Scottish Book Town Festival
Wigtown Book Town
Galloway
Wigtown is a historic market town on the Galloway coast that is home to 900 people, a malt whiskey distillery and a quarter of a million books. It's autumn Festival provides ten days of readings, performances, exhibitions and debates which prompts a mass migration of bibliophiles from all over Britain to this green, pastoral corner of Scotland.
As part of the Book Town Festival, Wigtown is also hosting the Wigtown Literary Festival from Saturday 23rd September at the County Buildings in Wigtown. The complete programme is available from the Wigtown Book Town website, but BooksfromScotland.com have highlighted some of our favourite Scottish events.
Contact: Tel. 01988 403222, Email: mail@wigtown-booktown.co.uk
Friday 22nd September
Richard Holloway - 7pm - A wise and entertaining journey through the minefield of religion and humour, from the former Bishop of Edinburgh, and author of Looking In The Distance.
Saturday 23rd September
Aline Templeton and Catriona McPherson talk to Jack Hunter - 11am - Two crime novelists discuss criminology and and Galloway countryside. Templeton is the author of Cold In The Earth and McPherson is the author of 1920's set After the Armistice Ball.
Claire Macdonald of Macdonald - 1pm - Award-winning cook and food writer, Baroness Macdonald's Fish was first published in 1986 and is now available in a new hardback edition.
Lisa Chaney - 1pm - Although from Perthshire, JM Barrie attended Dumfries Academy for a time, and here Lisa Chaney discusses his life and work, and her biography of Barrie, Hide-And-Seek With Angels.
Wigtown Poetry Festival - 3pm - Launch event. See our competition page for more details.
James Buchan - 3pm - James Buchan, grandson of John Buchan, has recently written a biograpy of Scottish economist and thinker Adam Smith.
Thomas Carruthers - 3pm - Written by his great grandson Tom, a biography of Thomas Carruthers, Golf Club Maker.
Margaret Thomas Davis - 5pm - Margaret Thomas Davis reads from her autobiography, Write From The Heart.
Jackie Kay talks to Anna Burnside about her latest collection of short stories, Wish I Was Here.
Sunday 24th September
Des Dillon - 1pm - Des Dillon returns with his laest collection of short stories, the dramatically-titled They Scream When You Kill Them, which was launched at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival.
The John Murray Archive - 3pm - The 15,000 documents in the archive, bought this year by the British Library, represent a remarkable record of British intellectual life over three centuries. The collection contains letters and manuscripts from George Elliot, Jane Austin, Charles Darwin, David Livingstone and Lord Byron.
George Douglas Brown - 5pm - Dorothy McMillan, Head of English & Scottish Literature at Glasgow University, celebrates the life and work of George Douglas Brown, author of The House With The Green Shutters.
Andrew Greig talks to Tom Pow - 5pm - Tom Pow, author of new children's book Captives, discusses golf and literature with Greig, author of Preferred Lies.
Tuesday 26th September
Jackie Galley - 10am - Poetry in the Wilds - a guided walk and writing workshop led by poet and ecologist Jackie Galley.
Wednesday 27th September
Magnus Magnusson - 7pm - 'Scotland's favourite Icelander' Magnus Magnusson explorers the shadowy world of the forger in his new book Fakes, Forgers, And Phoneys.
Friday 29th September
Prof. Charles McKean - 1pm - In Battle For the North Prof. McKean recounts the building, collapse and rebuilding of the Tay Railway Bridge, and the competition, politics and thuggery that shaped the Scottish railways in the 19th century.
Nick Thorpe - 4pm - Few of us are given the opportunity to pause our daily lives, slow down, and really think about our lives and our role in the world. Nick Thorpe's Adrift in Caledonia, will encourage you to appreciate Scotland and her people.
Saturday 30th September
Glasgow MLitt Anthology - 11am - The post-graduate Masters degree in Creative Writing from Glasgow & Strathclyde Universities is one of the most successful courses of its kind in the UK. Course tutor Zoë Strachan (Spin Cycle) introduces the latest collection of work, Outside of a Dog.
Thomas Healy and Robert Douglas - 11am - Two very different memoirs: Healy's I Have Heard You Calling In The Night and Douglas's Night Song of the Last Tram.
William McIlvanney - 3pm - Entertaining and thought-provoking, McIlvanney's latest novel is Weekend.
Liza Campbell - 5pm - Subtitled, 'A Work of Fiction', Liza Campbell's memoir Title Deeds tells of her childhood in Cawdor Castle.
Sunday 1st October
Butterflies - 11am - Butterflies of South West Scotland is a beautifully illustrated guide to the butterflies of Ayrshire, Galloway and Dumfries.
Andrew Lindsay - 1pm - In Andrew Lindsay's novel, Illustrious Exile, Robert Burns left Scotland to become a book-keeper on an estate in Jamaica - an original 'What Could Have Been' novel.
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Adam Smith - Hardback -
£15.99
Widely considered to be the father of a neo-conservative ideology of unregulated business and small government, Adam Smith's concepts have been adopted by many politicians in recent years. In this biography, James Buchan proves that Smith fits no modern political categories, and that his theories have been misrepresented by many. -
Adrift In Caledonia: Boat-Hitching For The Unenlightened - Paperback -
£12.99
Nick Thorpe charts his journey around Scotland's waterways, using any and every vessel available, from a canoe to a nuclear submarine. Along the way he stops and meets the folk who lie at the heart of this odyssey: sailors and visionaries, boaties and eccentrics. -
Add to BasketAfter The Armistice Ball - Paperback -
£6.99
Dandy Gilver is bored to a whimper in the spring of 1922 and a little light snooping seems like harmless fun. Before long though, the puzzle of what really happened to the Duffy diamonds after the Armistice Ball has been swept aside by a sudden, unexpected death in a lonely seaside cottage in Galloway. -
Battle For The North: The Tay And Forth Bridges And The 19th-Century Railway Wars - Hardback -
£20.00
Presenting a dramatic and scandalous story of the building of the Tay and Forth Bridges and the 19th century railway wars, this work explores the complicated reality underlying the Victorian pursuit of progress. -
Add to BasketButterflies Of South West Scotland: An Atlas Of Their Distribution - Hardback
£12.99
An illustrated survey of the species of butterflies in South West Scotland, showing their habitat and distribution, with maps showing where they can be observed. -
Add to BasketCaptives - Paperback -
£4.99
Martin could never have predicted what would happen when his family sign up for two day's trekking in the National Park during their holiday on the beautiful island of Santa Clara. This book presents a story about ten people thrown together under extraordinary circumstances and with devastating consequences. -
Add to BasketCold In The Earth - Hardback -
£18.99
Death is all around for the people of Galloway when a catastrophic virus devastates the countryside, killing cattle and ruining lives. But the stench of death becomes even stronger when, amidst the smoking pyres, human remains are discovered. For DI Fleming, this is just the beginning. -
Add to BasketFakers, Forgers And Phoneys: Famous Scams And Scamps - Hardback -
£17.99
The author explores the shadowy world of deception and counterfeiting. This is a guide to ingenious art and literary forgeries, archaeological frauds, imposters, and hoaxers in the world. -
Add to BasketFish: Inspiring Fish Recipes For Creative Cooks - Hardback -
£25.00
'Fish' features various recipes, from soups to dishes that lend themselves as first courses, lunches or suppers, to main courses for meals for both family and friends. It includes a range of sauces to accompany the recipes. -
Add to BasketGolf Club Maker: Thomas Carruthers, 1840-1924 - Paperback -
£15.99
Thomas Carruthers who lived beside Bruntsfield's famous golf course in Edinburgh became one of the leading golf club makers of the late 19th and early 20th century. His designs are still used by Callaway today. -
Hide-And-Seek With Angels: A Life Of J.M. Barrie - Paperback -
£9.99
Best known as the creator of 'Peter Pan', J.M. Barrie's work met with critical acclaim the world over, yet for most of his life he remained a reclusive figure withdrawn from public life. This biography details the immense literary talent of one of Scotland's favourite sons. -
The House With The Green Shutters - Paperback -
£6.99
This novel lays bare the seductive and crippling presence of patriarchal authority in Scottish culture at large, symbolised by the terrible struggle between old John Gourlay and his weak but imaginative son. -
Add to BasketI Have Heard You Calling In The Night: A Memoir - Hardback -
£12.99
Thomas Healy was a drunk, a fighter, often unemployed, no stranger to the Glasgow police or to the courts. Then one day he bought a pup - a Dobermann called Martin. Martin, in more ways than one, saved Thomas Healy's life. This is a story of a man and his dog. -
Add to BasketIllustrious Exile: Journal Of My Sojourn In The West Indies By Robert Burns - Paperback -
£9.99
In 1786, the Scottish poet Robert Burns, penniless and needing to escape the consequences of his complicated love life, accepted the position of book-keeper on an estate in Jamaica, but the success of his poetry made the journey unnecessary. Andrew Lindsay looks at what could have happened if the voyage had taken place. -
Add to BasketLooking In The Distance: The Human Search For Meaning - Paperback -
£7.99
With organised religions seemingly out of touch and yet people wanting spiritual guidance as much now as ever before, Richard Holloway offers a spiritual guide to living (and dying). -
Add to BasketNight Song Of The Last Tram: A Glasgow Childhood - Paperback -
£7.99
Growing up in Glasgow both during and after the Second World War, Robert Douglas's life was blighted by the cruel - if sporadic - presence of his father, yet blessed by the love of his mother. In this book he recalls his upbringing, along with his memories of a city which has changed in many ways. -
Outside Of A Dog: An Anthology Of New Writing - Paperback
£9.99
A year in the life of the Masters of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow captured through the writing of its students. Here, in short stories, poems and novel extracts, there is the restrained and melancholic, the hysterical and vulgar, and even a sex-farce-gangster-thriller. -
Add to BasketPreferred Lies: A Journey To The Heart Of Scottish Golf - Hardback -
£12.99
Andrew Greig grew up on the east coast of Scotland, where playing golf is as natural as breathing. He has played on the Old Course at St Andrews as well as on the miners' courses of Yorkshire. He writes about the different cultural manifestations of the game, the history, the geography, and the different social meanings. -
Add to BasketSpin Cycle - Paperback -
£7.99
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. -
Add to BasketThey Scream When You Kill Them - Paperback -
£7.99
Welcome to Des Dillon's world - a world where murderous poultry and evolutionary elephants make their mark. Featuring modern, unique, and often gritty stories, Dillon takes the reader on a journey into a world where - amongst other bizarre happenings - the cast of Othello find themselves in the Big Brother house. -
Add to BasketTitle Deeds: A Work Of Friction - Hardback -
£14.99
Liza Campbell was the last child to be born at Cawdor Castle, the family seat of the Campbells, as featured in 'Macbeth'. This work tells the story of Liza's idyllic childhood. It is a contemporary fairy story that tells what it is like to grow up as a maiden in a castle where ancient curses and grisly past events were real. -
Add to BasketWeekend - Hardback -
£16.99
In a Victorian mansion hotel on a Scottish island, a group of English literature lecturers and students from Glasgow gather for a study weekend, though studying is not exactly what some of them have in mind. The weekend proves to be a major turning point in the emotional lives of several people. -
Wish I Was Here - Hardback -
£12.99
In this collection of stories, Jackie Kay explores every aspect of love - the most overwhelming and complicated of human emotions, exposing the moments of tenderness, shock, bravery and remorse that accompany its pursuit, its passions, its passing. -
Add to BasketWrite From The Heart: The Extraordinary Real Life Story Of Glasgow's Favourite Novelist - Paperback -
£9.99
A human story of triumph in the face of adversity, 'Write from the Heart' is the inspirational story of how, against all odds, Margaret Thomson Davis became one of Scotland's leading novelists.
