Fringe week pops up at Bookends
Just when you think Bookends Festival couldn’t get any better – up pops its fringe week.
The celebration of the written word rolls from this week’s heaving programme of authors, workshops and storytelling sessions right on to Friday October 5.
Bookends’ home at the Reading Room in Benderloch’s Victory Hall will be open every day from Monday October 1 until the end of the fringe week, 11am to 6.30pm, for people to browse pre-loved and new books, swap them, share them or even take them home. The kettle will be on, says festival co-ordinator Joy Cameron.
Former teacher Sharon Wilkie-Jones will be at the fringe’s first session on October 1 at 7.30pm telling how a creative arts project is raising awareness of homelessness. From humble beginnings in 2015, SHARE is now a successful social enterprise project producing three anthologies a year while juggling a host of other inspiring student campaigns getting word out about the plight of rough sleepers.
On Tuesday October 2 at 11.30am, Kirsty MacIntosh from Cosy Corner Bookshop will be in the Reading Room for storytelling sessions suitable for pre-school children. At 7.30pm, get your sea-legs ready for Sea Passages at 7.30pm, a peep through the porthole at how a group of community writers created a collection of short stories about ferry crossings and got them published. There will also be the chance to hear some of those stories from that voyage.
Join station master’s daughter Sheila Weir on Wednesday October 3 from 3pm for reminiscences of her life during and after the Second World War on the Ballachulish Line. The audience is cordially invited to keep this nostalgic session on track and bring along their own memories to share.
Then Terry Donovan from Lorn and Oban Reuse Initiative gets hands on at 7pm leading an Upcycling Workshop for adults. Terry will bring along a variety of picture frames, tools and materials for people to get creative. There is room for 10 people. A donation to LORI is your ticket into this event. Book by emailing terry.donovan@grab.org or calling 07762 924745.
On Thursday, October 4 at 2pm Oban’s Bob Toynton, who published his poetry collection Birds the Colours and Shapes of Leaves earlier this year, will be talking about ‘the practicalities, the problems, the fears and the positive feelings’ of taking the plunge from writing for yourself to putting ‘a proper book of poetry out there’ for the consumption of others.
‘Some of these I only recognised too late for this book. I’m now working, slowly, towards a second. I’d love to be able to help others achieve this too,’ he said.
Stories of real-life farmers taking back control of their lives and livelihoods, refusing to be ground down by the machinery of agri-business will be screened at 7pm, hosted by Awakening in Argyll. In Our Hands is a 67-minute documentary filmed during 2016. Entry is by donation.
Friday’s finale for this year kicks off with singer-songwriter Chris Bennett performing powerful Ballads Of Our Time. His cleverly crafted lyrics have produced ‘heart-rending, thought-provoking pieces that will make you smile and wonder, inspire and challenge you’, says Joy.
Chris will make-way for Grumpy Old Women storming the stage at 7.30pm to rant at the world then put it right again. ‘This follows on from last year’s very successful fringe finale Grumpy Old Men, when several opinionated women tell you how they actually got it wrong last year and how we’re going to get it right. Audience participation expected,’ said Joy.
Go to bookends.scot