Borders Book Festival 2007
Melrose
The Scottish Borders
The 2007 Borders Book Festival runs this year from 21st to 24th June. Events will be held in a number of venues around Melrose, with many in the new Festival Marquee at Harmony House, the new home of the Borders Book Festival.
Scottish authors and books appearing at the festival this year include:
Friday 22nd June
- 8pm - Lord George Robertson, former Secretary General of NATO, shares his photography of Islay and Jura
Saturday 23rd June
- 4pm - Alistair Moffat - The Reivers is a new book by Alistair Moffat, written in conjunction with Fiona Armstrong and the new ITV Border television series of the same name.
- 5.30pm - Andrew Greig will be talking about his book on Golf, Preferred Lies.
- 6pm - Mary Contini, of the famous Valvona and Crolla delicatessen, has written a second book about her family life in Italy and Scotland, Dear Olivia.
- 9pm - William Dalrymple will be talking about his latest book on the fall of the last Indian Mughal Emperor, The Last Mughal.
Sunday 24th June
- 2pm - New Novelists' Event - Three début Scottish novelists, all published by Mercat Press, discuss their work. Gillian Galbraith will talk about Blood in the Water, William Sutton reads from The Worms of Euston Square and Jess Smith will talk about Bruar's Rest
- 4pm - Walter Elliot will be talking about his collection The New Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
- 5pm - Iain Banks will be talking about his latest novel, The Steep Approach To Garbadale
- 8pm - Will Ian Rankin's forthcoming, as yet unnamed novel be the last in the Inspector Rebus series?
Children's Festival
The Children's Festival will run on Saturday and Sunday, and feature contributions from authors Vivian French, Ross Collins and others.
- Blood In The Water
We follow Edinburgh's latest fictional detective Alice Rice as she races against time and an implacable killer to solve a series of grisly murders amongst Edinburgh's professional elite in the well-to-do New Town. - Bruar's Rest
The story begins in the Highlands at the turn of the 20th century as the wife of the wild gypsy Rory Stewart dies giving birth to their second son. Years later, during a winter storm, the Stewart boys save another travelling family and Bruar, the elder, falls in love with the spirited Megan. - Dear Olivia: An Italian Journey Of Love And Courage
In her fascinating follow-up to 'Dear Francesca', the author writes to her other daughter, Olivia. Through letters, anecdotes & the occasional recipe, she tells the story of what happened to the Contini & Crolla families after they emigrated to Scotland between the wars. - Islay And Jura
The most westerly point of Argyll, Islay and Jura occupy a special place in Scotland's history, home to MacDonald, 'Lords of the Isles', as well as to the famous blend of Bowmore's Whisky Distillery. The fields and hills hold an abundance of wildlife, making it an ideal spot for farming, fishing and rambling. - The Last Mughal: The Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar And The Fall Of Delhi, 1857
The last of the Great Mughals was Bahadur Shah Zafar II. This book charts the desecration and demise of this man, his dynasty, his city and civilizations mercilessly ravished by fractured forces and vengeful British troops. It provides an understanding of a pivotal moment in Indian and Imperial history. - Preferred Lies: A Journey To The Heart Of Golf
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. - The Reivers: The Story Of The Border Reivers
This volume tells the remarkable story of the reivers, the brigands and robbers, heroes and villains, who flourished in the border region of England and Scotland. - The Steep Approach To Garbadale
Dark family secrets, a long-lost love affair and a multi-million pound gaming business lie at the heart of this Iain Banks' novel. - The Worms Of Euston Square
London 1859. When a hydraulic engine explodes at the site of the new Euston Station and a body is recovered, young police recruit, Campbell Lawless, newly arrived from Scotland, stumbles onto the trail of an elusive activist called Berwick Skelton.