Cancelled north book festival goes online this year

Cancelled north book festival goes online this year
on Apr 06, 2021

Last year’s lineup of local interest and talks by famous Scottish writers is being reactivated, and the events are free and bookable through Eventbrite. Organisers had hoped the festival could go ahead in Caithness this year,  but with the restrictions, they decided an online event is the best way to hold it safely. The festival will launch on Saturday, April 24 with a dozen pre-recorded talks to be shared online, mainly at weekends. Festival organiser Ian Leith said: “Other book festivals have done similar in going digital. “The organisers of the Islay Book Festival have been a great help. “Last year they ran quite a successful digital festival and they shared some of the things they felt they got wrong and others that were really successful.” Creative support initiative XpoNorth is looking after the digital technology behind the event. The festival will start with a joint production by traditional musician Freeland Barbour and singer Gerda Stevenson. Mr Barbour’s new book – The White Rose of Gask – looks at the life and songs of prominent Jacobite Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne, who wrote some of Scotland’s most famous traditional songs. A raft of authors will be giving talks over the three week period of the festival. Local writers will be involved throughout, with four of them – Gail Brown, Donna Booth, Charlotte Platt and Andrea Wotherspoon – taking part in a joint session. Inverness writer Barbara Henderson will talk about her book The Seige of Caerlaverock, a medieval tale based on real events in the year 1300 at a castle in Dumfries and Galloway. Historian James Hunter’s latest book, Insurrection, is based around the meal riots in 1846 in which Wick played a major part. Mr Leith said: “He is a brilliant writer. He uses immense detail but also has a knack of telling a story. It’s not just dry history.” Gillian Galbraith is a former advocate and now Scottish crime writer is also contributing. Her latest book, The End of the Line, is based around the inquiry into the blood contamination scandal in Scotland. Local interest includes a talk by Adam Wood, author of a biography about Thurso man Donald Swanson who as a detective worked on the Jack the Ripper murders in London. Kevin Crowe will talk about his recent collection of short stories – No Home in This World, and Jim Miller will do a session on Caithness dialect poetry. Highland writers Helen Sedgwick and Liz Treacher will look at the issues and position in society of women in both 1920 and 2020, while former ITV producer Nicol Nicolson will reveal his new book Craggy the Coo, published by Wick-based Crowvus. Information on how to sign up to watch the festival sessions will be available soon on the John O’Groats Book Festival Facebook and Twitter pages. Source: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/