Something rather cheerful appears to have happened to A.L. Kennedy of late - she fair bounced into the RBS Main Theatre of the Edinburgh International Book Festival for her eight o' clock slot.

Admittedly, A. L. has had a very good year, her most recent novel, Day, deservedly taking what continues to be the highest profile literary prize in the U.K. (The Costa, formerly Booker Prize).

Increasingly, though, folk recognise and think of her as a stand-up comic who refers to her written output as "the typing thing." That's harder to do, however, now that she has eleven published works more or less continuously in print, teaches at the University of St. Andrews, and continues the relentless round of book fests and promotional touring which are the fate of best selling as much as less selling authors.

Still, a few things to be cheery about in between the strange sets of digs Kennedy described when not talking about other, sometimes more serious things. The other things included, unsurprisingly, "the typing thing," and award winning - in this case the undignified situations you can be in when a telephone call brings good news. There's a noticeable fresh sharpness to A. L. Kennedy, comedienne, delightfully ranging over aforesaid accommodation, carpet laying, but above all the power of stories to transform and of words to empower or disempower all of us.

Her appearance was a wee bit of a high wire walk at times, dizzying and impressive, but unquestionably grounded on the big questions those who work with words sometimes, possibly not often enough, ask about why we do what we do and whom we do it for. Kennedy has the very enviable ability to juxtapose the everyday and ordinary with the magical and precious, an ability which carries over from her writing to her comedic presence. A capacity crowd clearly enjoyed their hour with one of Dundee's additions to Scotland's national treasures.

Times: Aug 11 at 20:00

Copyright Bill Dunlop August 2008

Published on EdinburghGuide.com August 2008