News Archive
PRESS RELEASE – 25/01/2008
Dundee to showcase top music talent as go NORTH 2008 hosts
Dundee is to host one of the most exciting events in Scotland's musical calendar – goNorth 2008.
The largest annual newcomer festival in Scotland will take place in the City of Discovery on June 5th and 6th, showcasing dozens of unsigned bands from Scotland, the UK and beyond to the music industry, the media and live audiences. In addition, fringe events will be taking place in the city for the week beginning June 1st.
Attracting the goNorth event, which was official launched this week and saw delegates entertained by one of Dundee’s top young bands Luva Anna.
Full details of the programme will be announced within the next few months. Early highlights of the event include the attraction of more than 50 of the finest unsigned bands/musicians from the UK and other parts of the world to Dundee.
Other highlights will be workshops focused on the impact of the digital revolution taking place in music and entertainment world. This is especially relevant given Dundee’s experience of this through the growth of the games industry and its creative media
goNorth was launched in 2001 to provide bands from the north of Scotland with a platform to showcase their talents. Events have been held in Inverness and Aberdeen.
The Dundee event will be held at a number of venues, including Fat Sams, Vision, Doghouse, No. 25 and DCA.
Lord Provost John Letford, Chairman of the City of Discovery Campaign which is supporting the event, said: "This is another fantastic event for Dundee, and one which further enhances the city’s growing reputation as a musical, cultural and artistic centre of excellence.
"It builds on the tremendous profile gained when the city hosted Radio 1's Big Weekend and on the success enjoyed by bands from the city such as The View."
Event organiser Shaun Arnold of goEvents said: "I am really looking forward to Dundee hosting the goNORTH this year.
"The city has some amazing talent, and when you combine this with some great venues and enthusiastic audiences, this should be a goNORTH to be remembered."
Iain Hamilton of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, who support the event, said: "HIE has been a part of goNORTH since the first event, and for us it is hugely rewarding to see the showcase grow not only in size but in stature as well.
With the reputation for music and creative industries that Dundee already has, I am sure goNORTH will attract the industry delegates that can create opportunities for Scottish artists.”
One person keenly anticipating the event is award-winning music industry PR Murray Chalmers of EMI, a native Dundonian who is a highly regarded figure in the business.
He said: "It’s great that the city's music scene is now so strong that Dundee can comfortably host goNorth. It’s exciting coming back to Dundee and seeing a burgeoning music scene that has grown largely outwith the glare of the national media. You can feel not only the thrill of discovering new bands but also the strong sense of community that is making the Dundee music scene so focused and increasingly successful.
"Hopefully goNorth can help elevate the profile of the musicians and the city, a place which feels more and more like a brilliant diverse hub for the arts."
The goNorth website is being launched tomorrow (January 25th) and bands/musicians who would like to appear at the showcases can register online. Bands will be selected by a panel of industry experts early in March
Further information visit www.goevents.info
PRESS RELEASE – 23/01/2008
Dundee International Book Prize: First deadline looms for would-be authors
The first deadline is looming for entries for the 2009 Dundee International Book Prize – with electronic entries only admissible up until February 1st.
Entries are already being received from around the world – less than three months after it was launched. But while entrants only have a short time left to submit entries electronically, March 3rd remains the final deadline for hard copy entries.
Full details and rules of entry are available online at www.dundeebookprize.co.uk
Already manuscripts have been sent from the UK and as far afield as Australia as the leading British award for non-published authors gets underway.
Award-winning author Kirsty Gunn, Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Dundee, will chair the judging panel which will also include journalist, author and broadcaster Magnus Linklater, a former chairman of the Scottish Arts Council.
The stature of the judges reflects the increasing recognition of the Dundee International Book Prize. It is now established as the UK’s premier prize for emerging novelists, with a £10,000 cash award together with publication by Birlinn Ltd, publishers of the Polygon imprint. The prize is a joint venture between the City of Discovery Campaign, the University of Dundee, and Birlinn.
Kirsty Gunn urged authors to ensure entries were submitted on time and said: “I am delighted to be associated with a prize that also reflects so nicely the aims and ambitions of our own new creative writing programme at the University of Dundee – that is, to encourage work that is fresh and new, across a whole spectrum of genres and styles, bringing together writers no matter who they are or where they’re from or what their range or kind of experience.”
Magnus Linklater added: “Any new writer knows the long and agonising process of gaining recognition. The Dundee International Book Prize is a unique and imaginative response to that process. It offers talented young writers the priceless opportunity of being discovered.’
“Over the last ten years the Prize has quietly established itself, within Scotland and abroad, as a unique means of identifying new writers and ensuring that they, in turn, find their audience. The partnership of University, City and publisher is an inspiring model for the promotion of Scottish culture.”
The 2007 Book Prize saw around 200 entries from 20 countries around the world, including Europe, Canada, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. There continued to be a strong Scottish and UK interest also.
Lord Provost John Letford, Chairman of the City of Discovery Campaign, said: “The Book Prize has now established itself not only as a leading UK literary award, but on an international scale. Last year’s winner was an Englishwoman, living in France, who was alerted to the Prize by a French friend. We have also seen the percentage of overseas entries increase, and also the quality of entries. I am sure the next Prize will prove every bit as successful.”
The first four Dundee Book Prize winning novels have all gone on to have success. The authors have also gone on to produce further works of fiction and non-fiction. Andrew Murray Scott’s book Tumulus detailed bohemian Dundee through the 60’s and 70’s to the present day. The winning novel in 2002, Claire-Marie Watson’s The Curewife drew on the tale of Dundee’s last execution of a witch – Grissel Jaffray in 1669 and the winner in 2005 was Malcolm Archibald’s adventure on a whaling ship Whales for a Wizard. 2007 saw French resident Fiona Dunscombe scoop the accolade with her gritty, dark and full of life novel The Triple Point of Water.
The prize is open to novels of any genre, theme or setting and the only condition is that it must be from a previously unpublished author. Children’s books are not accepted.
Entries sent by e-mail must be submitted by an earlier deadline of February 1st, 2008.
The email address for entry is book.prize@dundeecity.gov.uk
The closing date for all other entries is March 3rd, 2008. No manuscripts will be accepted after this date.