Blackwell Bookshop South Bridge

The author of 'Ethics, Economics and International Relations' discusses his suggestions for an environmentally sympathetic economic solution.
* Phone: 0131 622 8222
* Email: vanessa.garden@blackwell.co.uk
Free (ticketed)

Blackwell takes great pleasure in welcoming Patrick Scott Hogg the author of Robert Burns: The Patriot Bard to share with us this new biography on one of the greatest songwriters of all time and to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Burn's birth. This book explodes the myths about Scotland's national ... (more)poet, replacing the ram-stam lad of popular cliche with the real, living Burns. He is revealed as a Scottish patriot of the heart, an idealist who wished for 'Freedom and Liberty' for his beloved Scotland, but also a man who was pragmatically a British patriot who risked his life for democratic reform. In Robert Burns: The Patriot Bard, the greatest of Scotland's poets is placed within the true context of his times. He was a son of the Enlightenment, whose inspiration came from both Scottish and English poets, the Glorious Revolution of 1688, the American Revolution of Independence and the French Revolution of 1789. Burns is painted in his native colours as a highly complex, hyper-intelligent writer in both prose and poetry, not the semi-confused contradictory simpleton of previous biographies. The real day-to-day Burns was irascible, stubborn-minded, independent, controversial and opinionated. His voice was always in the language of the people and his idealist vision of a better world lifted him from being exclusively a patriotic Scottish and British poet to a poet of humanity 'the world o'er'. Drawing from Burns' existing canon of poetry and letters, plus some newly attributed works suppressed for over two centuries, this life story is a roller-coaster narrative that charts the success and untimely death of the real Robert Burns. So please come along to enjoy a FREE tipple of whisky and help us celebrate Burns Night and the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's favourite bard. This event is ticketed, but tickets are FREE. Tickets are available from the front desk at Blackwell, 53-62 South Bridge Edinburgh. For more information please contact Claire Leach on 0131 622 8206 or events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk