An Evening with Colin Morgan

The Portobello Bookshop is thrilled to welcome Colin Morgan for the Edinburgh launch of his debut novel, The Ballad of Ronan McCoy. It is a beautifully written, tender coming-of-age story about friendship and first love, loss and letting go, and the hopes and fears of a young man. Perfect for fans of Douglas Stuart, Michael Magee, David Nicholls and Andrew O'Hagan, we can't wait to dive into this stunning book with the author.

This event will take place in The Great Hall at Nicolson Square with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. Detailed information on how to access the venue can be found here.

Please note Colin will not be doing an in-person signing at the event, but will be able to pre-sign and dedicate copies of the book. If you would like a dedicated copy, please select this option with your Book & Ticket and include the name for the dedication before adding your ticket to the basket.

We would appreciate a technology free evening, so everyone can be fully present at this event. It's an invitation to switch phones off and put them away for the duration of the event, so that they're not in use for any purpose throughout. This does mean no personal photography throughout the event.

About The Ballad of Ronan McCoy:

Brendan's best friend, his only friend, is Ronan McCoy. He knows things about Brendan that no one else does: about his job washing the cars at Feeney’s Funeral Home, about the loneliness he sometimes feels even when surrounded by hundreds of others at school. But Brendan never told Ronan about the dark feeling that sits at the bottom of his stomach, the feeling that tells him something bad is coming. It never comes when Ronan's around.

Ronan is smart and sporty and popular, totally comfortable in his own skin: all the things that Brendan himself isn't. But Ronan always makes him feel like a good friend, a good person, a better Brendan.

Standing at the school gates on the first day of term, the dark feeling begins to form in Brendan's stomach. And when Ronan doesn’t turn up, Brendan learns that something terrible happened to his best friend over the summer and he'll never be the same again. Over the course of the final year of school, Brendan will have to learn to navigate the new shape of their friendship and find a place for himself in the world without Ronan to protect him.