Kirstin Innes: Who is Clio Campbell? (2020 Event)

Rarely does a novel set the Scottish literary scene abuzz in the way Scabby Queen has, counting amongst its fans figures as wide-ranging as Janice Galloway, Ian Rankin and Nicola Sturgeon.

Sexy rock starlet, veteran political activist, symbol of a nation in decline — who really was Clio Campbell? In Kirstin Innes’s effervescent follow-up to her Not the Booker Prize-winning Fishnet, she invites you on a whistle-stop tour of the fictional Glasgow chanteuse’s life in the days following her suicide, so that someone might finally be able to answer that question.

Written from the perspective of those who loved (and hated) her most, and taking in everything from Top of the Pops to IndyRef along the way, Scabby Queen will have you hooked. Kirstin Innes joins Heather Parry in this event recorded live at the 2020 Book Festival, to discuss how she ended up creating a novel that zips between daffy state-of-the-nation meditation and fantastic, elastic character study.