The Gorbals Vampire

In 1954 around a hundred children descended on Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis armed with kitchen knives and home-made stakes. They told the police officer who was called to the scene that they were searching for a vampire with metal teeth who had killed two wee boys. The vampire hunters were to become part of an anti horror comic-book campaign in Britain and the US and were cited in the drafting of  censorship legislation which remain on the statute books today. Louise has teamed up with Radio producer David Stenhouse to explore the story of the Gorbals Vampire. Through conversations with some of the original vampire hunters, sociologists, MPs and comic collectors they’ve discovered that the mini-mob may have been prompted by church, home and school, rather than horror comics. They also got to talk killer clowns and read a lot of lurid stuff along the way. The Gorbals Vampire was originally broadcast on BBC Radio on the 30th March.  You can listen again here.

You can see two of the original vampire hunters and Louise on BBC Scotland News.

David Stenhouse has also written a piece on the phenomenon for The Sunday Times and there’s an interesting discussion about it on the Fortean Times message board.

The Bookworm Beijing Literary Festival

Louise will be taking part in the Beijing Bookworm Literary Festival between the 11th and 27th March, so the news page will go quiet for a couple of weeks.

Eating Soup

An interview with Mike Wade in The Times. I made the soup myself.

Giuseppe Acerbi Literary Prize

Louise’s third novel, The Bullet Trick (L’illusionista, Garzanti Libri)  has been shortlisted for the Giuseppe Acerbi Literary Prize. The shortlisted novels will be judged by a panel of eleven, including  journalists, writers and academics, plus two hundred and fifty library members in Mantua, Brescia and Verona. The result will be announced on the 4th July.

Scottish Verbage

Louise featured in a special Scottish edition of BBC Radio 3’s The Verb on the 5th March, along with Liz Lochhead, Jim Carruth and Aidan Moffat. Their host was the brilliant Ian McMillan. You can listen again here.

picture credit: Jeremy at Jaded
photo credit: Paula Solloway

Front Row

You can hear Louise talking to Mark Lawson about Naming the Bones, on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. Listen again here.