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alisonirvine.bsky.social
Alison Irvine
@alisonirvine.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.2K following 87 posts
Writer
Barrowland: the inside story of Glasgow's beloved ballroom (Luath)
Cat Step (Dead Ink) This Road is Red (Luath)
www.recollective.org.uk
Rep: Millie Hoskins, United Agents
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alisonirvine.bsky.social
Alison Irvine @alisonirvine.bsky.social · Dec 7
Words on Cumbernauld from me and photos from @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social in today's Herald. An extract from our book: concretedreams.org.uk/the-book/

@nlheritage.bsky.social @librariesnl.bsky.social @dialectographer.bsky.social

www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/2...
The story of a Scots town that was once 'a dazzling ship sailing across a hill'
Pic 21: The penthouses corridor in Avon Walk Pic 17: Interior stairwell of Town Centre Pic 22: John Kirkhope - Cumbernauld Resident and former…
www.heraldscotland.com
alisonirvine.bsky.social
This is tonight! #AyeWriteBookFestival #Cumbernauld #NewTowns #Stories #Photography #Dialectogram @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social @dialectographer.bsky.social

www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/conc...
Concrete Dreams: Chris Leslie, Mitch Miller & Alison Irvine - Glasgow Life
Aye Write 2025 presents Concrete Dreams: Chris Leslie, Mitch Miller & Alison Irvine
www.glasgowlife.org.uk
November 13, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
luathpress.bsky.social
✨Aye Write Event✨

👤 Alison Irvine
📍Mitchell Library, Glasgow
📆 14 November
⏰ 7:45pm
🎟 buff.ly/yyJpf6s
#AyeWrite2025 #GlasgowEvent #Glasgowwhatson
October 26, 2025 at 11:02 AM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
I wrote a piece on my best #Barrowland Ballroom moments for #BooksfromScotland. My new book on the famous gig venue is coming soon with @luathpress.bsky.social 🎵🎵🎵 Photography from @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social and 3rd Mile.
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
Fans of Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom and Billy Sloan - we're doing an event at Aye Write on 14th November. Come and join us!
www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/barr...
Barrowland: The Inside Story of Glasgow's Beloved Ballroom and One Love, One Life: Alison Irvine and Billy Sloan - Glasgow Life
Barrowland and One Love, One Life
www.glasgowlife.org.uk
October 17, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
dialectographer.bsky.social
This week I sent the Cumbernauld Dialectogram to its new home. Can't say exactly where yet, other than I'm excited...

Also, myself, @alisonirvine.bsky.social & @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social will bring Concrete Dreams to @natlibscot.bsky.social in Sept. Tickets are free!

www.nls.uk/whats-on/con...
Dialectogram packaged for transit to London. The dialectogram in the studio.
August 21, 2025 at 2:35 PM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
Free tickets to our event on Cumbernauld Town Centre with National Library of Scotland, including presentations & film screenings are available here: 3rd Sept
@chrislesliephoto.bsky.social
@dialectographer.bsky.social
@emilymunro.bsky.social
www.concretedreams.org.uk

www.nls.uk/whats-on/con...
Concrete Dreams – The Rise and Fall of Cumbernauld Town Centre
www.concretedreams.org.uk
August 15, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
luathpress.bsky.social
🎶✨ Barrowland by @alisonirvine.bsky.social is coming this November! Discover the legendary Barrowland Ballroom, a key part of Glasgow's music scene since 1934.

Explore the spirit and community that make this venue so special!
buff.ly/u0UNr2p
#Barrowland #Glasgow
July 26, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
clemflanagan.bsky.social
Hey Bluesky

I'm a fiction editor at BBUK. Currently looking for more

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 writers and stories from Scotland
❤️ romance (spicy and sweet)
💃 women's fiction
🏰 historical fiction
🕵‍♀️ mysteries and clever thrillers

Send me your submissions!
May 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
lesleymcdowell.bsky.social
Delighted to be doing this in Edinburgh in July when Love and Other Poisons is launched! rarebirdsbooks.com/collections/...
An evening with Lesley McDowell
Join author Lesley McDowell on Monday 21st July to discuss her novel Love and Other Poisons. Tickets are £5 and can be redeemed against any purchase on the evening.
rarebirdsbooks.com
May 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
A lovely piece on the Barrowland Ballroom and its iconic sign.
peteralanross.bsky.social Peter Ross @peteralanross.bsky.social · May 14
To mark the forthcoming 40th anniversary of the Barrowland sign, I wrote a Small Finds piece celebrating it and the venue it graces. smallfinds.substack.com/p/small-find...
Small Finds #6
The Barrowland sign
smallfinds.substack.com
May 14, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
bookwormvaught.bsky.social
Thread. It is a great honour to announce the shortlist for the 2025 #Curae prize for unpaid carers

POETRY CATEGORY

Mistletoe. Sam Garvan
Diagnosis. Elizabeth Loudon
Sinkhole. Charlotte Ansell
I Love Him (like salt and water). Emma Wilson
The Shop at the End of a Wave. Ia Kozoboli.
thecuraeprize.uk
May 1, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
sghetorg.bsky.social
Great photo in the 'Mid Century Modern: Putting Scotland on the Map' exhib taken inside the Golden Eagle Hotel, Cumbernauld Town Centre, c 1967 ~ more on the shared memory & life of Cumbernauld Town Centre on the #ConcreteDreams project website concretedreams.org.uk/about/ @alisonirvine.bsky.social
Photo of Cumbernauld Town Centre's Golden Eagle Hotel interior check-in desk and seating area. The hotel had 25 single rooms, 15 double rooms and 3 double suites, a function suite fitting up to 150 people and a restaurant / grill, plus bar facilities. The hotel closed in 1982 for licensing, planning and structural reasons.
April 27, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
riasbookshop.bsky.social
Had a fantastic evening on Wednesday welcoming @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social @alisonirvine.bsky.social and @dialectographer.bsky.social to the RIAS for a talk on their book Concrete Dreams. Huge thank you to our speakers and to the chair Malcolm Fraser for such an engaging event.
April 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
I loved our talk at the @riasbookshop.bsky.social on #Cumbernauld. Chaired excellently by architect Malcolm Fraser and full of heated discussion from the audience, it was a great night. @nlheritage.bsky.social @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social @dialectographer.bsky.social Thanks for having us, RIAS!
Artist Mitch Miller speaking in front of a wall of portraits of former RIAS presidents. TV Screen showing the cover of Concrete Dreams book. A room of audience members, Alison Irvine reading from a book, architect Malcolm Fraser, and many portraits on the wall.
April 25, 2025 at 8:51 AM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
This is a very welcome first for me & @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social & @dialectographer.bsky.social
Book of the Week! Thank you! #Cumbernauld
riasbookshop.bsky.social RIAS Bookshop @riasbookshop.bsky.social · Apr 22
⭐️ BOOK OF THE WEEK ⭐️

‘Concrete Dreams’ by Alison Irvine, Chris Leslie and Mitch Miller

Explore the complex legacy of Cumbernauld’s iconic, but divisive, brutalist town centre through the stories of its residents in this lavishly illustrated volume.
April 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
alisonirvine.bsky.social
If you're interested in Cumbernauld, architecture, social history, stories, photography and illustration, & if you can get to Edinburgh on 23rd April, this is the event for you! @dialectographer.bsky.social @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social @riasbookshop.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bookshopla...
BookshopLATES... Concrete Dreams
Join the award-winning artists of Recollective to discover Cumbernauld Town Centre through the eyes of its residents, past and present.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 16, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
dialectographer.bsky.social
Come and see Recollective (myself, @alisonirvine.bsky.social and @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social) at @riasbookshop.bsky.social this Wednesday (23rd April) at 6.30pm talking about Concrete Dreams: the Rise and Fall of Cumbernauld Town Centre.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bookshopla...
BookshopLATES... Concrete Dreams
Join the award-winning artists of Recollective to discover Cumbernauld Town Centre through the eyes of its residents, past and present.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 18, 2025 at 1:52 PM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
If you're interested in Cumbernauld, architecture, social history, stories, photography and illustration, & if you can get to Edinburgh on 23rd April, this is the event for you! @dialectographer.bsky.social @chrislesliephoto.bsky.social @riasbookshop.bsky.social
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bookshopla...
BookshopLATES... Concrete Dreams
Join the award-winning artists of Recollective to discover Cumbernauld Town Centre through the eyes of its residents, past and present.
www.eventbrite.co.uk
April 16, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
damianbarr.bsky.social
Angry about thieving lying AI companies? Please do sign this letter to Culture Sec Lisa Nandy and add your voice - readers and writers unite!

chng.it/QTqg8bkggz
We Can Make an Impact.
Protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training
chng.it
March 31, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
lindahuberauthor.bsky.social
The first two books in @maureenmyant.bsky.social's fabulous crime fiction series... Number 4 is coming soon, and I can't wait to read it! See the first here: amzn.eu/d/8zY07wR
#booksky #womenwriters
March 25, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
emilymunro.bsky.social
Prize longlisted eco-horror. When Gail’s friend Nick dies in a wildfire she travels to France to confront his estranged father and her mistakes. In a crumbling chateau, ravaged by wind and rain, Gail adopts dark methods to put the ever-creeping terror of the present to rest #scotwriterpitch2025
March 28, 2025 at 10:06 AM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
Emily is such a good writer. This sounds excellent.
emilymunro.bsky.social Emily Munro @emilymunro.bsky.social · Mar 28
Guided by a spiritual A.I. named Jared, Lenna and Paul decide to end their current lives with their daughter on board a wellness retreat in the North Sea. When the retreat is invaded by activists, their plans are disrupted and their faith in an alternative future questioned #scotwriterpitch2025
March 28, 2025 at 11:29 AM
alisonirvine.bsky.social
I'm doing another Library Memories workshop at Glasgow's Whiteinch Library. Weds 26th March, 6pm. Do join us if you'd like!

www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/alis...
Alison Irvine- Library Memories Writing Workshop - Glasgow Life
Alison Irvine - Library Memories Writing Workshop
www.glasgowlife.org.uk
March 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
kirklandciccone.bsky.social
This is a bit obscure, but I wanted to write about the lost video rental shops of Cumbernauld Town Centre, only to realise how many of them I couldn’t quite remember. Niche, I know, but that’s what the blog is here for. Anyway, enjoy.

kirklandciccone.wordpress.com/2025/03/24/v...
VHS or Betamax: The Lost Video Rental Shops of Cumbernauld Town Centre
The shopping experience is inextricably linked to the technology of the time. This is a fact. Technology has changed the high street over the course of decades. The high street is technology, const…
kirklandciccone.wordpress.com
March 24, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by Alison Irvine
societyofauthors.bsky.social
We are disappointed but not surprised that Meta has used millions of pirated books to develop its AI systems.

As a matter of urgency, Meta needs to compensate the rightsholders of all the works it has been exploiting.

But what can authors do? Read here:
societyofauthors.org/2025/03/21/t...
March 21, 2025 at 5:04 PM