Kirkcudbright Book Week Society deeply appreciates all the support that it receives from business and organisations but there’s always room for more!
And with planning well under way for the next Kirkcudbright Book Week between March 4-9, 2024, we are keen to talk to any business or organisation who would like to sponsor either individual events or the week as a whole. Events will include appearances by authors working in poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, and the programme will be unveiled later in the year.
If you or your business or organisation wish to be involved in Book Week 2024, you can drop Book Week Co-ordinator John Dean a line at deangriss@btinternet.com
Our series of podcasts offering people an opportunity to revisit some of the events at the recent Kirkcudbright Book Week is attracting large numbers of visits from people either wishing to experience the event they attended or catch up on one they missed.
The latest crime novel by Jackie Baldwin, who appeared at the recent Kirkcudbright Book Week, is due out on Thursday May 18.
Murder by the Seaside is published by Storm Publishing and begins when dawn breaks over the empty beaches of Portobello and Grace McKenna emerges from the icy water after her daily swim, her loyal dog Harvey by her side. Little does she know that, in the shadows, a cold-blooded killer is plotting his next move…
A gripping Scottish mystery with a sprinkle of small-town charm, perfect for fans of Faith Martin, Clare Chase and Frances Evesham, you can pre-order the book at https://geni.us/56-Storm
Planning is well under way for the next Kirkcudbright Book Week to be held between March 4-9, 2024, and which will again include World Book Day for young readers, on Thursday March 7.
The team at Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is already hard at work putting the programme together and there are plenty of exciting ideas being discussed.
If you are a published author with an idea for an event, you can get in touch with Book Week Co-ordinator John Dean at deangriss@btinternet.com
Followers of crime writing, and there were many of them at our recent book week, may be interested to learn that leading forensic scientist and author Professor Jim Fraser will be the guest speaker at the Scottish launch of the Crime Writers’ Association’s National Crime Reading Month (NCRM) in Edinburgh.
National Crime Reading Month runs throughout June and is organised by the CWA, which is celebrating its 70th jubilee year, in partnership with The Reading Agency.
Authors will be taking part in events in libraries, bookshops, conferences and festivals all over the UK, culminating in the Dagger Awards at the end of June.
Professor Fraser is a member of the CWA and a National Crime Reading Month Ambassador. A month-long celebration of one of the most popular genres, NCRM aims to show how broad the crime genre is, from cosy to supernatural, classic crime to non-fiction, enabling new readers to discover new authors, and readers who have never read crime to dip in.
The Scottish launch, a free event, will be held at Edinburgh’s Central Library at George IV Bridge at 6.30pm on Thursday June 1 when Professor Fraser will talk about NCRM, his high-profile career and his work as an author.
Professor Fraser spent his career as a forensic scientist and ‘cold case’ reviewer. He has been involved in many high-profile investigations, including the murders of Rachel Nickell, Damilola Taylor, Lin and Megan Russell, the serial child killer Robert Black, and the death of Gareth Williams, the GCHQ codebreaker. As a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, he has also reviewed many notable cases, including the Lockerbie bombing.
Professor Fraser is an experienced media commentator and has appeared in many TV documentary programmes, including Killer at the Crime Scene (Channel 5) and David Wilson’s Crime Files (BBC Scotland).
His books include Murder Under the Microscope – A Personal History of Homicide (Atlantic Books), Forensic Science – a very short introduction (Oxford University Press) and The Handbook of Forensic Science (Routledge).
Professor Fraser said: “I’m delighted to be involved in National Crime Reading Month, both as an author and an ambassador. Edinburgh’s Central Library is the perfect location for the Scottish launch because libraries play such a vital role in developing reading and introducing readers to new books, as well as being essential community hubs.”
Councillor Val Walker, Culture and Communities Convener, said: “I’m delighted that Edinburgh Libraries has been chosen to launch the Scottish National Crime Reading Month and that the 70th year of The Crime Writers Association will be celebrated at Central Library.
“Last year, one in five books issued by Edinburgh Libraries was in the Crime and Thriller Genre, so hosting this Scottish Launch in our Capital city, where historical crime is still a tourist attraction from Burke and Hare to our Witchery Tours, will be an exceptional and fitting event.
“Edinburgh Libraries are keen to develop reading habits and champion a diverse range of Scottish Crime authors ranging from classics Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson to the ever-popular Ian Rankin and Val McDermid as well as newer writers Sue Black and Tariq Ashkanani.”
During NCRM in 2022, more than 100 events took place and 2023 promises to be even bigger. The festival sees a huge range of events and activities from library displays to guided walks and films plus authors staging talks, readings, workshops and ‘in conversation’ evenings.
Although the Scottish launch is a free event, places must booked and are available by visiting www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Scottish National Crime Writers Month.
You can find out more about National Crime Writing Month, including what is happening in your area, at www.crimereading.com and hashtag PickUpaPageTurner
Everyone at Kirkcudbright Book Week Society extends their sympathies to the family and friends of singer/songwriter Nicola Black, who passed away unexpectedly on March 25.
Nicola, a well-known figure on the arts scene in Dumfries and Galloway as well as further afield, appeared at a poetry and music event in the recent Book Week, captivating the audience at Station House Cookery School with her performance. She will be much missed.
Author John Dean, who was one of the writers who appeared at the recent Kirkcudbright Book Week, has a new crime novel out.
The Name on the Bullet has been published by London-based The Book Folks and is the latest in the series featuring DCI John Blizzard.
In the book, which is John’s twenty third crime novel to be published, a high-profile detective on a reality television cop show is killed and Blizzard suspects that a notorious gangster ordered his murder.
With the aging crime boss’s control over his northern empire on the wane, Blizzard sees an opportunity to finally put him behind bars. However, his determination is tempered by the concern that the hitman’s next bullet could have the inspector’s name on it.
We are delighted to announce that the next Kirkcudbright Book Week will be held between March 4-9, 2024, and will again include World Book Day for young readers, on Thursday March 7.
The team at Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is already hard at work putting the programme together.
This year’s Book Week, which ended on March 4 and was the second to be held, comprised fifteen events featuring appearances by many authors, as well as affording community writing groups the chance to perform in front of audiences.
More than 400 people attended events that included talks, recitals and meet-the-author sessions as well as providing the opportunity to purchase books from the writers taking part. Book Week included appearances from authors working in genres ranging from poetry, short stories, novels and non-fiction to children’s writing, crime fiction, travel writing and history.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is supported by a number of local organisations and venues.
Did you miss out on an event at the recent Kirkcudbright Book Week? Or maybe you attended an event and would like to re-live it all over again? In which case, why not visit our podcast site and do exactly that?
And so Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 comes to an end. There were fifteen events in all, attended by well over 300 people, with many performances sold out. Fine writing, song and music was enjoyed, emotions evoked, memories made and books purchased.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society wishes to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the week such a success, from performers and venue managers to volunteers, all those people who attended events, some of whom travelled long distances to do so, and everyone who worked so hard to spread the word. Thanks go also to our sponsors and the local businesses who supported Book Week. All your efforts were much appreciated.
Now, thoughts turn to Book Week 2024! Watch this space.
And Kirkcudbright Book Week finishes with yet another sell-out as the final ticket is sold for An Evening With Laurence Bristow-Smith, with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston, at Broughton House, 12 High St, on Saturday March 4. The show starts at 7pm as stated on the tickets.
The Gallovidia book shop on St Mary Street in Kirkcudbright is stocking books by some of the authors taking part in Kirkcudbright Book Week. We heartily recommend that you check out the shop, which is owned by husband and wife team of Stewart and Elizabeth Parsons, who have a combined 40 years’ experience of libraries, arts, and live cultural events. Picture courtesy of www.pexels.com
Another reminder that the final event of Book Week on Saturday March 4 – An Evening With Laurence Bristow-Smith with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston – at Broughton House, 12 High St, starts at 7pm as stated on the tickets.
There are still places for this event. Thursday March 2 All In a Day’s Work, readings from a book based on the creative response of a group of writers to artifacts held in the Devil’s Porridge Museum, which commemorates the lives and work of the many people who laboured at HM Gretna to provide munitions for World War One.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 2pm £5
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
This event is supported by The Kirkcudbright Galleries
The talk by Stuart Campbell this afternoon has sold out. Stuart, author of the recently-published novel The Woman Clothed With The Sun, will be at the Selkirk Arms in High Street at 2pm as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Stuart has previously written for the BBC, the Guardian, The Big Issue and Scottish Book Collector. He is the editor of RLS in Love, an anthology of Robert Louis Stevenson’s love poetry, and author of John McPake and The Sea Beggars, a novel set in Leith and sixteenth-century Holland. He has also written a second novel, The Aeronaut’s Guide to Rapture, and two travelogues, Boswell’s Bus Pass and Daniel Defoe’s Railway Journey. His latest novel, The Woman Clothed With The Sun, tells the extraordinary true-life story of Elspeth Buchan and the Buchanites, an eighteenth-century Scottish apocalyptic sect based in Galloway at the time of Robert Burns. In this talk, he will discuss the research undertaken in Dumfries and Galloway in search of the Buchanities and the difficulties involved in fictionalising such an extraordinary tale. There will also be readings from the text.
If you enjoyed Tuesday night’s poetry event at Kirkcudbright Book Week, you’ll love this – and there are plenty of tickets still available.
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth. He wrote in all three languages of Scotland, English, Scots and Gaelic and his work celebrates the landscape and history of Scotland while addressing issues of language, politics and culture that are equally relevant today.
The Leaves of the Years (Ed Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson) is a book that is both worthy and entertaining and contains essays and poems from some of the nation’s finest writers, like Gerda Stevenson, Tom Pow, Christine De Luca, Derrick McClure, Magi Gibson, Bill Herbert, Donald S Murray, Ian Stephen, Rab Wilson, Willie Hershaw, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Anne Frater, Dolina Maclennan, Joy Hendry, Tom Hubbard and James McGonigal. Published by Drunk Muse Press.
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
This event is supported by Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium
An enthusiastic audience enjoyed the poetry event Where Rivers Meet on the second evening of Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black provided an evening of poetry supported by music and song and infused with humour, poignancy and acute insight into life in modern-day Scotland.
The event was staged at, and supported by, Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street.
The talk on Friday (March 3) by John Nelson as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, has sold out.
John, who wrote the book On the Trail of a Broken Shoe, will be the Selkirk Arms on High Street at 2pm to talk about the work, which is based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse-stealing.
As part of John’s research, he rode a Clydesdale into the Highlands in 2011 following in the footsteps of an ancestor whose horse had been stolen in 1811. The book also includes tales of Kirkcudbrightshire.
A packed room enjoyed one of the early events of Kirkcudbright Book Week on Monday night (February 27) when four crime writers entertained the audience at Broughton House.
In an event entitled A Walk On the Dark side, Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean talked about everything from how they create murderers and develop their characters to how they cope with challenging reviews. The authors all read from their work and answered plenty of questions from the audience.
Pictures Laura Dean
This event was staged at, and supported by, Broughton House
The season of impenetrable nights that begin in mid-afternoon and mornings that are shrouded in darkness until 9am is slowly receding into memory as winter starts to leave us for another year and the strengthening light reveals banks of waving daffodils as the miracle of Spring returns once more.
What better way to celebrate Dumfries and Galloway’s passage from dark into light than with the week of terrific literary events that begins in Kirkcudbright on Monday February 27?
There were several reasons for deciding to hold Kirkcudbright Book Week at the end of February/start of March and one of the key ones was the desire to celebrate people’s emergence from darkness once more.
Clearly, a lot of people agree because we have had more than 270 bookings for the 15 events, most of which still have tickets left. It’s not too late to book but be quick as a number of events are rapidly approaching sell-outs, joining the three for which all the places have already gone.
Whichever events you attend, we hope you enjoy the experience.
People attending events during Kirkcudbright Book Week will meet our volunteers, who will help make sure that audience members get the best out of the experience.
The team will be on hand to do everything from checking tickets to ensuring that people get to their seats alright.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is grateful to every one of them.
There are still tickets available for this free Book Week event.
Tuesday February 28 A Meeting of Minds with The Gallery Writers, Stewartry Writers and Kirkcudbright Poetry Group The Kirkcudbright Galleries St Mary Street 11am Free event
Members of the three Kirkcudbright-based writing groups perform together for the first time, presenting a mixture of prose and poetry.
How to acquire your tickets Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
There are still tickets available for this Kirkcudbright Book Week event. Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets
Friday March 3 Feast Cafe 32 St Cuthbert Street 2pm
Southlight 32 is the latest edition of the region’s illustrated literary magazine and this free event is a chance to meet the editors, listen to some brief readings and connect with other writers. The magazine will be on sale at £5.00.
There are still tickets available for this Kirkcudbright Book Week event. Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets
Thursday March 2 All In a Day’s Work, readings from a book based on the creative response of a group of writers to artifacts held in the Devil’s Porridge Museum, which commemorates the lives and work of the many people who laboured at HM Gretna to provide munitions for World War One.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 2pm £5
Another Kirkcudbright Book Week event has sold out. All the tickets have gone for the event on Thursday March 2 when author Gerry Hassan will give a talk on Scotland’s future and the independence debate at The Garret Hotel & Restaurant 116 High Street Kirkcudbright.
Academic and author Gerry, who wrote the recently-published Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, will explore both sides of the debate and what it means for Scotland during his talk.
Known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and UK politics, Gerry is the author of a number of other books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.
You can find out about other Book Week events, the vast majority of which still have tickets available, here at http://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org
This event is supported by The Garret Hotel and Restaurant
There are still tickets available for this entertaining Book Week event
Wednesday March 1 Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with J.G.Fergusson Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
J.G. Fergusson is a former BBC Scotland journalist/producer and author of several walking guides for the ‘Pocket Mountain’ series. Born in the Rhins of Galloway, and now living in Moffat, he has been riding motorbikes since the 1970s. A lifetime’s love of Scotland, her landscape, highways and history led to the publication of The Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland in 2018, a guide book aimed at bikers.
In this illustrated talk, he shares some of his amusing and alarming adventures and answers the question ‘what does it take to produce a successful guidebook?’
In JG Fergusson’s case, it took two years of research, countless hours on the road (and many more on the internet), help from friends, kindness from strangers, more midge bites than he cares to remember and a couple of near death experiences he’s trying hard to forget. The result has been widely praised, not only by motorcyclists but also by car drivers seeking to explore some of the less well known corners of the country. In this talk, the author shares his adventures on the road while researching the book – from the hair raising to the humiliating – and provides an insight into the processes and pitfalls of publishing a book for the first time.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
An important part of Kirkcudbright Book Week is encouraging the next generation of writers and, to that end, students from Kirkcudbright Academy have been working with author Hugh McMillan to develop their skills.
As part of the initiative, the work produced by the young writers features in an exhibition at Kirkcudbright Library, one of the main supporters of Book Week.
The work is entitled ‘Factory Fresh’, a collection of poems and small fictions, and it is hoped that it will lead to a book to be published in April. The exhibition will run until Book Week finishes on March 4.
You can also see contributions from the young writers on You Tube at
The Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which co-ordinates Book Week, secured funding from the Holywood Trust and the Galloway Association of Glasgow to allow it to recruit Hugh to work on the project.
The Holywood Trust is a charitable organisation, which aims to help young people aged 15–25 years old across Dumfries and Galloway through grant-giving to individuals and organisations, creating opportunities for young people in the region.
The Galloway Association of Glasgow is delighted to support the workshops for young people, which have introduced them to the poetry and poets of Galloway. The Association welcomes applications for financial support from young Gallovidians to help them develop their skills in the arts and sports. More information is available at http://www.gallowayassoc.org.uk
You can find out more about Book Week, which runs between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, at www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org
Shown in the picture are some of the young writers, left to right, Richard Davies, Morgan McCorsky and Joseph Hamilton
These are exciting times for crime author Ann Bloxwich with a new publisher, a new book and a forthcoming appearance at Kirkcudbright Book Week to celebrate.
Ann talks about her writing career in the latest in our series of podcast interviews by Book Week Society chair Chris Walker and author Gerry Hassan, who will also be appearing during Book Week The podcast can be heard at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/
Ann’s contract with Red Dragon Publishing Ltd means that her debut crime novel What Goes Around will be relaunched with a new cover and ISBN number in March 2023, at the same time as her second book, Goodnight, God Bless.
She can be seen at an evening with fellow crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson and John Dean as they explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their crime novels. The Walk On the Dark Side event, one of the first in Book Week, happens on Monday February 27 at Broughton House, 12 High St. 7.30pm £7. Tickets are selling fast!
Tickets for Book Week events can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
The Walk on the Dark Side event is supported by Broughton House
A second Kirkcudbright Book Week event has sold out, meaning that all the spaces for both free events for young readers on World Book Day (Thursday March 2) have been snapped up.
Both events are at Kirkcudbright Library and feature children’s authors. The evening one featuring Alan McClure sold out in mid-January and now all places for the morning event featuring Ayrshire-based children’s writer Greta Yorke have been booked.
There are places left for all the other events in the Book Week programme.
Sales are a bit slow for this Book Week event, which is a pity because it’s an excellent event. Why not buy your ticket today?
Wednesday March 1 Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with J.G.Fergusson Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
J.G. Fergusson is a former BBC Scotland journalist/producer and author of several walking guides for the ‘Pocket Mountain’ series. Born in the Rhins of Galloway, and now living in Moffat, he has been riding motorbikes since the 1970s. A lifetime’s love of Scotland, her landscape, highways and history led to the publication of The Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland in 2018, a guide book aimed at bikers. In this illustrated talk, he shares some of his amusing and alarming adventures and also what he has learned about the publishing business.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
We know that the readers of Dumfries and Galloway like their poetry but ticket sales are a bit slow for these events so why not show your support for our poets by buying a ticket? The events are:
Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway. Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street 7pm Tickets £8.
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson (pictured here) and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth. He wrote in all three languages of Scotland, English, Scots and Gaelic and his work celebrates the landscape and history of Scotland while addressing issues of language, politics and culture that are equally relevant today.
The Leaves of the Years (Ed Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson) is a book that is both worthy and entertaining and contains essays and poems from some of the nation’s finest writers, like Gerda Stevenson, Tom Pow, Christine De Luca, Derrick McClure, Magi Gibson, Bill Herbert, Donald S Murray, Ian Stephen, Rab Wilson, Willie Hershaw, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Anne Frater, Dolina Maclennan, Joy Hendry, Tom Hubbard and James McGonigal. Published by Drunk Muse Press.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Book Week strikes a topical note but if you want to buy a ticket, you’ll have to be quick as they are selling fast!
Thursday March 2 A talk on Scotland’s future and the independence debate by Gerry Hassan The Garret Hotel & Restaurant 116 High Street Kirkcudbright 11am £6
The independence debate is the defining issue of our times in Scotland with huge implications not just for the people who live here, but the rest of the UK and internationally and in the recently-published Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, academic and author Gerry Hassan explores where the debate is going. He explores both sides of the argument, examines the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland and seeks out the thoughts of people who have historically haven’t voted or see themselves as don’t knows. Known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and UK politics, Gerry is the author of a number of books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
A publisher and an organisation which helps promote authors have joined the list of sponsors of Kirkcudbright Book Week.
One of the UK’s leading independent publishers, The Book Folks, specialises in crime fiction, mysteries and thrillers, although they dabble in other genres, too. They publish three authors who live close to Kirkcudbright – John Dean and Ian Robinson (both of whom will appear at Book Week), and Pete Brassett – and three others based in Scotland – Robert McNeill, Traude Ailinger and James Andrew. From fireside cozy to urban noir, the company’s growing list of books has something for everyone, whether budding amateur sleuths, traditional murder mystery connoisseurs or veteran armchair crime-fighters. Their website is www.thebookfolks.com
Expressing support for Book Week, Publisher Erik Empson said: “Digital doesn’t have to be at the expense of local. In fact, it provides an opportunity for like minds to meet, creating new spaces and opportunities.
“Without the routes provided by the internet, the paths of many involved in an initiative like this might never have crossed. We’re delighted to see it blossom into a potentially long-lasting feature in Scotland’s rich cultural landscape.
“Books help you discover new worlds and forge a closer attachment to existing ones. I hope the Kirkcudbright Book Week becomes an enduring feature of Scotland’s literary calendar.”
Also supporting Book, Week, Book Bongo is a powerful online platform providing publicity services to authors and publishers, getting their books in front of readers with daily deals and steals on social media and a weekly newsletter. Its suite of marketing packages ranges from completely free promotions for great books to high quality video trailers that are sure to get authors’ hard work noticed by the reading public. Fast-growing and dynamic, they do the marketing legwork for authors so they can concentrate on what they do best. They can be found at www.bookbongo.com
A number of organisations, ranging from local venues and Stewartry Literary Society to funding bodies are supporting the programme of events during Book Week and a full list can be found at https://kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/sponsors/
If you or your business or organisation wish to become a sponsor, you can drop Book Week Co-ordinator John Dean a line on deangriss@btinternet.com
There are still plenty of tickets left for a Kirkcudbright Book Week event which will celebrate the life and work one of the area’s best-known poets. Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating William Neill.
You can find out more, including how to buy your ticket, at
The Dumfries and Galloway town of Kirkcudbright is gearing up for the long-awaited return of Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023, which was twice cancelled due to the covid outbreak.
The week, which will take place between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, is designed to celebrate the developing literary scene in Kirkcudbright and the wider Dumfries and Galloway area and will feature both professional and aspiring authors.
The sixteen events to be staged at venues in Kirkcudbright will include poetry and prose performances by more than twenty writers as well as film, song and music.
Kirkcudbright Book Week has been organised by Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which is supported by a number of organisations, sponsors and venues, many of which are featured in the programme.
The inaugural week took place in early 2020 just before covid became an issue but the effect of the virus meant that book weeks in 2021 and 2022 had to be cancelled.
Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker, from the Selkirk Arms, said: “Kirkcudbright book week is shaping up well with good interest and ticket sales. Hopefully, it’s going to bring a good number of visitors and locals out to enjoy the thriving literary scene in Dumfries & Galloway.”
Poet Hugh McMillan, who is due to appear twice at Kirkcudbright Book Week, has just performed at an even more august occasion (if that was possible!) .
The author was invited to 10 Downing Street to read poetry in three different sessions to people invited to the Prime Minister’s Burns‘ celebrations, having been recommended by the Scottish Poetry Library.
If you want to see Hugh performing at Kirkcudbright Book Week, you can do so at these events (there are plenty of tickets available for both shows):
Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway. Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street 7pm Tickets £8
Sponsored by
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth.
Sponsored by
Both events sponsored by
How to acquire your tickets Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Author John Nelson appears in our latest podcast ahead of his appearance at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
John talks about his book On the Trail of a Broken Shoe, which is based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse-stealing, in an interview conducted by Chris Walker, the Chair of Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, and author Gerry Hassan. The podcast can be heard at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/
John will be giving a talk during Book Week, at 2pm on OphFriday March 3 at the Selkirk Arms on High Street, which is one of the week’s sponsors. Tickets are £3.
How to acquire your tickets Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
The line-up has been confirmed for the online crime fiction event to be run as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week:
Tuesday February 28 Free on-line event Talking Of Crime…2pm
A Zoom event featuring crime writers from around Scotland, who will take readers on a tour of the country with each author explaining what effect the Scottish location of their books offers them as writers. Audience members will then be able to ask questions. Writers taking part include members of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Scottish Chapter and those contributing include Allan Martin, Simpson Grears, Inga Vesper, Margaret Kirk, Gordon Brown, John Dean and Marsali Taylor. To register for the Zoom session, please contact John at deangriss@btinternet.com
Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 has been awarded a grant of £1,350 by the Robin Rigg Community Fund to support the event’s varied programme of performances by authors.
The annual week, which will take place between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, celebrates the developing literary scene in Kirkcudbright and the wider Dumfries and Galloway area and will feature both professional and aspiring authors.
The fifteen events to be staged at venues in Kirkcudbright will include free and paid-for poetry and prose performances by more than twenty writers as well as film, song and music.
Kirkcudbright Book Week has been organised by Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which is supported by a number of organisations, sponsors and venues.
They include the Robin Rigg Community Fund, which is administered by the Solway Firth Partnership. Funding is provided by RWE, the operator of the Robin Rigg wind farm, with the aim of benefitting the communities local to the wind farm.
Clair McFarlan, Partnership Manager at the Solway Firth Partnership, said: “The Robin Rigg Community Fund is pleased to be supporting this year’s programme of events at Kirkcudbright Book Week. The events look really interesting, and I’d encourage everyone to come along and enjoy this celebration of literary talent.”
Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker, from the Selkirk Arms, said: “We are looking forward to Book Week and very much appreciate the support we have received from a range of organisations. The programme is a superb line up of local and national talent. There really is something for everyone.”
Events include a screening on Monday February 27 of a film about local novelist S.R. Crockett, who died in 1914. After the screening of ‘S.R.Crockett: The Kirkcudbright Connection’ at the Kirkcudbright Galleries there will be a virtual chat/Q and A with Cally Phillips of Galloway Raiders, who made the film.
February 27 also sees an evening with crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean at Broughton House.
On Tuesday February 28, Where Rivers Meet features an evening of poetry and song at Station House Cookery School with writers Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black. Tuesday February 28 will also include the first joint performance by local groups The Gallery Writers, Stewartry Writers and Kirkcudbright Poetry Group at The Kirkcudbright Galleries and a Zoom event featuring crime writers from around Scotland, talking about their work. Writers taking part are all members of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Scottish Chapter and include Allan Martin.
Another highlight happens on Wednesday March 1 when the Selkirk Arms hosts Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with author J.G.Fergusson.
That evening sees the Selkirk Arms Supper Club with Chrys Salt, who will present Home Front/Front Line in which she records a dialogue in letters, images, film and poems between herself, a pacifist, and her younger son who, as a Territorial Army Paratrooper, was unexpectedly mobilised to Iraq in 2003 and spent five months in action.
Other events include an examination of Scotland’s future in the light of the independence debate by author and academic Gerry Hassan at The Garret Hotel & Restaurant on Thursday March 2. The same day sees All In a Day’s Work, readings from a book based on the creative response of a group of writers to artifacts held in the Devil’s Porridge Museum, which commemorates the lives and work of the many people who laboured at HM Gretna to provide munitions for World War One. The event will take place at The Kirkcudbright Galleries.
Also on Thursday March 2 Kirkcudbright Library will host events for young writers as part of World Book Day, featuring appearances by children’s writers Greta Yorke and Alan McClure.
On Friday March 3 author OphAuthorf John Nelson will talk about his book On the Trail of a Broken Shoe at the Selkirk Arms. The book is based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse-stealing.
Also on Friday March 3 at Feast Cafe editors of, and contributors to, arts magazine Southlight will read pieces from the current edition, followed by a Q and A.
The week’s final two events are The Leaves of the Years on Friday March 3 with authors Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers at the Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium, in which they will celebrate the life and work of Galloway poet William Neill and book week comes to a close on Saturday March 4 with An Evening With Laurence Bristow-Smith with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston. Laurence’s books include the two-volume History of Music in the British Isles.
You can find out more about events and how to book tickets here at www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org The website also has details of the organisations and businesses that have sponsored book week. You can also follow the event on Facebook and on Instagram at kbt.bookweek
Poet Hugh McMillan appears in our latest podcast ahead of his appearances at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Hugh talks about his writing career in an interview conducted by Chris Walker, the Chair of Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, and author Gerry Hassan, and the podcast can be heard at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/
He will be appearing in two events during Book Week:
Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway. Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street 7pm Tickets £8
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth. He wrote in all three languages of Scotland, English, Scots and Gaelic and his work celebrates the landscape and history of Scotland while addressing issues of language, politics and culture that are equally relevant today.
The Leaves of the Years (Ed Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson) is a book that is both worthy and entertaining and contains essays and poems from some of the nation’s finest writers, like Gerda Stevenson, Tom Pow, Christine De Luca, Derrick McClure, Magi Gibson, Bill Herbert, Donald S Murray, Ian Stephen, Rab Wilson, Willie Hershaw, Bàrd Beag, Anne Frater, Dolina Maclennan, Joy Hendry, Tom Hubbard and James McGonigal. Published by Drunk Muse Press.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Kirkcudbright Book Week has its first sold-out performance with the news that the last place has gone for Alan McClure’s appearance in front of an audience of young readers at the town’s library during World Book Day on Thursday March 2. However, there are still plenty of places for the other free event for young readers on the same day, starting at 11am at the library and featuring Ayrshire-based children’s writer Greta Yorke.
Greta is the author of books including Witch Hitch, which won the under 7s category in the Scottish Association of Writers’ Competition in 2010 and was published in 2015, featuring work by illustrator Maggie Bolton. This was followed by The Woo in the Wild Woods and Tartan Witch. Suitable for younger children.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
The skies are gloomy, it’s pouring with rain and there’s a chill wind blowing, which means that people are looking to cheer themselves up and what better way of doing it than by buying tickets for events at Kirkcudbright Book Week, which starts at the end of February?
One of the reasons that Book Week is staged so early in the year is because it gives people the opportunity to banish the winter blues, and tickets are already being sold for events for readers of all ages. To make sure you do not miss out on the wide range of Book Week events, it is worth checking out our site.
It’s well worth checking out an entertaining podcast interview with crime writer Ian Robinson ahead of his appearance at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Having spent twenty-seven years in the Metropolitan Police, Ian is now a full-time writer. Six of his crime novels have been published and Rubicon is currently in development with the BBC for a six-part TV series.
In the interview by Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker and author Gerry Hassan, Ian talks about his passion for writing. You can hear the interview, and others in the series, at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/e/meet-ian-robinson/
Ian will feature in Book Week on Monday February 27 when Broughton House in High Street hosts Walk on the Dark Side, in which he will appear with fellow crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean, who will explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their novels. The event starts at 7. 30pm and tickets are £7.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Are you a lover of historical fiction? Then check out these events during Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Monday February 27 Screening of ‘S.R.Crockett: The Kirkcudbright Connection’ (20 minutes) followed by virtual chat/ Q&A with Cally Phillips of Galloway Raiders.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 11am£5
S.R.Crockett (1859-1914) is the most famous and prolific novelist of Galloway. His stories range across the region, but his Kirkcudbright connection is little known. The short film explores Crockett’s relationship with the town and some of her more famous sons, including E.A.Hornel and William Mouncey. William Stewart MacGeorge was a boyhood friend and the central character in Crockett’s sole Kirkcudbright novel is based on him. Published in 1907, Little Esson features fictionalised romance and mystery among the Kirkcudbright Artists. Crockett’s Kirkcudbright connection is explored through rare Galloway Raiders archival material and other stories. Cally will be available ‘virtually’ after the screening to chat more and answer questions regarding Crockett’s Kirkcudbright Connections.
Thursday March 2 Talk by Stuart Campbell, author of the recently-published novel The Woman Clothed With The Sun Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
Stuart Campbell has previously written for the BBC, the Guardian, The Big Issue and Scottish Book Collector. He is the editor of RLS in Love, an anthology of Robert Louis Stevenson’s love poetry, and author of John McPake and The Sea Beggars, a novel set in Leith and sixteenth-century Holland. He has also written a second novel, The Aeronaut’s Guide to Rapture, and two travelogues, Boswell’s Bus Pass and Daniel Defoe’s Railway Journey. His latest novel, The Woman Clothed With The Sun, tells the extraordinary true-life story of Elspeth Buchan and the Buchanites, an eighteenth-century Scottish apocalyptic sect based in Galloway at the time of Robert Burns. In this talk, he will discuss the research undertaken in Dumfries and Galloway in search of the Buchanities and the difficulties involved in fictionalising such an extraordinary tale. There will also be readings from the text
Friday March 3 Talk by John Nelson, author of On the Trail of a Broken Shoe
Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £3
The book is based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse-stealing. As part of John’s research, he rode a Clydesdale into the Highlands in 2011 following in the footsteps of an ancestor whose horse had been stolen in 1811. The book also includes tales of Kirkcudbrightshire. John Nelson lives in Crossmichael.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
World Book Day, which is aimed at younger readers, falls within Kirkcudbright Book Week – it’s one of the reasons Book Week is staged when it is each year – and this year there are a couple of excellent free events at the town’s library.
Thursday March 2 World Book Day – events for young readers
Talk by Ayrshire-based children’s writer Greta Yorke Kirkcudbright Library Daar Road Free event 11am
Greta is the author of books including Witch Hitch, which won the under 7s category in the Scottish Association of Writers’ Competition in 2010 and was published in 2015, featuring work by illustrator Maggie Bolton. This was followed by The Woo in the Wild Woods and Tartan Witch. Suitable for younger children.
Thursday March 2 World Book Day – Talk by Alan McClure Kirkcudbright Library Daar Road Free event 7pm This event is now fully booked
Alan is a writer, musician and primary school teacher based in Galloway. His first children’s novel, Callum and the Mountain, was shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize in 2016 and published by Beaten Track Press in 2019. The magical adventure for 8-12-year-olds draws on Celtic mythology and a love of the Scottish landscape and language. Alan will read extracts and discuss the inspiration behind the book, as well as encouraging the audience to share their own magical adventures.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Students given opportunity to work with award-winning author
An exciting project has been launched to help teenage students at a Kirkcudbright school to develop their creative writing skills through working with a well-known author with an international reputation.
The senior students, who attend Kirkcudbright Academy, will work with poet and writer Hugh McMillan to produce an anthology to be launched during Kirkcudbright Book Week, which happens between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, 2023.
The Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which co-ordinates the event, secured funding from the Holywood Trust and the Galloway Association of Glasgow to allow it to recruit Hugh to work on the project. Both organisations support educational opportunities for young people.
Hugh will run eight weekly sessions with two senior classes. The aim is to create pieces that may be of use to the students’ folios but also produce work to display and publish for Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Hugh, who will also be one of the writers giving performances during Book Week, has published numerous collections of poetry and won many awards. He has appeared many times on radio and at literary festivals, including the Stanza International Festival, Wigtown International Book Festival in Scotland, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival in Canada.
The author, who is an experienced teacher of poetry and creative writing, and has taught in schools, at festivals and for community groups, said of the Kirkcudbright Academy project: “The Book Week organisers have shown great insight in wishing to encourage local talent, in general, and the young, in particular.
“It is hoped that work produced by the students in English and Scots as part of the project will appear in an anthology launched during Book Week. There will also be some workshops in Scots for younger pupils.”
Amy MacDougall, Principal Teacher of English, Modern Languages & Social Subjects at the Academy, said: “We are delighted to welcome Hugh into our Higher English classes this session. Our pupils spend a lot of time analysing poetry in the classroom but less time writing their own poems. We are hopeful that Hugh’s inspiration will lead them to being able to write a creative piece for their folio this year. As their teacher, I am taking lots of ideas from Hugh in order to improve my own teaching of creative writing. It is lovely to have a published poet working with us and his ideas are really allowing our imaginations to flow.”
Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker, from the Selkirk Arms, said: “Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to appeal to people of all ages and I am delighted that we are able to work with such a well-respected author as Hugh McMillan to develop the students’ creative talents.”
The programme was recently announced for Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023, which is making a welcome return after twice being cancelled due to the covid outbreak, in 2021 and 2022. Among its events are two for young readers on Thursday March 2 when Kirkcudbright Library will host free events as part of World Book Day, featuring appearances by children’s writers Greta Yorke and Alan McClure.
Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to celebrate the developing literary scene in Kirkcudbright and the wider Dumfries and Galloway area and will feature both professional and aspiring authors. Events to be staged at venues in Kirkcudbright will include poetry and prose fiction and non-fiction performances by more than twenty writers as well as film, song and music. Some are paid-for events and some are free.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is supported by a number of organisations, sponsors and venues, many of which are featured in the programme and in the Sponsors section of its website www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org
A printed programme has been distributed across the area and the website also contains more information, including how to book tickets. You can also follow the event on Facebook and on Instagram at kbt.bookweek
The Holywood Trust is a charitable organisation, which aims to help young people aged 15–25 years old across Dumfries and Galloway through grant-giving to individuals and organisations, creating opportunities for young people in the region.
The Galloway Association of Glasgow is delighted to support the workshops for young people as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, which will introduce them to the poetry and poets of Galloway. The Association welcomes applications for financial support from young Gallovidians to help them develop their skills in the arts and sports. More information is available at http://www.gallowayassoc.org.uk
The picture shows Hugh working with two senior pupils
Calling all readers of non-fiction! Check out what’s on offer during Kirkcudbright Book Week
Monday February 27 Screening of ‘S.R.Crockett: The Kirkcudbright Connection’ (20 minutes) followed by virtual chat/ Q&A with Cally Phillips of Galloway Raiders.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 11am £5
S.R.Crockett (1859-1914) is the most famous and prolific novelist of Galloway. His stories range across the region, but his Kirkcudbright connection is little known. The short film explores Crockett’s relationship with the town and some of her more famous sons, including E.A.Hornel and William Mouncey. William Stewart MacGeorge was a boyhood friend and the central character in Crockett’s sole Kirkcudbright novel is based on him. Published in 1907, Little Esson features fictionalised romance and mystery among the Kirkcudbright Artists. Crockett’s Kirkcudbright connection is explored through rare Galloway Raiders archival material and other stories. Cally will be available ‘virtually’ after the screening to chat more and answer questions regarding Crockett’s Kirkcudbright Connections.
Wednesday March 1 Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with J.G.Fergusson Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
J.G. Fergusson is a former BBC Scotland journalist/producer and author of several walking guides for the ‘Pocket Mountain’ series. Born in the Rhins of Galloway, and now living in Moffat, he has been riding motorbikes since the 1970s. A lifetime’s love of Scotland, her landscape, highways and history led to the publication of The Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland in 2018, a guide book aimed at bikers. In this illustrated talk, he shares some of his amusing and alarming adventures and also what he has learned about the publishing business.
Thursday March 2 A talk on Scotland’s future and the independence debate by Gerry Hassan The Garret Hotel & Restaurant 116 High Street Kirkcudbright 11am £6
The independence debate is the defining issue of our times in Scotland with huge implications not just for the people who live here, but the rest of the UK and internationally and in the recently-published Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, academic and author Gerry Hassan explores where the debate is going. He explores both sides of the argument, examines the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland and seeks out the thoughts of people who have historically haven’t voted or see themselves as don’t knows. Known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and UK politics, Gerry is the author of a number of books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.
Saturday March 4 An Evening With Laurence Bristow-Smith with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston Broughton House, 12 High St 7pm £6
Laurence Bristow-Smith spent twenty-six years as a diplomat serving in Taiwan, China, eastern Europe, the Balkans, Norway and Italy but one of the most important events in his life was when a peripatetic music teacher came to his school to give a demonstration how to play brass instruments. He was seized with the desire to play the trombone and though his performing career did not last long, his passion for music has lasted ever since, eventually resulting in his two-volume History of Music in the British Isles. His other books include Landscapes for the Turning Earth, a study of the life and work of the artist Alan Rankle, and Half-an-Eye on History, a biography of the diplomat, writer and politician Harold Nicolson.
Laurence’s latest book, published in November 2022, is Tribes into Nations, which takes a fresh look at the ethnic and cultural evolution of the British Isles and challenges the long tradition of Anglocentric history which saw the past through the prism of Empire. It views the British Archipelago as inescapably caught up in the movements of peoples and cultures that have swept across the European Continent over the millennia. It shows the importance of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and of lost polities such as the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Strathclyde, in shaping the political and cultural identity of the British Isles. Tribes into Nations is available online through Amazon and the Book Depository; it can be ordered from any bookshop; or it can be ordered directly from Letterworth Press.
Sponsored by Stewartry Literary Society: It is with great pleasure The Stewartry Literary Society (TSLS) is partnering with Kirkcudbright Book Week by sponsoring “An Evening with Laurence Bristow Smith” celebrating books and music. Working collaboratively, we believe we can offer a high quality,diverse and entertaining literary offer through the winter months and for communities within and without the town.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
There are a couple of events at Kirkcudbright Book Week that will appeal to crime fiction enthusiasts.
Monday February 27 Walk on the Dark Side – crime fiction event Broughton House, 12 High St. 7. 30pm £7 Spend an evening with crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean as they explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their crime novels.
Having spent twenty-seven years in the Metropolitan Police, Ian is now a full-time writer. Six of his crime novels have been published and Rubicon is currently in development with the BBC for a six-part TV series.
Jackie Baldwin sets much of her work in Dumfries and Galloway and was a solicitor in Dumfries for twenty years. Her debut crime novel, Dead Man’s Prayer, was published by Killer Reads, Harper Collins in 2016. The second in the series, Perfect Dead, was published in 2018 with the third, Avenge the Dead, having also been published.
Ann Bloxwich recently announced that she has signed a deal with a new publisher. Her contract with Red Dragon Publishing Ltd means that her debut crime novel What Goes Around will not be available until its relaunch with a new cover and ISBN number in March 2023, at the same time as her second book, Goodnight, God Bless.
What Goes Around is the first book in the DI Alex Peachey series and Ann drew on her own experiences, including that of being a parent to a disabled child. She said: “This is something I’ve not seen in fiction before, and I felt it brought an air of authenticity to Alex’s story and shows the unseen side of living with this situation. I set it in and around Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, as that was where I was living when I started the book.”
John Dean is the creator of the DCI John Blizzard and Jack Harris series of novels published by The Book Folks of London
Tuesday February 28 Free on-line event Talking Of Crime…2pm
Tuesday February 28 Free on-line event Talking Of Crime…2pm
A Zoom event featuring crime writers from around Scotland, who will take readers on a tour of the country with each author explaining what effect the Scottish location of their books offers them as writers. Audience members will then be able to ask questions. Writers taking part include members of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Scottish Chapter and those contributing include Allan Martin, Simpson Grears, Inga Vesper, Margaret Kirk, Gordon Brown, John Dean and Marsali Taylor. To register for the Zoom session, please contact John at deangriss@btinternet.com
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
The aim of Kirkcudbright Book Week is to showcase and celebrate the developing literary scene in the town and surrounding area and that includes providing a stage for both professional and emerging talent. These events may interest.
Tuesday February 28 A Meeting of Minds with The Gallery Writers, Stewartry Writers and Kirkcudbright Poetry Group The Kirkcudbright Galleries St Mary Street 11am Free event
Members of the three Kirkcudbright-based writing groups perform together for the first time, presenting a mixture of prose and poetry.
Thursday March 2 All In a Day’s Work, readings from a book based on the creative response of a group of writers to artifacts held in the Devil’s Porridge Museum, which commemorates the lives and work of the many people who laboured at HM Gretna to provide munitions for World War One.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 2pm £5
Friday March 3 Feast Cafe 32 St Cuthbert Street 2pm
Southlight 32 is the latest edition of the region’s illustrated literary magazine and this free event is a chance to meet the editors, listen to some brief readings and connect with other writers. The magazine will be on sale at £5.00.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Calling all poetry-lovers! Check out what’s on offer at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Tuesday February 28 A Meeting of Minds with The Gallery Writers, Stewartry Writers and Kirkcudbright Poetry Group The Kirkcudbright Galleries St Mary Street 11am Free event
Members of the three Kirkcudbright-based writing groups perform together for the first time, presenting a mixture of prose and poetry.
Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway. Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street 7pm Tickets £8
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Selkirk Arms Supper Club event with poet Chrys Salt on Wednesday March 1 has been cancelled. The hotel will be in touch with those people who have booked to arrange refunds. We apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused.
Wednesday March 1 Selkirk Arms Supper Club: with Chrys Salt Selkirk Arms High Street 6.30pm . Cost £25 You can book by ringing 01557 330402
Two course supper followed by Home Front/Front Line. On the 20th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq Chrys Salt records a dialogue in letters, images, music, film and poems between herself, a pacifist mother, and her younger son who, as a Territorial Army Paratrooper, was unexpectedly mobilised to Iraq in 2003 and spent five months in action.
What the critics said
It is a brave, beautiful and deeply unsettling way of making the reader look again at long-familiar events, as though the mother of Wilfred Owen or Edward Thomas had kept a verse diary during the First World War. Andy Croft (review The Morning Star)
(It) seems that World War One wasn’t the only war to produce poetry of grandeur .Sam Smith (review in The Journal.
Friday March 3 Feast Cafe 32 St Cuthbert Street 2pm
Southlight 32 is the latest edition of the region’s illustrated literary magazine and this free event is a chance to meet the editors, listen to some brief readings and connect with other writers. The magazine will be on sale at £5.00.
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth. He wrote in all three languages of Scotland, English, Scots and Gaelic and his work celebrates the landscape and history of Scotland while addressing issues of language, politics and culture that are equally relevant today.
The Leaves of the Years (Ed Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson) is a book that is both worthy and entertaining and contains essays and poems from some of the nation’s finest writers, like Gerda Stevenson, Tom Pow, Christine De Luca, Derrick McClure, Magi Gibson, Bill Herbert, Donald S Murray, Ian Stephen, Rab Wilson, Willie Hershaw, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. Anne Frater, Dolina Maclennan, Joy Hendry, Tom Hubbard and James McGonigal. Published by Drunk Muse Press.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Dumfries and Galloway organisations are celebrating National Lottery Community funding for activities that will bring people together both at the Festive period and all year round.
Fed Up – Community Cafe received £57,886 to continue to provide cooked breakfast and lunches five days a week from its café in the centre of Stranraer.
It will support people experiencing food poverty and will tackle isolation and loneliness. The project also provides training for volunteers in the kitchen and front of house.
Georgetown Primary School get £8790 to purchase new sets of goal posts for the benefit of pupils and the wider community.
KCT – Kirkcolm Community Trust receive £50,132 to employ a dedicated worker and implement some practical support for older people in this isolated rural community to counteract transport, health and financial difficulties.
It will also run a programme of activities and events to keep the older community socially, physically, and intellectually active.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society receive £695 to promote and publicise Kirkcudbright Book Week which will run between Monday February 27th and Saturday March 4th 2023.
Kirtle & Eaglesfield Community Council were awarded £4850 to buy a shipping container to provide safe storage during the winter months for the community’s street stadium, a sectional safe fenced play area, which is used by a range of community groups.
Parents Inclusion Network were given £150,000 to continue delivering support, advice, and activities across Dumfries and Galloway to families with disabled children.
The programme will include peer support groups, provision of information, training and social outings. Families will be brought together who experience similar issues enabling parents and carers to feel more confident in their caring role.
Potters Garden receive £7314 to provide new appliances and equipment for its kitchen where it provides cookery sessions for a group of adults with learning disabilities as well as the wider community.
Stranraer Development Trust were given £7900 to provide a polytunnel, raised beds and other gardening equipment to refresh the community garden on the sea front in Stranraer, and provide equipment to meet the needs of its regular users.
Finally, The Stove Network receive £150,000 to continue to use creativity as a tool for community engagement, skills development and improving wellbeing by delivering a programme of activity led by the community to meet their needs and aspirations.
Ann Bloxwich, who is appearing at Kirkcudbright Book Week, has announced that she has signed a deal with a new publisher.
Her contract with Red Dragon Publishing Ltd means that her debut crime novel What Goes Around will not be available until its relaunch with a new cover and ISBN number in March 2023, at the same time as her second book, Goodnight, God Bless.
What Goes Around is the first book in the DI Alex Peachey series and Ann drew on her own experiences, including that of being a parent to a disabled child. She said: “This is something I’ve not seen in fiction before, and I felt it brought an air of authenticity to Alex’s story and shows the unseen side of living with this situation. I set it in and around Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, as that was where I was living when I started the book.”
She has also had short stories published in two charity anthologies, ‘Happily Never After’ and ‘Wish You Weren’t Here’, produced by the writers from the ‘Crime & Publishment’ writing workshop in Gretna Green, and is working on a short story for an upcoming anthology for The Rotary Club of Great Britain.
She has previously worked in a chocolate factory, a night care officer in a residential home, and had her own promotions company. She also co-owned a business involving male strippers and drag queens, knowledge which came in handy when she was writing the first book.
You can find out more about Ann on her Facebook page, Ann Bloxwich Author, or follow her on Twitter @AnnBloxwich
Ann will be appearing at Book Week on Monday February 27 in Walk on the Dark Side – a crime fiction event Broughton House, 12 High St. 7. 30pm £7 You can spend an evening with crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann and John Dean as they explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their crime novels. You can purchase tickets through this website (see Acquire Your Tickets on the home page).
An exciting project has been launched to help teenage students at a Kirkcudbright school to develop their creative writing skills through working with a well-known author with an international reputation.
The senior students, who attend Kirkcudbright Academy, will work with poet and writer Hugh McMillan to produce an anthology to be launched during Kirkcudbright Book Week, which happens between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, 2023.
The Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which co-ordinates the event, secured funding from the Holywood Trust and the Galloway Association of Glasgow to allow it to recruit Hugh to work on the project. Both organisations support educational opportunities for young people.
Hugh will run eight weekly sessions with two senior classes. The aim is to create pieces that may be of use to the students’ folios but also produce work to display and publish for Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Hugh, who will also be one of the writers giving performances during Book Week, has published numerous collections of poetry and won many awards. He has appeared many times on radio and at literary festivals, including the Stanza International Festival, Wigtown International Book Festival in Scotland, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival in Canada.
The author, who is an experienced teacher of poetry and creative writing, and has taught in schools, at festivals and for community groups, said of the Kirkcudbright Academy project: “The Book Week organisers have shown great insight in wishing to encourage local talent, in general, and the young, in particular.
“It is hoped that work produced by the students in English and Scots as part of the project will appear in an anthology launched during Book Week. There will also be some workshops in Scots for younger pupils.”
Amy MacDougall, Principal Teacher of English, Modern Languages & Social Subjects at the Academy, said: “We are delighted to welcome Hugh into our Higher English classes this session. Our pupils spend a lot of time analysing poetry in the classroom but less time writing their own poems. We are hopeful that Hugh’s inspiration will lead them to being able to write a creative piece for their folio this year. As their teacher, I am taking lots of ideas from Hugh in order to improve my own teaching of creative writing. It is lovely to have a published poet working with us and his ideas are really allowing our imaginations to flow.”
Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker, from the Selkirk Arms, said: “Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to appeal to people of all ages and I am delighted that we are able to work with such a well-respected author as Hugh McMillan to develop the students’ creative talents.”
The programme was recently announced for Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023, which is making a welcome return after twice being cancelled due to the covid outbreak, in 2021 and 2022. Among its events are two for young readers on Thursday March 2 when Kirkcudbright Library will host free events as part of World Book Day, featuring appearances by children’s writers Greta Yorke and Alan McClure.
Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to celebrate the developing literary scene in Kirkcudbright and the wider Dumfries and Galloway area and will feature both professional and aspiring authors. Events to be staged at venues in Kirkcudbright will include poetry and prose fiction and non-fiction performances by more than twenty writers as well as film, song and music. Some are paid-for events and some are free.
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is supported by a number of organisations, sponsors and venues, many of which are featured in the programme and in the Sponsors section of its website www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org
A printed programme has been distributed across the area and the website also contains more information, including how to book tickets. You can also follow the event on Facebook and on Instagram at kbt.bookweek
The Holywood Trust is a charitable organisation, which aims to help young people aged 15–25 years old across Dumfries and Galloway through grant-giving to individuals and organisations, creating opportunities for young people in the region.
The Galloway Association of Glasgow is delighted to support the workshops for young people as part of Kirkcudbright Book Week, which will introduce them to the poetry and poets of Galloway. The Association welcomes applications for financial support from young Gallovidians to help them develop their skills in the arts and sports. More information is available at http://www.gallowayassoc.org.uk
The picture shows Hugh working with two senior pupils
It’s well worth checking out an entertaining and thought-provoking interview with author and academic Gerry Hassan ahead of his appearance at Kirkcudbright Book Week in the latest of our podcasts at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/e/a-chat-with-gerry-hassan/
In the interview, Gerry examines his love of writing and also refers to the talk he will deliver during Book Week, which will examine Scotland’s future against a background of the independence debate and will take place on Thursday March 2 at The Garret Hotel & Restaurant, 116 High Street, Kirkcudbright, at 11am. Tickets cost £6
The independence debate is the defining issue of our times in Scotland with huge implications not just for the people who live here, but the rest of the UK and internationally and in his recently-published book Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, Gerry explores where the debate is going. He examines both sides of the argument, examines the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland and seeks out the thoughts of people who have historically haven’t voted or see themselves as don’t knows.
Now living in Kirkcudbright, Gerry is known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and UK politics, Gerry is the author of a number of books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
You can check out some of author John Dean’s thoughts on crime fiction as Chris Walker and Gerry Hassan interview him for the Kirkcudbright Book Week podcast at https://kbtbookweek.podbean.com/
Thursday March 2 Talk by Stuart Campbell, author of the recently-published novel The Woman Clothed With The Sun Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
Stuart Campbell has previously written for the BBC, the Guardian, The Big Issue and Scottish Book Collector. He is the editor of RLS in Love, an anthology of Robert Louis Stevenson’s love poetry, and author of John McPake and The Sea Beggars, a novel set in Leith and sixteenth-century Holland. He has also written a second novel, The Aeronaut’s Guide to Rapture, and two travelogues, Boswell’s Bus Pass and Daniel Defoe’s Railway Journey. His latest novel, The Woman Clothed With The Sun, tells the extraordinary true-life story of Elspeth Buchan and the Buchanites, an eighteenth-century Scottish apocalyptic sect based in Galloway at the time of Robert Burns. In this talk, he will discuss the research undertaken in Dumfries and Galloway in search of the Buchanities and the difficulties involved in fictionalising such an extraordinary tale. There will also be readings from the text.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
A new book has been published, written by Laurence Bristow-Smith, who will be appearing at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
Published in November 2022, Tribes into Nations takes a fresh look at the ethnic and cultural evolution of the British Isles and challenges the long tradition of Anglocentric history which saw the past through the prism of Empire. It views the British Archipelago as inescapably caught up in the movements of peoples and cultures that have swept across the European Continent over the millennia. The book shows the importance of Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and of lost polities such as the Kingdom of the Isles and the Kingdom of Strathclyde, in shaping the political and cultural identity of the British Isles.
Tribes into Nations is available online through Amazon and the Book Depository; it can be ordered from any bookshop; or it can be ordered directly from Letterworth Press.
You can hear a talk by Laurence with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston during Kirkcudbright Book Week on Saturday March 4 at Broughton House, 12 High St 7pm £6.
The event is sponsored by Stewartry Literary Society, which says: “It is with great pleasure The Stewartry Literary Society (TSLS) is partnering with Kirkcudbright Book Week by sponsoring “An Evening with Laurence Bristow Smith” celebrating books and music. Working collaboratively, we believe we can offer a high quality,diverse and entertaining literary offer through the winter months and for communities within and without the town.”
Laurence’s other books include his two-volume History of Music in the British Isles, Landscapes for the Turning Earth, a study of the life and work of the artist Alan Rankle, and Half-an-Eye on History, a biography of the diplomat, writer and politician Harold Nicolson.
You can check all the details for Book Week events, including the one featuring Laurence, and acquire your tickets, here at http://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org
The programme has been announced for Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023, which is making a welcome return after twice being cancelled due to the covid outbreak.
The week, which will take place between Monday February 27 and Saturday March 4, 2023, is designed to celebrate the developing literary scene in Kirkcudbright and the wider Dumfries and Galloway area and will feature both professional and aspiring authors.
The fifteen events to be staged at venues in Kirkcudbright will include poetry and prose fiction and non-fiction performances by more than twenty writers as well as film, song and music. Some are paid-for events and some are free.
Kirkcudbright Book Week has been organised by Kirkcudbright Book Week Society, which is supported by a number of organisations, sponsors and venues, many of which are featured in the programme.
The inaugural week took place in early 2020 just before covid became an issue but the effect of the virus meant that book weeks in 2021 and 2022 had to be cancelled.
Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker, from the Selkirk Arms, said: “It’s exciting after so many covid postponements to be finally bringing the second book week to Kirkcudbright. The week is a superb line up of local and national talent. There really is something for everyone. It’s an amazing calendar of events. It’s really not to be missed.”
Crime novelistJohn Dean, who lives in the area and is one of the organisers of Kirkcudbright Book Week, said: “After the disappointment of twice having to cancel the event, we are delighted that Book Week is back for 2023. Kirkcudbright and the surrounding area is home to some talented writers, both professional and unpublished, and the book week is designed to celebrate their work and the contribution they make to the life of this part of Scotland. It’s an excellent programme and it should be an exciting week.”
A printed programme will be available in due course but more information is available about events and how to book tickets, by visiting www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org The website also has details of the organisations and businesses that have sponsored book week. You can also follow the event on Facebook and on Instagram at kbt.bookweek
Kirkcudbright Book Week is being supported by The Galloway Glens Scheme, a suite of projects being undertaken up and down the Ken/Dee Valley, connecting people to their heritage, driving economic activity and supporting sustainable communities. The Scheme is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and is supported by a range of partners including Dumfries & Galloway Council, Drax – the owners of the Galloway Hydro Scheme, and the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.
The Galloway Glens Scheme is a five year, £5million pound, programme of work, supporting a range of projects up and down the Ken/Dee valley, from Kirkcudbright and Castle Douglas in the South to Carsphairn and the core of the Galloway Hills in the North. Projects vary from refurbishment of buildings and visitor centres, through to education and training activities, all seeking to ‘connect people to their heritage’, while also driving economic activity and supporting sustainable communities. The Galloway Glens Scheme runs from 2018 to 2023 and is overseen by a Partnership Board made up of a variety of local and national stakeholders. Funding is primarily from the National Lottery heritage Fund, with support from a range of partners including Dumfries & Galloway Council and the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere. For more information, please see www.gallowayglens.org or contact Galloway Glens Team Leader, McNabb Laurie on 07825 721659 or mcnabb.laurie@dumgal.gov.uk
Saturday March 4 An Evening With Laurence Bristow-Smith with musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston Broughton House, 12 High St 7pm £6
Laurence Bristow-Smith spent twenty-six years as a diplomat serving in Taiwan, China, eastern Europe, the Balkans, Norway and Italy but one of the most important events in his life was when a peripatetic music teacher came to his school to give a demonstration how to play brass instruments. He was seized with the desire to play the trombone and though his performing career did not last long, his passion for music has lasted ever since, eventually resulting in his two-volume History of Music in the British Isles. His other books include Landscapes for the Turning Earth, a study of the life and work of the artist Alan Rankle, and Half-an-Eye on History, a biography of the diplomat, writer and politician Harold Nicolson. Laurence’s latest book is called Tribes into Nations: Revisiting the Early History of the British Isles, whichtakes a fresh look at the ethnic and cultural evolution of the British Isles.
Sponsored by Stewartry Literary Society: It is with great pleasure The Stewartry Literary Society (TSLS) is partnering with Kirkcudbright Book Week by sponsoring “An Evening with Laurence Bristow Smith” celebrating books and music. Working collaboratively, we believe we can offer a high quality,diverse and entertaining literary offer through the winter months and for communities within and without the town.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Friday March 3 The Leaves of the Years with Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers Kirkcudbright Dark Space Planetarium The Johnston, St Mary Street 7pm £5
Join Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson and invited guest readers in an evening celebrating the life and work of Galloway’s greatest modern poet, William Neill. A short film about the poet will be shown then contributors will read from the newly published anthology The Leaves of the Years, celebrating the centenary of Neill’s birth. He wrote in all three languages of Scotland, English, Scots and Gaelic and his work celebrates the landscape and history of Scotland while addressing issues of language, politics and culture that are equally relevant today.
The Leaves of the Years (Ed Hugh McMillan and Stuart Paterson) is a book that is both worthy and entertaining and contains essays and poems from some of the nation’s finest writers, like Gerda Stevenson, Tom Pow, Christine De Luca, Derrick McClure, Magi Gibson, Bill Herbert, Donald S Murray, Ian Stephen, Rab Wilson, Willie Hershaw, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. Anne Frater, Dolina Maclennan, Joy Hendry, Tom Hubbard and James McGonigal. Published by Drunk Muse Press.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Thank you to the Scottish Book Trust for their assistance in funding this event
Friday March 3 Talk by John Nelson, author of On the Trail of a Broken Shoe
Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £3
The book is based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse-stealing. As part of John’s research, he rode a Clydesdale into the Highlands in 2011 following in the footsteps of an ancestor whose horse had been stolen in 1811. The book also includes tales of Kirkcudbrightshire. John Nelson lives in Crossmichael.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Friday March 3 Feast Cafe 32 St Cuthbert Street 2pm
Southlight 32 is the latest edition of the region’s illustrated literary magazine and this free event is a chance to meet the editors, listen to some brief readings and connect with other writers. The magazine will be on sale at £5.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Thursday March 2 World Book Day – events for young readers
Talk by Ayrshire-based children’s writer Greta Yorke Kirkcudbright Library Daar Road Free event 11am
Greta is the author of books including Witch Hitch, which won the under 7s category in the Scottish Association of Writers’ Competition in 2010 and was published in 2015, featuring work by illustrator Maggie Bolton. This was followed by The Woo in the Wild Woods and Tartan Witch. Suitable for younger children.
Talk by Alan McClure Kirkcudbright Library Daar Road Free event 7pm This event is now fully booked
Alan is a writer, musician and primary school teacher based in Galloway. His first children’s novel, Callum and the Mountain, was shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize in 2016 and published by Beaten Track Press in 2019. The magical adventure for 8-12-year-olds draws on Celtic mythology and a love of the Scottish landscape and language. Alan will read extracts and discuss the inspiration behind the book, as well as encouraging the audience to share their own magical adventures.
Thank you to the Scottish Book Trust for their assistance in funding the event featuring Alan McClure
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Thursday March 2 All In a Day’s Work, readings from a book based on the creative response of a group of writers to artifacts held in the Devil’s Porridge Museum, which commemorates the lives and work of the many people who laboured at HM Gretna to provide munitions for World War One.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 2pm£5
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Thursday March 2 A talk on Scotland’s future and the independence debate by Gerry Hassan The Garret Hotel & Restaurant 116 High Street Kirkcudbright 11am £6
The independence debate is the defining issue of our times in Scotland with huge implications not just for the people who live here, but the rest of the UK and internationally and in the recently-published Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, academic and author Gerry Hassan explores where the debate is going. He explores both sides of the argument, examines the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland and seeks out the thoughts of people who have historically haven’t voted or see themselves as don’t knows. Known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and UK politics, Gerry is the author of a number of books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Wednesday March 1 Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with J.G.Fergusson Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
J.G. Fergusson is a former BBC Scotland journalist/producer and author of several walking guides for the ‘Pocket Mountain’ series. Born in the Rhins of Galloway, and now living in Moffat, he has been riding motorbikes since the 1970s. A lifetime’s love of Scotland, her landscape, highways and history led to the publication of The Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland in 2018, a guide book aimed at bikers. In this illustrated talk, he shares some of his amusing and alarming adventures and also what he has learned about the publishing business.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway. Station House Cookery School 56-58, St. Mary Street 7pm Tickets £8
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Thank you to the Scottish Book Trust for their assistance in funding this event
Tuesday February 28 Free on-line event Talking Of Crime…2pm
A Zoom event featuring crime writers from around Scotland, who will take readers on a tour of the country with each author explaining what effect the Scottish location of their books offers them as writers. Audience members will then be able to ask questions. Writers taking part include members of the Crime Writers’ Association’s Scottish Chapter and those contributing include Allan Martin, Simpson Grears, Inga Vesper, Margaret Kirk, Gordon Brown, John Dean and Marsali Taylor. To register for the Zoom session, please contact John at deangriss@btinternet.com
Tuesday February 28 A Meeting of Minds with The Gallery Writers, Stewartry Writers and Kirkcudbright Poetry Group The Kirkcudbright Galleries St Mary Street 11am Free event Members of the three Kirkcudbright-based writing groups perform together for the first time, presenting a mixture of prose and poetry.
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Monday February 27 Walk on the Dark Side – crime fiction event Broughton House, 12 High St. 7. 30pm £7
Spend an evening with crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean as they explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their crime novels.
Having spent twenty-seven years in the Metropolitan Police, Ian is now a full-time writer. Six of his crime novels have been published and Rubicon is currently in development with the BBC for a six-part TV series.
Ann Bloxwich, who is appearing at Kirkcudbright Book Week, has announced that she has signed a deal with a new publisher.
Her contract with Red Dragon Publishing Ltd means that her debut novel What Goes Around will not be available until its relaunch with a new cover and ISBN number in March 2023, at the same time as her second book, Goodnight, God Bless.
What Goes Around is the first book in the DI Alex Peachey series and Ann drew on her own experiences, including that of being a parent to a disabled child. She said: “This is something I’ve not seen in fiction before, and I felt it brought an air of authenticity to Alex’s story and shows the unseen side of living with this situation. I set it in and around Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, as that was where I was living when I started the book. “
Jackie Baldwin sets much of her work in Dumfries and Galloway and was a solicitor in Dumfries for twenty years.
Her debut crime novel, Dead Man’s Prayer, was published by Killer Reads, Harper Collins in 2016. The second in the series, Perfect Dead, was published in 2018 with the third, Avenge the Dead, having also been published.
John Dean is the creator of the DCI John Blizzard and Jack Harris series of novels published by The Book Folks of London
How to acquire your tickets
Tickets for both paid-for and a number of the free events during Kirkcudbright Book Week 2023 can be booked by visiting http://www.eventbrite.co.uk and searching for Kirkcudbright Book Week Collection where all the events are listed. Alternatively, a direct link can be accessed via the book week website’s Acquire Your Tickets section at https://www.kirkcudbrightbookweek.org/buy-your-tickets/
Monday February 27 Screening of ‘S.R.Crockett: The Kirkcudbright Connection’ (20 minutes) followed by virtual chat/ Q&A with Cally Phillips of Galloway Raiders.
The Kirkcudbright Galleries, St Mary Street 11am £5
S.R.Crockett (1859-1914) is the most famous and prolific novelist of Galloway. His stories range across the region, but his Kirkcudbright connection is little known. The short film explores Crockett’s relationship with the town and some of her more famous sons, including E.A.Hornel and William Mouncey. William Stewart MacGeorge was a boyhood friend and the central character in Crockett’s sole Kirkcudbright novel is based on him. Published in 1907, Little Esson features fictionalised romance and mystery among the Kirkcudbright Artists. Crockett’s Kirkcudbright connection is explored through rare Galloway Raiders archival material and other stories. Cally will be available ‘virtually’ after the screening to chat more and answer questions regarding Crockett’s Kirkcudbright Connections.
Kirkcudbright author Anne Micklethwaite, a member of the town’s Gallery Writers group, has published a collection of poetry.
A Cup of Tea and a Poem reflects the way that Anne’s work often echoes the legendary Japanese female poets who identified with the cycles of nature in order to deal with loss. This is clearly shown in “Wave Lullaby”, where she consoles all of us who have loved and lost:
“as though rocked
in water’s comfort
where all tears join
in one blue ocean
that knows no parting.”
She also tells us stories, as in “Jam Making”, with its deeper meaning of preserving memories. There is a lot of sharp observation i.e – “New moon, nail paring” and “jigsaw marked cattle”.
There is much joy and radiance in Anne’s poems. Nature dances and the sun shines as often as the moon.
Kirkcudbright Book Week 