Borders Book Festival 2009

Melrose

The 2009 Borders Book Festival is the largest ever, and now features a Family Book Festival. The programme contains a mix of old favourites and new authors, and is also the home of the 2009 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, which are organised by the SAC. This year, the awards ceremony will be hosted by Rory Bremner and is sure to be a popular event.

Thursday 18th

8.15pm: Jackie Kay
The Lamplighter tells the bitter story of slavery through the experiences of four women. It is a biography, a documentary, an epic poem, a stage play.
9.30pm: Charles MacLean
One of Scotland's leading experts on all things whisky, Charles MacLean's latest book is his Whiskypedia.

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The Lamplighter - Jackie Kay - Book with sound disc
This work takes the the reader on a journey through the dark heart of slavery. It is both a radio and stage play and a multi-layered epic poem. This edition also includes Kay's much-acclaimed BBC radio play on CD.
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£16.99
Charles MacLean's Whiskypedia - Charles MacLean - Hardback
'MacLean's Malt Whisky Handbook' explores the flavour and character of every malt whisky distilled in Scotland with reference how it is made. Introductory sections explain the contribution made by each stage of production and maturation, to elucidate the detailed notes about how malt whisky is made at each distillery.

Friday 19th

5.30pm: Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards 2009
6.30pm: James Robertson
An evening with James Robertson as he discusses his most recent novels, including The Testament of Gideon Mack

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The Testament Of Gideon Mack - James Robertson - Paperback
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.

Saturday 20th

3.30pm: Tom Pow
Winner of the 2009 SMIT Book Award for Poetry with Dear Alice, Tom Pow will also be launching his new Selected Poems.
3.30pm: Debut Novelists
Three debut novelists, including two from Scotland - Andrea McNicoll (Moonshine in the Morning) and Rosy Barnes (Sadomasochism for Accountants).
6.30pm: James Kelman
A writer at the top of his powers, James Kelman's Kieron Smith, Boy won the 2009 SMIT Award for Fiction.
8pm: Ian Rankin on Muriel Spark
Ian Rankin returns with his hugely popular lecture on Muriel Spark - two very different authors with a common Edinburgh backdrop.

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Dear Alice: Narratives Of Madness - Tom Pow - Hardback
This collection of poetry explores the imaginative legacy of a nineteenth-century lunatic asylum, the Crichton in Dumfries, drawing on the richly-documented history of the site.
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£8.99
Kieron Smith, Boy - James Kelman - Paperback
Rejected by his brother and largely ignored by his parents, Kieron Smith finds comfort in the home of his much-loved grandparents. But when his family move to a new housing scheme on the outskirts of the city, a world away from the close community of the tenements, Kieron struggles to find a way to adapt to his new life.
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Moonshine In The Morning - Andrea McNicoll - Paperback
'Moonshine in the Morning' presents an unforgettable cast of strong-minded women and their wayward husbands clinging to village life in Thailand before the relentless advance of modernity.
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£8.99
Sadomasochism For Accountants - Rosy Barnes - Paperback
When 'pale but not at all interesting' Paula is dumped by her long-term boyfriend Alan, she decides that drastic measures must be taken. Spying on Alan and his new girlfriend isn't getting her anywhere, so Paula decides it is time to lose her boring image and spice up her sex life at the local S&M club

Sunday 21st

1pm: Mairi Hedderwick
Best know for her Katie Morag stories, Mairi Hedderwick is also the author and illustrator of a number of books about the Scottish Highlands such as Highland Journey.
1.30pm: Allan Cameron
Allan Cameron set up his own imprint, Vagabond Voices, to publish his polemic In Praise of Garrulous.
2.30pm: Hardeep Singh Kohli
A comic, broadcaster, writer - and chef - Scot Hardeep Singh Kohli will be discussing his cooking travelogue Indian Takeaway.
3.00pm: Douglas Jackson
Local author Douglas Jackson is climbing the bestselling charts with his Roman novels, including the forthcoming Claudius.
7pm: Christopher Brookmyre
A comic genius, Christopher Brookmyre's latest satire A Snowball in Hell has recently been released in paperback

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£12.99
Claudius - Douglas Jackson - Hardback
In Southern England, Caratacus, war chief of the Britons, watches from a hilltop as the scarlet cloaks of a Roman army spread across his land like blood. Among them is Rufus, keeper of the Emperor's elephant, an unwilling participant in the invasion of Britain.
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£14.99
Highland Journey: A Sketching Tour Of Scotland - Mairi Hedderwick - Paperback
In 1876 the Victorian artist John Reid travelled around the Highlands and created a pictorial record of his journey. In this text, Mairi Hedderwick follows in his footsteps and creates her own pictorial record of the same journey.
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£7.99
Indian Takeaway: A Very British Story - Hardeep Singh Kohli - Paperback
Hardeep Singh Kohli loves many things in life - but none more than food. He loves to eat it & he loves to cook it. So when he decided to travel round India, searching for his roots, what seemed the obvious thing to take with him? Not a travel guide. Not a BBC cameraman. Shepherd's pie and Yorkshire pudding.
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A Snowball In Hell - Christopher Brookmyre - Paperback
If society has the B-list celebrities it deserves, it now has a killer to match. Except that Simon Darcourt is a great deal more successful in his career choice than the average talent show contestant. He's also got the media taped by the simple expedient of bypassing them completely and posting his killings on the Internet.