“I want this to be a show of happiness and curiosity and delight.”
WHO: Robin Ince
WHAT: “Award-winning comedian and bibliomaniac, Robin Ince, takes audiences on a celebratory tour of the places books can take us, and of the ideas that can make wonder and widen the sky. Robin was the Bookseller’s Association 2022 Author of the Year. The Times Literary Supplement described Bibliomaniac as ‘joyous, irreverent – liberating and life-affirming’ while Eric Idle said ‘one of the most delightful books I have ever read… always making me laugh’. Expect a chaos of words and ideas, love and delight. And also a very long reading list.”
WHERE: Gilded Balloon at the Museum – Auditorium (Venue 64)
WHEN: 13:00 (60 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
I have been visiting the Edinburgh fringe for the entirety of my adult life. I remember the excitement of bumping into Jeremy Hardy in the street in 1987 and asking him how I could become a comedian – despite his best efforts I did.
In 1990, I worked at Greyfriar’s Kirkhouse where I filmed Eddie Izzard’s show for him every night for him. A few years later, we put out a fire in a flat using a watermelon and some pineapples which is probably exactly how people would expect Eddie Izzard to put out a fire.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I have learned that reading Tove Jannson and Ursula le Guin is NEVER time wasted. I have learned that I really am unable to take time off – if I am not creating something then it leads to headaches and melancholy. I have also learned what Exeter Libray keeps in its basement and I can’t tell you now, but it is wonderful.
I have also learnt even more about the importance of reading. When my father was dying, we sat around his hospital bed and read him Tarka the Otter and The Hobbit and it felt like connections were still being created right up until the end. It gave us a sense of ritual – a ritual of reading.
Tell us about your show.
These show really came out of me touring around independent bookshops and libraries over the last two years – every time I get a bit ion free time, I fill it by going to talk to readers. The stories built and built and no location was without beautiful incidents or fabulous shared stories. They were/are such spaces of joy and delight and it has been a great way of warding off the negative voices that can seem to surround us.
I want this to be a show of happiness and curiosity and delight.
Someone wrote of a recent book of mine that it was “a tonic”. I love the idea of being a tonic. It is the sort of thing your gran would say of someone with delight.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
Check out what the independent bookshops have got going on – they often have talks and events and Lighthouse Books is just around the corner from my venue so I will be hanging out their a lot. I haven’t checked out much that is on yet – but I like the sound of Bowjangles: Dracula in Space, Dahlia Wilde’s science show sounds a blast, and I am really looking forward to seeing Don Biswas live. Ian Stone is one of the great circuit comics so I will be seeing him too – plus Eleanor Morton, Laura Davis, Gavin Webster, Paul Zenon, John Robertson…
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