Book Festival

THE WORLD’S only book festival dedicated to biography and memoir is to run in May in Ayrshire.

The 9th Boswell Book Festival will bring together a range of writers from around the world to the renowned Dumfries House in Ayrshire with a weekend of discussion and debate.

Boswell Book Festival opens on May 10th with broadcaster Kirsty Wark and through the weekend audiences will also be able to hear from a range of voices.

Doddi Weir, Neil Oliver, Susan Calman, Tom Devine, Dame Sue Black, Kate Williams, Ursula Buchan (talking about her grandfather John), Clare Hunter, Bendor Grosvenor and Ben MacIntyre will appear.

Professor Bashabi Fraser and journalist Alan Taylor will be without Ahmet Altan, marking the publication of his memoir written in prison, in a conversation about imprisoned authors.

And Rosemary Goring will be putting women back in the nation’s history with her book Scotland Her Story.

The organisers are also delighted to welcome Faiza Hayani Bellili and Leila Hedjem to Scotland, two of the contributors of Together – the bestselling community cookbook produced by women affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy which was supported by HRH The Duchess of Sussex.

Meantime, Tim Bouverie will be talking about his first book, Appeasing Hitler, in conversation with Lt Col Charles Cameron MC, a witness to the times, who fought at El Alamein with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.

Director of the Boswell Book Festival Caroline Knox said: “This programme, with its eclectic mix of subjects, inspired by our unique theme of biography and memoir, will allow any visitor to travel in their imagination from the worlds of Beijing to Washington, from Strictly Come Dancing to The Importance of Being Earnest and from Mary Queen of Scots to Napoleon.”

* Full listings can be found at www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk. May 10-12,

Clan Share

FOURTEEN clan and community events across nine local authorities will receive a share of funding through the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

The Scottish Clan Event Fund supports the growth of clan events across Scotland and helps to fund clan gatherings, games and historical re-enactments as well as walks and tours, ceilidhs and festivals.

For the 11 events funded in 2018, VisitScotland estimated 47% of those attending were international visitors and the net economic impact was around £1 million.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop announced the funding: “The Scottish Clan Event Fund is helping to build on the benefits of the ‘Outlander effect’, and encouraging international visitors with clan connections to visit Scotland, while also involving people in the local communities.”

Jazzy Glasgow

DESCRIBED by the Chicago Tribune as one of the “50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years,” singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt has amassed a cult following for his “stunningly poetic, poignant imagery.”

Now, he’s set to appear in Glasgow alongside Elaine Lennon. The singer-songwriter who recently won the Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections will open the show.

Sing Out Magazine has written of the American performer however: “Schmidt is a force of nature: a blue moon, a hundred-year flood, an avalanche of a singer-songwriter.”

* The Glad Cafe Glasgow, May 8.

Tickets from Tickets Scotland and Ticketweb