Ullapool Book Festival 2008
The Ullapool Book Festival runs over the weekend beginning 16th May, and features leading Scottish authors such as James Robertson, Alan Spence and Louise Welsh.
Friday 16th May
- 1.45pm, The Ceilidh Place Clubroom - Writing workshop led by Alistair MacLeod
- 4.00pm, Ullapool Bookshop - Neil Gunn Writing Competition. Some of the winning entrants of the 2007 competition will be reading their work
- 7.00pm, Macphail Theatre - Donny O'Rourke formally opens the book festival, and James Robertson will be reading from The Testament of Gideon Mack and his next novel
- 8.30pm, Macphail Theatre - Lecture by Louise Welsh "Robert Louis Stevenson and the Theatre of the Mind". Chaired by Donny O'Rourke
- 11.00pm, The Ceilidh Place Parlour Bar - An open mic session where you can read your own work
Saturday 17th May
- 9.45am, Ullapool Village Hall - Breakfast Stories with Essie Stewart, in English and Gaelic
- 11.30am, Ullapool Village Hall - Margaret Bennett will read from and discuss her book Scottish Customs from the Cradle to the Grave
- 1.45pm, Ullapool Village Hall - Anne Frater and Rody Gorman read from their Gaelic poetry
- 3.00pm, Ullapool Village Hall - Canadian Alistair MacLeod is regarded by many as one of the world’s finest fiction writers. His fiction highlights the Gaelic heritage of the descendants of Highland Scots who settled in Nova Scotia over 200 years ago.
- 4.45pm, Ullapool Village Hall - George Gunn and Sam Meekings - Poetry readings, including Meekings' debut collection The Bestiary
- 7.30pm, Ullapool Village Hall - Writer and musician Luke Sutherland will talk about his writing with extracts from Jelly Roll, Sweetmeat and Venus as a Boy
- 9.00pm, Ullapool Village Hall - Richard Price was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize for Poetry in 2005. His most recent collection Greenfields
- 11.00pm, The Ceilidh Place Parlour Bar - Share your favourite poems in this open mic event
Sunday 18th May
- 10.30am, The Ceilidh Place Clubroom - Zoë Strachan will read from her novel Spin Cycle
- 12.00 noon, The Ceilidh Place Clubroom - Alan Spence will read from his latest novel The Pure Land
- The Bestiary
'The Bestiary' is a collection of lyrical, intelligent poems which challenge the ways in which we respond to the natural environment around us. - Greenfields
'Greenfields' is Richard Price's second book of poems, in which he writes for the first time about growing up in a fast-changing corner of Scotland. - The Pure Land
'The Pure Land' relives in fiction the arc of Thomas Glover's true-life rise and fall, and forges a hundred-year saga that culminates in the annihilation of Nagasaki in 1945. It spans the feudal and the atomic ages, east and west, global history and private passion. - Scottish Customs: From The Cradle To The Grave
In 'Scottish Customs', selected texts along with material from recorded interviews with tradition bearers give a detailed picture of social behaviour over four centuries in Scotland. - Spin Cycle
Blacker and more ambitious than 'Negative Space', Zoë Strachan's vibrant second novel is illuminated by her light observational touch, deft characterization and gift for creating - and sustaining - suspense. 'Spin Cycle' tells of furtive desires and hidden obsessions. - Sweetmeat
In London's Delphi Restaurant, Bohemond, head chef, has started to prepare the perfect wedding meal for his boss, Hermione, and her womanising fiancé, Paris. But then he discovers a mysterious love letter. Should he warn her about Paris? - The Testament Of Gideon Mack
Mack is a minister who doesn't believe in God, the Devil or an afterlife. Until one day, when he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself. - Venus As A Boy
In a room in Soho, a man is turning gold. His flesh, his organs, even his eyes, are being transformed by some human alchemy. And the path to this curious and frightening predicament has been filled with incredible moments. It began on South Ronaldsay amongst the seals and ancient ruins of Orkney.