loops, effect pedals, vocals and synths, woven together to create ethereal sounds. She has over 100 songs, some in her head, some in the cupboard at home and some on general release.

Aurora Engine loves the north, steam trains and the stars. Which seems fair enough, right?! You can find her at www.auroraengine.com and on the Tweetie Box @AuroraEngine.

And here’s how she answered our questions:

?!:  You’re packing before blasting off with the Interrobang Space Cadets. What item are you taking with you to represent the human race?

AE:  A harp of course! I have a flight case.

?!: Sitting on the launch pad, you feel like you’re starring in a sci-fi movie. What’s your favourite piece of science fiction?

AE:  Does Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind count? If yes, then that. If not, Batteries Not Included.

We'll have a cracking time!
Of course it counts!

?!:  Bring them both – it’ll free up packing space for Interrobang! As the Space Ship Interrobang pulls away from the Earth, you look down and see the curve of the planet. You play a piece of music to accompany this incredible moment. What is it?

AE: Samuel Barber’s Dover Beach.

?!: Matthew Arnold’s poem could hardly be more a propos.

?!:  The world lies before us like a land of dreams, indeed! When the track ends, you look down again and see home is a little blue marble. For some reason, you’re hit by a vivid memory of a time you lost something down there. What was it?

AE:  Probably my purse and keys.

Star Child! What have you done with my keys?!
Have you tried behind the bed?

?!:  Back on the spaceship, you’re looking forward to presenting a piece of poetry or prose or music to the weird-looking people you’re going to encounter with the Interrobang crew. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about it?

AE:  It’s straight from space!

Thanks a lot to Aurora Engine for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation. We want to see your faces when you hear her, so come along to INTERROBANG: Lost In Space?! at The Biscuit Factory on 29 April (admission free, £5 suggested donation). Thanks!

Interrobang Interrogation – JL Williams

Are you feeling it?! INTERROBANG: Lost in Space?! looms large on the horizon. It’s only T-2 DAYS until Saturday, 29th April at 2pm.

Fortunately, that gives us time to fit in a couple more Interrobang Interrogations. Today’s crew member donning the helmet and spacesuit is JL WILLIAMS. She’s been a dream guest for us for a while, and the timing of her appearance is most fortuitous – her timely new collection, After Economy, is out now and gets its formal launch next week. That takes place on 3 May, 6pm, at the Talbot Rice Gallery – more details on her website.

Either that, or someone's reversed the polarity
JL Williams messing with the gravity generator on the cloister level, again.

JL Williams practice incorporates expanding dialogues through poetry across languages, perspectives and cultures and in cross-form work, visual art, dance, opera and theatre. And did we mention that After Economy, her third collection, is out now with Shearsman Books? You can find out much more at www.jlwilliamspoetry.co.uk.

And here’s how she answered our questions:

?!:  You’re packing before blasting off with the Interrobang Space Cadets. What item are you taking with you to represent the human race?

JLW:  A pencil.

And then they all climbed out of the paper...
A pencil? That feels like it could get pretty dangerous…

?!: Sitting on the launch pad, you feel like you’re starring in a sci-fi movie. What’s your favourite piece of science fiction?

JLW:  Blade Runner.

?!:  Ricky Interrobang’s a big fan of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Wonder how apprehensive we should be about Blade Runner 2049?

?!:  Anyway. As the Space Ship Interrobang pulls away from the Earth, you look down and see the curve of the planet. You play a piece of music to accompany this incredible moment. What is it?

JLW: Nirvana, Come As You Are.

Come to the Biscuit Factory on Saturday. We swear we don’t have guns.

?!:  When the track ends, you look down again and see home is a little blue marble. For some reason, you’re hit by a vivid memory of a time you lost something down there. What was it?

JLW:  My first poem – it was about a blue glass bluebird

?!:  Finally, back on the spaceship, you’re looking forward to presenting a piece of poetry or prose or music to the weird-looking people you’re going to encounter with the Interrobang crew. Without being too spoiler-ific, what can you tell us about it?

JLW: Poems from my new book – an exploration of the fine line between abundance and apocalypse.

Between a great set and this cover art, you'll want one
After Economy and other of JL Williams’ work will be available at the show

After Economy sounds really intriguing! Thanks a lot to JL Williams for indulging the INTERROBANG?! Interrogation. Together with Ever Dundas and Claire Askew, she’s going to be giving the spoken word aspect of INTERROBANG: Lost In Space?! at The Biscuit Factory on 29 April (admission free, £5 suggested donation) a pleasingly chewy aspect. 

Come as you are. Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, don’t be late.