Run by a team of dedicated and hard-working volunteers, the Tobermory Book Festival returns to the Western Isles Hotel and An Tobar this week with fifteen authors coming to talk about their books.
The Festival started in 2018 and, despite a two year hiatus due to covid restrictions, has become a very popular event attended by both Mull residents and visitors to the Island. We intend that the event extends the season by an additional week after the Mull Rally and aim to showcase all aspects of life in the Highlands and Islands as well as presenting Tobermory as the Book Capital of the Hebrides. This year we welcome speakers including Mull’s own Colin MacIntyre, Banjo Beale and Sir Lachlan Maclean of Duart Castle, as well as authors of books on puffins and the West Coast Community of Orcas. The best-selling author Isabella Tree comes to discuss her follow-up to Wilding, and Alexander McCall Smith, a regular visitor to Mull, hosts one of the two evening dinners.
Taking place across two days and in two venues, the Festival brings together readers and writers in a relaxed, sociable atmosphere with lunches and dinners being an integral part of the programme.
Ticket sales have been strong this year and, while the headline events have already sold out, there are still opportunities to enjoy talks from a number of authors across the two days. In a late addition to the programme, Scottish playwright and theatre director David Greig introduces his new novel, Columba’s Bones set on the Isle of Iona in AD825. For those keen on enjoying the benefits of being outdoors Dougie Strang’s The Bone Cave recounts a month-long walk following the invisible strands of story across the Scottish Highlands, and Kerri Andrew examines how walking is a source of creativity and comfort, a means of expressing grief, longing and desire and an activity full of physical and emotional significance in Way Makers, her brand new anthology and testament to the rich literary heritage created by generations of women walker-writers over the centuries.
Come along and join us – full details of festival programme can be found at www.westoversea.co.uk and tickets are available from An Tobar and Mull Theatre at www.antobarandmulltheatre.co.uk. We hope to see you there!
This guest post was provided by the Tobermory Book Festival team.