Annual Adam Smith Lecture in Kirkcaldy

I am making the short rail crossing over the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh this morning for two-days of events organised by the Adam Smith Global Foundation in Kirkcaldy, Adam Smith’s home town, where he was born in June 1723, and lived with his widowed mother, Margaret Douglas Smith, until he was 14.

Adam left Kirkcaldy for the first time to attend Glasgow University from 1737 to 1740 and commenced an academic career from which he became world-famous, or, as they say, the rest is history.

The purpose of my visit to Kirkcaldy (c.40 minutes from Edinburgh by suburban train - a lot less dangerous than crossing the Firth was for Smith in his lifetime) is to attend “Adam Smith in Kirkcaldy and beyond: A Symposium: part of the new Adam Smith Festival 2013”.

Symposium Programme: 
Wednesday 5 June 2013

2.00 – 4.00 “Consequences for Kirkcaldy of the Act of Union 1707”

Presenters: Bruce Durie and George Proudfoot (both very well-informed local historians).

Thursday 6 June 2013

2.00 – 4.00 "The Global Influence of the Scottish Enlightenment"

Presenter: Nicholas Phillipson (author: “Adam Smith: an Enlightened Life” (Yale University Press), 2010i. [A formidable intellectual biography of high repute.]

The event will take place in Kirkcaldy Old Kirk, Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy, Fife KY1 1EH (where Adam Smith attended church up to 1714, and his mother).

7pm – 8 pm. The Annual Adam Smith Lecture

Presented by: Professor Tom Devine (Edinburgh University and a most distinguished Scottish historian) at St Bryce Kirk, Kirkcaldy.

8.15-9.30: reception at Adam Smith College: Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP.

I expect to converse with many old colleagues and Smithian scholars, plus local political dignitaries.