Taynuilt turns out for Bookends pop-up event
A crisp and clear sunny Saturday in Taynuilt was the setting for the first Bookends pop-up event which organisers said was a huge success.
The event in Taynuilt Village Hall saw locals and visitors browse a great selection of preloved books as well as having a cuppa and a piece of home baking.
Last year saw the inaugural Benderloch Bookends Festival which drew 1,000 visitors during the last week in September.
Joy Cameron, one of the organisers, explained: ‘The idea is to create a warm and comfortable space for book lovers to exchange, share and enjoy a vast range of books from romantic and crime thrillers to books giving advice on how to run a smallholding.
‘During the main festival invited authors came to read poetry and prose and share the experience of creating a piece of written work from the first glimmer of a story to publication.
‘There were also workshops on yogic chanting and tapping to gain emotional freedom.
‘Many visitors to the original festival returned over the days to sample the Reading Room in the Victory Hall, Benderloch, and were disappointed when the festival drew to a close.’
Joy continued: ‘We so enjoyed sharing the space which Bookends created that it seemed a shame not to repeat it and a year seemed a long time to wait.
‘A team of ambassadors helped to make the festival stand out from others by manning book bins and boxes around the area where second-hand books could be stored and exchange in advance of the festival.
‘The book boxes in Taynuilt and Barcaldine as well as one in Hope Kitchen, continue to be used so it seemed natural to bring a pop-up event to where there was interest in doing a little more book sharing.’
Taynuilt pop-up visitors had a visit from the author Russell Campbell, originally from the village.
Russell came to share and chat with visitors and meet two of the local authors who are already signed to appear at the Bookends Festival in Benderloch in 2017.
They are Lindsay Campbell, author of Ane
Compact of Villany and who is in the process of researching her next book Now Prisoner With
in which she describes as ‘murder, riot and crime in old Argyll’.
Other bookings for Bookends Festival Benderloch 2017 include Alasdair Satchel with an exciting story-telling session for all ages, and a one-man play based on the writing in a Russian explorer’s diary.