“No Wealth To Leave Us?”: A Matrilineal View of Scottish Women’s Writing – talk from Lesley McDowell, Edinburgh

Lesley McDowell is an author and literary critic for a number of newspapers, including The Herald, The Scotsman and The Independent on Sunday. Her latest novel, Unfashioned Creatures, portrays the Scottish childhood friend of Mary Shelley, Isabella Baxter Booth. She has also published on literary partnerships from a feminist perspective, in her book ‘Between the Sheets: The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers’ which was shortlisted for the Scottish Book Awards (non-fiction) 2011.

6.15pm-7.30pm, Monday 9th June
Conference Room, Edinburgh Central Library
George IVth Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1EG

“Scottish Literature has long been viewed as patrilineal: its history passes from father to son, from Burns to Scott to MacDiarmid to Gray and so on. I want to argue for a matrilineal heritage instead: one that passes from mother to daughter, from Elizabeth Grant to Susan Ferrier to Marion Angus to Janice Galloway. What happens when we view Scottish literature in this way? And are we starting to see more of a matrilineal trend in current Scottish Women’s Writing?”
This event is free of charge. To book, go to edinburghreads.eventbrite.co.uk .
Events can also be booked directly on 0141 550 2267 or email info@womenslibrary.org.uk