An Evening With Damian Barr
Damian Barr, author of Maggie and Me, joins Waterstones Argyle Street at the Glasgow School of Art to launch his spectacular new novel The Two Roberts.
About An Evening With Damian Barr
| 9th September 2025 | |
| 7pm | |
|
The Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art Renfrew Street, Glasgow City Centre G3 6RF |
|
| £24 with a copy of The Two Roberts / £8 General Admission | |
| Event organiser/part of Waterstones Argyle Street | |
| Visit the event website here | |
Described as a "truly great story penned by one of Scotland's finest writers" by Jenni Fagan, The Two Roberts reimagines the lives of two 20th century Scottish artists, Roberts MacBryde and Colquhoun, now almost forgotten but stars in their day who partied with Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Elizabeth Smart and more in what Patrick Gale called "full-blown treat, historical fiction that brings to life unjustly neglected figures of queer art". Barr's novel is a love letter to Glasgow, to an artistic life that is almost impossible now, and to the love itself between the two Roberts who give the book its title.
Damian will be in discussion at the Glasgow School of Art, where the artists met, about the book, drawing on real lives to create fiction, recreating the past, and more, in a night not to be missed.
The Two Roberts
Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he’s off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls – and never leave his side.
Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow – its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city – all the while loving each other behind closed doors. With the world on the brink of war, their unrivalled talent will take them to Paris, Rome, London. They will become stars as the bombs fall, hosting wild parties with the likes of Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Elizabeth Smart. But the brightest stars burn fastest.
Stunningly reimagined, The Two Roberts is a profoundly moving story of devotion and obsession, art and class. It is a love letter to MacBryde and Colquhoun, the almost-forgotten artists who tried to change the way the world sees – and paid a devastating price.
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