Yoga, stars and more at book bonanza

When Finlay Wilson made a film pulling yoga moves in a kilt in a Scottish forest, he could not have imagined what he had started. Posted on BBC’s The Social, the film was watched 43 million times in five days.

Before he knew it, he was demonstrating ‘downward dog’ on breakfast television.

Wilson, from Dundee, who has since produced a best- selling book, Kilted Yoga, will be inviting his audience at Boswell Book Festival to try some simple (optional) moves themselves from the comfort of their chairs, while offering advice about how yoga can help with common ailments.

The eighth Festival opens with Dame Judi Dench this Friday night (May 4)

Wilson was advised to take up yoga himself while recovering from painful surgery on his legs at the age of 20, and now runs his own yoga studio.

He says: “I hated it, but I’m stubborn so I stuck with it.”

A morning yoga session is not what you might expect from a book festival, but the team at Boswell Book Festival, held at Dumfries House all weekend, have plenty of surprises up their sleeves, from sports to spy fiction.

While there is a separate action-packed programme for children, teenagers would enjoy many of the events in the adult programme, such as a chance to meet Judy Murray, and Anthony Horowitz, who created best-selling teenage spy hero Alex Rider, will talk about The Power of Books for audiences aged 7+.

But older fans would also enjoy his conversation with crime writer Denise Mina about writing James Bond and Sherlock Holmes stories, and his other successful career as a television writer.

Historian Christopher Lloyd, creator (with artist Andy Foreshaw) of best-selling concert in a style “wall books” which explain the history of the world in colourful charts and timelines, promises “an hour of history and not a yawn in sight.

Meanwhile, veteran cartoonist Michael Heath offers an equally unique take on history. It’s a rare chance to hear Heath talk about his long career which began at Punch Magazine in its post-war heyday and continued at Private Eye, where he was the artist behind strips such as The Great Bores of Today.

Full programme and tickets: www. boswellbookfestival.co.uk