Please join the award-winning writer, broadcaster and journalist Damian Barr and me when we are ‘in conversation’ about his new novel, The Two Roberts, at Edinburgh Central Library on Thursday 19 February 2026. The event is part of the National Year of Reading 2026 initiative.
The Two Roberts
Robert Colquhoun (1914-62) and Robert MacBryde (1913-66) met at Glasgow School of Art in 1933. They became life partners, took the London art world by storm and fell on hard times before their deaths in 1962 and 1966 respectively.
black chalk on paper, 27 x 16cm
National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh: Given Anonymously 1973 (c) Artist’s Estate
Damian Barr
Damian has explained that his ‘life is all about writing, telling and celebrating stories – especially those that are overlooked or hidden.’ The Two Roberts was chosen as a best fiction book of 2025 by the Guardian, Observer and Herald newspapers and by the BBC. It is published by Canongate.
pen and sepia on paper 29 x 23cm
National Galleries of Scotlalnd, Edinburgh: Given Anonymously 1973 (c) Artist’s Estate
The Two Roberts Exhibition
Damian has also curated an exhibition of the Two Roberts’ work, titled Robert MacBryde and Robert Colquhoun: Artists, Lovers, Outsiders. It runs at Charleston’s gallery in Lewes until 12 April 2026 and includes Colquhoun’s painting Woman with Goat, seen below. I recommend you visit it before or after you join Damian and me in Edinburgh.!To book your free ticket for our ‘in conversation’ please visit ticketsource.
oil on canvas, 100 x 75cm
Victoria Gallery & Museum, University of Liverpool: Purchased 1967 (c) Artist’s Estate
More Lovely Books
For more about books inspired by or about Scottish art, you might enjoy this feature about Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s Glacier works and this post about the Lund Humphries Foundation for the Visual Arts. My book about the Scottish Colourists for the National Galleries of Scotland is due out later this year, as you can find out here.
