Alice Mah & Rodge Glass | 21 June | 7pm

Join us for the final night of Indie Bookshop Week. Alice Mah and Rodge Glass will be in store to discuss their latest works.

In Red Pockets Alice Mah returns to her family’s rice village in South China, and discovers that her ancestors are almost forgotten, and there are no tombs left to sweep. Instead, there are incalculable clan debts to be paid. Here Mah chronicles her journey from the rice villages of South China to her home in post-industrial England, through the Chinatowns of Western Canada where she grew up, to the isles and industry of Scotland where she now lives.

As years pass and fires rage on, she becomes increasingly troubled by her ancestors’ neglected graves. Her research on pollution gives way to growing eco-anxiety, culminating in a crisis of spiritual belief. A haunting blend of memoir, cultural history and environmental exploration, Red Pockets confronts the hungry ghosts of our neglected ancestors, while searching for an acceptable offering.

Rodge Glass’s nephew Joshua died the same day he was born, from a blood condition they both share.  Joshua in the Sky charts the five years around Joshua’s life and death as Rodge attempts to make sense of this loss. A family memoir and a memorial to a short life, it asks the questions: Whose life deserved to be remembered? And how?

Alice Mah is a Chinese Canadian-British writer and Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies at the University of Glasgow. Originally from a small town in northern British Columbia, she has a long-standing interest in ecology and place. Her award-winning research focuses on toxic pollution and environmental justice, the subjects of her most recent books: Petrochemical Planet and Plastic Unlimited. 

Rodge Glass is the author of eight books,  No Fireworks, Hope for Newborns  Alasdair Gray: A Secretary’s Biography  Dougie’s WarBring Me the Head of Ryan Giggs Stories for the EasyJet Generation and the new nonfiction book Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir . He is also the author of two audio stories for children: ‘A Little Light’ (2023) and ‘The Magic of Stories’ (2024), both available on BBC Sounds as part of the ‘Time for a Story’ series. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Take Four Books, as well as BBC Scotland’s Sunday Morning programme as a commentator, and regularly appears at book festivals internationally as both an author and a host. Rodge is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Strathclyde, where he is Convener of the MLitt in Creative Writing.

You can choose from a few types of event tickets

Book Voucher and Event Ticket - this ticket means you have £5 to spend on books on the night of the event if you fancy a little retail therapy. This option also helps us keep our events programme running

Event Ticket Only - A classic option, timeless even, absolutely does what it says on the tin

Event Ticket with a copy of Red Pockets

Event Ticket with a copy of Joshua in the 

Events Ticket and Two Book Bundle

If you want to pick up your products in store or are purchasing an event ticket please use the regular checkout instead of Apple Pay.