Harry Potter pages on display for Wigtown Book Festival

What a coup!  And a winning occasion for a good cup of coffee - read The Ballad of Nearly Headless Nick in the delicious surroundings of Reading Lasses http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11365173

And Andy Forster talks to Dave Borthwick at 2pm on Monday 20th

Andrew Forster will discuss with Dr David Borthwick his recent collection Territory in the context of the contemporary resurgence in poetic responses to the environment.  Andrew and David will consider how one comes to be ‘at home’ in a landscape, from dwelling to engagement with a place’s history, animal encounters to weather events.  Along the way, they will talk about writing by a range of contemporary poets, John Burnside to Alice Oswald, Kathleen Jamie to Don McKay.

Monday 20 September, Room 232 Rutherford McCowan Building, The Crichton, Dumfries.  Admission £5 for members of the public, £3 for students.

And then get down to Poetry Doubles with Andrew Forster and Katy Ewing at the Brigend Theatre at 7pm - look forward to seeing you there!

When Andrew Forster’s first collection, Fear of Thunder, was shortlisted for theForward First Collection Prize in 2007 he was working in Dumfries and Galloway as our Literature Development Officer.  Andy has since moved to Cumbria to work for the Wordsworth Trust, but we've persuaded him back across the border to take part in Dumfries and Galloway’s prestigious Poetry Doubles series.  With which he's wholly familiar, because it was his idea...

 

Andy will share a stage on Monday 20 September with Katy Ewing.  They will perform at the Brigend Theatre, Dumfries at 7pm.  Tickets are available from dgArts www.dgarts.co.uk

 

Andrew’s second collection, Territory, which was published earlier this year by Flambard, focuses on his time in the former mining village of Leadhills in Upper Nithsdale.  His poems explore what it means to make a home in a particular place, and the relationship with the environment that this implies.

Katy Ewing is in her third year of the Liberal Arts Humanities degree at Glasgow University in Dumfries. She lives with her young family in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway.  Katy's work is precise, vivid and illuminating.  

This will really be an evening of poetry to savour.  Hope to see you there!

Liz Niven launches 'The Shard Box' on Friday 17 Sept at Midsteeple

dgArts launches Liz Niven’s new collection of poems The Shard Box  at 7.00pm on FRIDAY 17^th September at Midsteeple.  Free admission - hope to see you there!

A new review by Janet Paisley says:

“There is fine writing in the Shard Box, crafted with vision, warmth and shafts of devastating insight. Under Liz Niven’s scrutiny, China opens like a lotus blossom, secretive, then revealed. Cambodia springs into full-blooded view. The same honesty wraps care round a dying father, and lets a daughter launch, unhindered, into adult life. Poignant and potent, these shards create a global journey, connecting the familial to the unfamiliar, revealing through small things our vast, culpable humanity.”

Sneak Wigtown Preview: the Director's Cut...

With more than 170 events over 10 days,  it can be easy to miss things in the Wigtown Book Festival programme. In the first of two "Festival Director's Cuts", programmer Adrian Turpin takes a personal pick of some of the gems buried in this year's line-up:

Michael Foley: The Age of Absurdity
12 noon Sat 25 Sept
One man's very funny and astute take on why modern life seem to be slowly driving us all mad.

Granta Magazine Event: Families and How to Survive Writing about Them
1.30pm Sat 25 Sept
Two of Britain's liveliest novelists, Janice Galloway and Rupert Thomson, on the trials of writing about family.

Martin Creed
3pm Sun 26 Sept
The festival's first Turner prize winner: he's also a brilliant performer. He even plays guitar in his talk.

Alex Bellos: Alex's Adventures in Numberland
4.30pm Sun 26 Sept
Multitalented? The author of this much-admired book about mathematical oddities was Pele's ghostwriter.

Sara Wheeler: The Magnetic North
6pm Mon 27 Sept
Everything you have ever wanted to know about the arctic: from inuit life to the race for oil. Fascinating.

Henry Nicholls: The Way of the Panda
3pm Thur 30 Sept
Everyone loves pandas. But until 150 years ago they were unknown outside China. Now they've become diplomatic pawns. Henry Nicholls' black-and-white tale should be read all over.

Suzanne Fagence Cooper: The Model Wife
1.30pm Fri 1 Oct
The love triangle between the model Effie Gray, the critic Ruskin and the painter Millais was the biggest scandal of Victorian times. Today it would have been all over Heat magazine.
HOW TO BOOK

You can book online at www.wigtownbookfestival.com, by phone on 01988 403222 or 01988 402036 (9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday, 10am - 4pm Saturday and 2pm - 4pm Sunday) or simply by popping into our office in the County Buildings, Wigtown.

If you know of anyone else who would like to receive a copy of the programme please send their full address to mail@wigtownbookfestival.com

Poetry Doubles lights up Castle Douglas Monday 6 September

Brian Johnstone

Make your way to the Gordon Memorial Hall, Whitepark Road, down by Carlingford Loch in Castle Douglas on Monday evening to enjoy a stellar line-up of ex-StAnza Festival Director Brian Johnstone, alongside prize-winning local poets Fiona Russell and Em Strang.
Brian Johnstone’s poems are ‘full of stilled moments and nicely shaped incidents’ (Scotland on Sunday).  His most recent collection is The Book of Belongings (Arc, 2009). He is a co-founder of the StAnza Poetry Festival and was its Festival Director from 2000-2010.

Em Strang is studying an MPhil in eco poetry at Glasgow University’s Dumfries campus. Winner of the 2010 Kirkpatrick Dobie Prize For Poetry, she has published poems in Markings, Poetry Scotland and Swamp.
Fiona Russell lives on the family hill sheep farm with her two rescue lurchers.  She is currently studying for a PhD.  Her MLitt folio, Where Clouds Come To Die, won a Sir Patrick Geddes Award in March 2010.  Fiona’s training in agriculture and illustration help her make use of observational skills for her writing.

The event starts at 7pm, when we welcome you in and ply you with pleasant drinks.  Tickets are £7/£5, available from dgArts at The Midsteeple, Dumfries, 01387 253383 or on the door. Look forward to seeing you there!