When literary types come to Scotland in summer they tend to aim for Edinburgh and its big, flashy annual literary festival. But Glasgow, often referred to as the second city, is catching up fast, with a fresh influence on literature that resonates far beyond the border.
Glasgow's image as a city of book-lovers has been boosted by the popularity of Channel Four's dark comedy The Book Group. Screenwriter Annie Griffin's hit show chronicles the progress of Claire, Kenny, Rab, Barney, Lachlan, Janice, Fist and Dirka on their search for literary (and sexual) enlightenment, and shows Glasgow at its most culturally eclectic.
Fans of the show, which inspired a cult following with its visceral and often tragic humour, will be pleased to know that what happens on screen is reflected in real-life literary Glasgow - the city is stuffed full of bookshops, reading groups, writing courses and well-read natives. No news yet of a third series of The Book Group, but instead of sitting around waiting for the next chapter, get yourself to Glasgow and discover its literary delights for yourself.
This month you should aim for Glasgow's West End Festival, which has an impressive programme of readings and discussions with contemporary Scottish writers including Alasdair Gray, Jackie Kay, Helen Simpson and James Kelman. A festival market of rare and second- hand books will be part of the celebrations, too, with dealers from across Scotland selling their wares and offering free advice and valuations to browsers and serious collectors alike.
Elsewhere in the city, Book Groupies will recognise Voltaire & Rousseau's dusty jumble sale of a bookshop down cobbled Otago Lane in the West End. Trading in used and antiquarian tomes for more than three decades, Voltaire & Rousseau started selling books by mail to soldiers in the Vietnam war. Collectors come from all over Scotland to browse in the relaxed yet chaotic shop, overseen by a volunteer who has a greater interest in drinking tea and smoking roll-ups than organising the shelves.
Around the corner, on Great Western Road, Caledonia Books is the type of second-hand bookshop bibliophiles dream of, and a fine example of what makes Glasgow's literary scene so vibrant. First editions in glass cases, well-worn bookshelf ladders, a roaring fire and a fat, prowling cat will make you want to while away a typical rainy Glasgow afternoon in one of its antique leather armchairs. Check out the community notice board for author readings, literary group meetings and book swaps.
No matter how hard the chain book stores try they will never be that atmospheric, but with two branches in Glasgow, Waterstone's certainly does its best. Besides featuring in an episode of The Book Group, Waterstone's does have an impressive roster of authors making personal appearances, including Yann Martell, Val McDermid and Tony Parsons. While you're there, browse the Scottish fiction section on the ground floor and pick up a few novels written by contemporary Glaswegian writers. Established scribblers such as A L Kennedy and James Kelman sit on shelves next to first-time novelists Anne Donovan and Val McDermid, both of whom have made it on to recent Orange Prize lists. Zoe Strachan's debut, Negative Space, was nurtured during her time running a local book group and attending a writing course at Glasgow University. Creative writing programmes there and at the University of Strathclyde attract budding authors from all over Scotland, and Glasgow is positively pregnant with writing talent.
All that literary activity surely merits some refreshment, and you can do it in Book Group style at the Corinthian. Georgian columns, high ceilings and luxurious chandeliers set the scene for everything from afternoon tea to late-night drinking and clubbing. Housed in an old bank, the Corinthian is a huge venue incorporating a genteel restaurant, several bars, a nightclub plus a private members' club and dining rooms. The clientele encompasses everyone from wee grannies to footballers, depending on what time of day or night you turn up. In series one of The Book Group, football fan Rab holds a late-night court of football fanatics in Corinthian's main bar, the perfect setting for cigar-chomping lads about town.
The Corinthian is owned by restaurant impresario Stephan King, whose most recent venture is just as stylish if a bit more modern. Gong is all dark wood and latticed dining nooks, with Asian-inspired fusion food, and it's immediately recognisable as the place where Kenny takes his teenage date for an intimate dinner. Don't make the same mistake - Gong is very sophisticated and caters for a fashion and design-conscious West End crowd. Leave the children at home.
Accommodation with visible literary connections is virtually nonexistent in Glasgow: there are no plaques commemorating the sleeping preferences of any famous Scottish authors. Make do with the Milton Classic Hotel, whose appearance in The Book Group as a bit of a knocking shop for businessmen belies the fact that it is a spacious, modern hotel without a hint of seediness. Each of the 129 rooms has recently been given a feng shui makeover, and anyone in need of pampering will approve of the gym, sauna, steam room and beauty salon. The Milton is in the centre of town, but the notoriously noisy Glasgow weekend nightlife is shut out by soundproofed walls.
If you want to be the one making the noise, then Rab Ha's will enable you to eat, drink and crash out, all under one renovated 18th- century warehouse roof. Named after an infamous Glaswegian glutton who had a penchant for pies and potatoes, Rab Ha's restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes with only a wink and a nod to traditional Scottish fare. The bar features several times in The Book Group, most notably when Dirka, Fist and Kenny go on a drinking binge before returning to Kenny's flat for a failed attempt at a menage a trois. If you're lucky, such shenanigans may (or may not, as you prefer) keep you entertained in one of the four uniquely decorated guest rooms - nightly rates start at a bargain pounds 50, including breakfast.
There's plenty in the city for those who simply want to read. Charles Rennie Mackintosh's library for the Glasgow School of Art is an undisputed architectural masterpiece, but you'll have to take one of the twice daily guided tours to see it. Find your own way around the shelves at the Mitchell Library, an imposing Victorian sandstone building on North Street. The road itself is incredibly noisy - some bright spark thought splitting Glasgow in half with the M8 would be a good idea. It wasn't. However, once you are inside, the tone is reassuringly hushed and you are free to explore Europe's largest public reference library. Don't miss the specialist collections on Glasgow's history and literature, and an entire floor dedicated to the works of Robert Burns, including a copy of Auld Lang Syne handwritten by the Scottish Bard himself. Book Group fans take note: The Burns floor features in Claire's fantasy crush sequence with Barney in the first series. Another such scene was filmed on nearby Kelvin Walk, a lush, green path alongside the Kelvin River which is home to the beautiful botanic garden and 19th-century greenhouses. Make sure you book tickets for the Bard in the Botanics Shakespeare Festival, which gets underway at the end of June with a promenade performance of Measure for Measure among the flowers.
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