ED2016 4/5 Reviews ED2016 Spoken Word Reviews

The Joy Of Spines (Graeme Hawley)

By Jane Berg | Published on Saturday 27 August 2016

What does working with 24 million-ish things feel like? Greame Hawley will tell you in this account of the National Library of Scotland’s collection. I know what you’re thinking, faced with a PowerPoint presentation my immediate response was: this is going to be dull. But within ten minutes the room was in hysterics at termite abstracts, alphabet abecendariums and ‘The Romance of the Postage Stamp’. Hawley’s speech is both witty and meaningful, as he explains the archive is a collective human story and we should be proud to be part of the species that created it. It’s always a joy to see someone in their element, though that’s not necessarily in dance or belting solos – sometimes it’s collecting books.

National Library Of Scotland, until 26 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Jane Berg]