City authors earn their stripes

Published on Saturday 10 December 2005 13:22

THREE of Edinburgh's most popular contemporary authors joined forces in front of a packed house at the Festival Theatre last night to launch One City, a new book of tiger-themed short stories about the Capital.

Alexander McCall Smith, Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh were on stage with BBC presenter Kirsty Wark to read from their contributions and answer questions from the audience.

They have each contributed a story to the book, which has an introduction by the city's adopted daughter, Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

The brainchild of Irvine Welsh, the book has been published to raise funds for the OneCity Trust, set up after a report by Edinburgh's Lord Provost in 1998 looked into the extent of social exclusion in Edinburgh. The organisation aims to raise funds to tackle inequality in the Capital.

Each of the stories features a tiger in some way, and it was Welsh who was dreamt up the story motif.

Tigers are, he admitted, something of an obsession of his since he was in India and met the man responsible for trying to save the Bengal breed.

While both his colleagues admitted meeting the remit was a tricky task, Ian Rankin pointed out that all writers enjoy a challenge.

And critics believe the book will certainly satisfy the three authors' fans, with each story reflecting their different writing styles and attitudes to their art.

Alexander McCall Smith's The Unfortunate Fate of Kitty da Silva tells of a doctor from South India who comes to live in Edinburgh and has to cope with the loneliness of being an outsider.

In what is Ian Rankin's first new non-Rebus short story to be published in the UK for several years, he writes about a Big Issue seller playing in the Scotland squad during the Homeless World Cup in Edinburgh earlier this summer.

The story, Showtime, also features a visit to the Festival Theatre, where an illusionist called the Great Lafayette was killed during a fire in 1911.

While both Rankin and McCall Smith pleased the crowd by staying with familiar territory, when Irvine Welsh got up for his turn it was expected he would have something a bit different up his sleeve - he did not disappoint.

Set in Murrayfield, Welsh's story draws on the reaction of four very different characters to the discovery of a tiger in the back gardens.

It was with some relish that the author rolled out the expletives into such a distinguished auditorium, even providing an instant translation of some of the less-obvious vocabulary.

Welsh chose the climactic point, at which a rich cocaine dealer arrives home from holiday to find his tiger has gone missing.

And the life-long Hibs fan did not shy away from his punchline, the revelation of a long-dead body, mauled and eviscerated, but still wearing a replica Heart of Midlothian away top.

In the event's question and answer session hosted by Wark all three authors agreed that Edinburgh is a city of great cultural importance, but also one in which that culture is not equally available to all.

As such, culture is an obvious symbol of the social and financial divides within the city.

With all the proceeds from last night's launch and the royalties from the book going to benefit the OneCity trust, the capacity audience seemed to agree - they were queuing three deep and out of the door to get their copies of the book signed.

One City is on sale in Edinburgh book shops from today, price 5.99. It will be published around the UK on 5 January.