Portobello Book Festival 2024: preview of Heids Up

Neil Renton and Mark Fleming's collaboration - short stories, essays, and memoirs - was previewed on Sunday 6th October as part of this year's festival.

Chaired by Matty Fairney, the longstanding host of Hibs FC fans' podcast, Longbangers, the chat got underway shortly after 10 am on the last day of the book festival. Matty introduced Neil and Mark to the small but attentive audience, asking a number of questions about what instigated Heids UpThe co-authors explained about meeting at The Changing Room, a mental health programme running at Easter Road (and, indeed, over 20 other senior football clubs across the country), and how discovering shared interests and passions, not to mention past traumas, prompted this exciting ad inspirational collaboration.

​The conversation delved deeper into how writing and other creative processes, such as music appreciation, have been vital for maintaining their respective wellbeing after major psychotic episodes in the past. Both read excerpts from the forthcoming book, due for publication in December. 

Matty Fairnie, Neil Renton and Mark Fleming, Portobello Book Festival 2024.

Portobello Book Festival 2024, Getting Creative, End Stigma

Near the conclusion of the interview, Neil and Mark shared excerpts from Heids Up. Neil has written several connected pieces under the umbrella, 'Songs in the Key of Strife,' using music as a backdrop to key moments during his mental health journey. He did a reading of one of these, 'I've got 99 problems and being Jay Z is one.' Mark read 'Quicksand and Caffeine,' a story underscoring how sharing issues is one of the key ways of overcoming stigma.

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