The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Book Week Scotland
Various venues, November 18 to 24
The nation’s annual celebration of books and reading promises a packed schedule of events across Courier Country.
With conversation as its key theme, this year’s Book Week Scotland boasts activities for all ages in libraries, schools and community venues, with numerous wordsmiths and illustrators involved.
Run by the Scottish Book Trust, the festival’s free events in Dundee include a talk at Blackness Library by author Mary Miller, who’s written the first full biography of Second World War heroine Jane Haining – the only Scot to be officially honoured for giving her life to help Jews during the Holocaust.
Andrew Scott will discuss his Willie Morton contemporary mystery thrillers at Coldside Library, while vegan recipe pioneer Jackie Jones is visiting the Central Library to talk about her hit cookbook, with Fife-based scribe Frank Woods set to focus on his novel
Where The Bridge Lies – the story of a widow who becomes a shipyard welder following the Clydeside Blitz – at the same venue.
Book Week highlights in Perthshire include Fife farmer-cum-bestselling author James Oswald’s visit to Errol Village Hall on Tuesday. The creator of the Inspector Mclean series of Edinburgh-based detective mysteries and the Constance Fairchild stories will be talking about his latest offering, Nothing To Hide.
Further north, acclaimed Glasgowborn crime writer Alex Gray – a founding member of the world-renowned Bloody Scotland crime writing festival – will be providing a glimpse into The Stalker, the newest title in her William Lorimer series, at Blair Atholl Village Hall next Saturday.
In Fife globally-respected criminologist and TV regular Professor David Wilson of Birmingham City University has been lined up to guide listeners through his experiences as Britain’s youngest-ever prison governor and an extensive career working with some of the most notorious serial killers of recent times. The Clackmannanshireborn author of My Life With Murderers will be at Rothes Halls in Glenrothes on Tuesday.
There’s a host of events aimed at children on offer across the Kingdom, including Alan Windram bringing his award-winning picture book One Button Benny to life at Cowdenbeath Library on Monday, cartoonist and entertainer Mike Barfield’s cool science offering Destroy This Book (Cupar Library, Tuesday), and a fun visit from Robot Rumpus author Sean Taylor and illustrator Ross Collins to Kirkcaldy Galleries on Thursday.
Montrose Library will champion the best in Angus writers by staging a panel of local talents who’ll lead a blether on their craft next Friday morning.