Posts Tagged ‘book festival’
Annual £1500 Wigtown Poetry Prize invites entries
The annual £1500 international Wigtown Poetry Prize – which celebrates Scotland’s three indigenous languages – is now open for entries. As Scotland’s international poetry prize it promotes and nurtures work in English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic, attracting entries from as far afield as the USA, Canada, Australia, Ecuador and China. Founded in 2005, Wigtown Poetry…
Read MoreBoswell Book Festival returns for its 10th outing
The 10th Boswell Book Festival will take place at Dumfries House in Ayrshire later this year. Running from 8-10 May, the event was founded to celebrate the life and work of the great writer and long recognised inventor of modern biography, James Boswell of Auchinleck. Set in the beautifully restored house, saved for the nation…
Read MoreBake Off’s Sandi is heading to Scotland
Organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival announced an event with national treasure Sandi Toksvig. Sandi will launch her new memoir Between the Stops in conversation with Scottish journalist Ruth Wishart at the Assembly Rooms on George Street on Sunday 3 November. Much like its beloved author, Toksvig’s Between the Stops wittily defies convention. A…
Read MoreWigtown Book Festival aims to be more accessible
This year’s Wigtown Book Festival aims to be the most accessible ever for adults and children. The Big Wig programme for the youngest visitors includes a series of events ideally suited for reluctant readers, children with reading disabilities and those with additional support needs. One particular attraction will be The Yurt which offers multisensory storytelling,…
Read MoreWhat has made Room 101 and Big Brother normal
Author Dorian Lynskey believes that every generation finds aspects of George Orwell’s 1984 that resonate with their own political times. Today we have the normalisation of lies and what the Trump administration has called ‘alternative facts’. Another major issue anticipated by the book, published in 1949 and now in its 70th anniversary year, is the…
Read MoreScots language poem wins international poetry prize
A poem in Scots has won the annual £1,500 international Wigtown Prize for poetry for the first time. Shiftin, by Mhairi Owens, was among entries from poets from as far afield as the USA, China, Canada and Ecuador, writing in English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic. This year, the Wigtown Prize was opened up to entries…
Read MoreBoswell Book Festival to hear from Grenfell duo
As is often the case, the most awful of tragedies can bring out the very best in a community. Following the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017 a group of women would gather at the community kitchen in the Al-Manaar mosque. Twice a week they would cook recipes they had grown up eating in…
Read MoreNovel on missing Highland girls on awards longlist
A lawyer turned island crime author could see her new Skye-based thriller short-listed for the Highland Book Prize on Wednesday. Anna Mazzola, whose passion for justice propels her writing, has spent her career as a human rights lawyer representing marginalised individuals, including those who fall through gaps in the criminal justice system. She only started…
Read MoreRapper turned writer set for book festival event
Organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival have announced a special event next month. On Saturday 9 March, American author Angie Thomas presenting her much-anticipated follow-up to her bestselling novel The Hate U Give. The rapper-turned-writer’s incendiary novel about state violence against African Americans, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, sold millions worldwide and…
Read MoreIgnite Fellowship winners revealed by book trust
Scottish Book Trust, the national charity transforming lives through reading and writing, has today announced the inaugural Ignite Fellowship awardees. Theatre-maker Annie George and poet Marjorie Lotfi Gill were selected by a panel including representatives from Scottish Book Trust and a professional writer. Annie George is based in Portobello, and her recent plays include Edinburgh…
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