Name: Vikings, Monks, Mead - David Greig Discusses His Thriller, Columba’s Bones
Start: 2024-10-23T18:00:00+01:00
End: 2024-10-23T19:00:00+01:00
Location: Colinton Library

$Vikings, Monks, Mead - David Greig Discusses His Thriller, Columba\u2019s Bones$

Set on Iona in the year 825, the book begins with a raid on the monastery in search of the sacred remains of Saint Columba.
About this Event

Appropriately for our 2024 curtain-raiser, David is Artistic Director of the Lyceum Theatre and one of Britain’s most prolific dramatists who has also written libretti, screenplays, scripts for young people, and turned books into plays. However, he had not written a book himself before Columba’s Bones, which he did at the request of Jamie Crawford, who himself appeared at PBF last year.

The book is set on Iona in the year 825 and begins with a Viking raid on the monastery in search of the sarcophagus containing the sacred remains of Saint Columba, the revered missionary who brought Christianity to Scotland. Following a night of rampage, one Viking wakes up to find himself alone except for his hangover. He can’t swim and his sword has gone. With only his wits he must survive long enough to find the location of the relics and rejoin his comrades.

Columba’s Bones has been shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and the Bookmark Book Festival Book of the Year. It is not just a historical thriller but also explores the clash of early Christianity and paganism that helped shape Scotland.

You can also ask him about the Lyceum 24/25 season.