Festival line-up features Scotland’s top names

Those behind the popular BOOKMARK festival have welcomed the inclusion of the work of several guests on a new list of Scotland’s favourite books.

Previous speakers James Robertson and Janice Galloway, the late William McIlvanney – who was booked to headline last year’s festival but had to cancel due to illness – and Maggie O’Farrell, who will be appearing at this year’s literacy showcase, have all been included on a shortlist of 30 of Scotland’s best-loved novels.

The list has been compiled by a panel of experts as part of the BBC’s Love to Read campaign and represents a cross-section of work stretching across centuries.

Other shortlisted authors include Sir Walter Scott for Rob Roy, AL Kennedy for So I Am Glad, Lewis Grassic Gibbon for Sunset Song and Arthur Conan Doyle for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

JK Rowling is also on the list with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone as is Irvine Welsh with Trainspotting, Iain Banks with The Wasp Factory and Muriel Spark with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Now, members of the public have a chance to have their say on which books should make the top 10.

And organisers of the BOOKMARK festival say that the inclusion of four guest authors on the list of 30 is a reflection of the calibre of writers that the festival has been able to attract to east Perthshire in just four years.

Chair of BOOKMARK, Christine Findlay, said: “It is great to see that some of BOOKMARK’s festival authors are up there in Scotland’s top 30 favourite novels.

“In past years we’ve welcomed to our festival James Robertson, Janice Galloway and we had hoped to have William McIlvanney as our headline name last year but, sadly, he had to cancel due to illness.

“This year, the wonderful Maggie O’Farrell will launch the festival on Friday, October 7 when she’ll be talking about her latest compelling story, ‘This Must be The Place’.

“BOOKMARK is bringing favourite Scottish reads to Perthshire and I know our audiences will turn out in big numbers over the weekend to show their appreciation of the wonderful writers they can hear in a local venue.”

The fourth BOOKMARK festival takes place from October 7-8 at Blairgowrie Community Campus.

This year’s programme also includes Sally Magnusson, Stuart MacBride, James Naughtie and Sir John Lister Kaye.

And next month, also as part of the BOOKMARK festival, some of Scotland’s finest poets will come together at the Straloch Garden Studio to read their poems inspired by some of the paintings in Glasgow University’s Hunterian Collection.

Alan Riach, Mungo Campbell, Lesley Riddoch and John Purser will all be at Straloch on Saturday, September 10 from 3pm until 4.30pm

Tickets cost just £6, refreshments included.

Copies of the festival programme are available from various outlets in the town, and tickets are available at www.bookmarkblair.com or from the One Voice office on Upper Mill Street.

Voting for Scotland’s favourite book is open until August 26 at bbc.co.uk/scotlandsfavouritebook. The top ten will be revealed in a BBC2 Scotland programme to be broadcast in October.

BOOKMARK is bringing favourite reads to Perthshire. We hope they will be popular