The eighth West Dunbartonshire Booked! Festival will take place from the 12th to the 29th of May. This exciting ‘Festival of Words’ promises not only to build on past success but will also break new ground. As well as events involving leading authors such as Christopher Brookmyre, we are very lucky to be hosting two highly regarded broadcasters, namely Sally Magnusson and Lesley Riddoch. Sally will be talking about the famous Scottish athlete Eric Liddell and Lesley will be her inimitable self! Fans of crime fiction will be in for a real treat as they will get the chance to hear from three of Scotland’s top crime writers: Alex Gray, Denise Mina and Stuart MacBride. They will be accompanied by Professor of Forensic Pathology, John Clark. We are in the very fortunate position of being able to welcome Alex Graham, who is the executive producer of the immensely popular BBC TV series, Who Do You Think You Are, who will talk about the programme and show video extracts.
Ian Johnston, author of Ships for a Nation, makes a welcome return to the Festival, and as well as being able to hear an enthralling talk on Clyde shipbuilding, those who attend will have the option of a free tour of Auchentoshan Distillery! One of Scotland’s finest poets, Kenneth Steven, has already appeared at our Festival several times before, and each time he has appeared, the audiences have demanded that he returns the following year! He returns again this year and we are sure he will remain a perennial favourite. Those of you who love the great outdoors will not want to miss Anna Magnusson and Vicky Jack’s talk. Anna has written a book about Vicky, who has climbed all of the seven highest mountains in each continent. Vicky’s achievement is all the more remarkable because she didn’t take up mountaineering until she was in her thirties and she summited Everest when she was 51!
As well as providing a wide array of adult events the Festival also delivers author talks for children throughout West Dunbartonshire’s schools. This year we are delighted to welcome Yvonne Coppard, Linda Strachan, D.A. Nelson, Joe Donnelly, Julia Donaldson and Anthony McGowan.
Accompanying the author events are workshops on genealogy, a poetry competition, and two quizzes. We are also in the enormously privileged position of being able to offer a writing workshop with a difference – BBC Scotland’s
River City is offering us their top script writers to show us how a soap opera is written. As if this wasn’t enough of a coup, we are also in the very enviable position of being able to offer a visit to the River City set! Our Culture Department has very kindly arranged two stunning exhibitions to accompany the Festival. The Scottish Colourists Exhibition featuring work by such luminaries as Fergusson, Cadell, Peploe and Hunter is taking place in Clydebank and The Back Door Gallery at Dalmuir will be hosting a marvellous display of award winning illustrations to the novels of Raymond Chandler and Graham Greene. We hope that you will agree that there is something for everybody and that this year’s Festival promises to be even more exciting than previous years.
