The Kirkcudbright Book Week Podcast

Where Rivers meet Part 2 - With Nicola Black

Singer-songwriter Nicola Black, above, who lived in Kirkpatrick Durham, died on Saturday 25th March just 3 weeks after this performance at Kirkcudbright Book Week.
For many years, she had been responsible for booking the acoustic stage at the Wickerman Festival and, along with husband Andrew (Blackie), played a huge role in the Midsummer Music Festival in Gatehouse.
She also worked with Kirkbean poet Stuart A Paterson on a CD called A Squatter or Bairnsangs, which featured Stuart’s Scots poems for children.
Posting on Facebook, Stuart said: “Words can’t even begin to say how I’ve felt since learning of the passing of singer, songwriter, musician, teacher, local and national cultural stalwart in so many communities, friend, mother, gran and wife Nicola Black.
We have published this podcast in memory of Nicola and with the permission of her family. May she rest in peace, she will be greatly missed by all.

An evening with Laurence Bristol Smith and friends

Musical illustrations by Gordon Mursell and David Preston.
Laurence spent 26 tears as a diplomat, wrote the two volume History of Music in the British Isles, among other titles. His latest book is called Tribes into Nations: Revisiting the early history of the British Isles,, which takes a fresh look at the ethnic and cultural evolution of the British Isles

Stuart Campbell talks about the Buchanites and his book The Woman clothed with the sun

Stuart Campbell has previously written for the BBC, the
Guardian
,
The Big Issue
and
Scottish Book Collector
. He is the editor of
RLS in Love
, an anthology of Robert Louis Stevenson’s love poetry, and author of
John McPake and The Sea Beggars
, a novel set in Leith and sixteenth-century Holland. He has also written a second novel,
The Aeronaut’s Guide to Rapture
, and two travelogues,
Boswell’s Bus Pass
and
Daniel Defoe’s Railway Journey
. He is an obsessive book collector and recently represented The Republic of Ireland at walking football. His latest novel,
The Woman Clothed With The Sun
,tells the extraordinary true-life story of Elspeth Buchan and the Buchanites, an eighteenth-century Scottish apocalyptic sect based in Galloway at the time of Robert Burns. In this talk he will discuss the research undertaken in Dumfries and Galloway in search of the Buchanities and the difficulties involved in fictionalising such an extraordinary tale.

Friday 3rd March 2023 - On the trail of the broken shoe

Talk by John Nelson based on the true story of the last man hanged in Scotland for horse stealing

Alan McClure Thursday 2nd March 2023

Thursday March 2 World  Book Day – Talk by Alan McClure Kirkcudbright Library  Daar Road Free event 7pm This event was fully booked
Alan is a writer, musician and primary school teacher based in Galloway. His first children’s novel, Callum and the Mountain, was shortlisted for the Kelpies Prize in 2016 and published by Beaten Track Press in 2019. The magical adventure for 8-12-year-olds draws on Celtic mythology and a love of the Scottish landscape and language. Alan will read extracts and discuss the inspiration behind the book, as well as encouraging the audience to share their own magical adventures.

Gerry Hassan - the case for independence

The independence debate is the defining issue of our times in Scotland with huge implications not just for the people who live here, but the rest of the UK and internationally and in the recently-published Scotland Rising: The Case for Independence, academic and author Gerry Hassan explores where the debate is going. He explores both sides of the argument, examines the importance of culture, stories and collective voices in reshaping how people see Scotland and seeks out the thoughts of people who have historically haven’t voted or see themselves as don’t knows. Known through his work as Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University and as a leading commentator on Scottish and Uolitics, Gerry is the author of a number of books, including The People’s Flag and the Union Jack and Caledonian Dreaming.

J G Fergusson - Wednesday 1st March 2023

Wednesday March 1 Confessions of a Novice Motorcycle Guide Book Writer with J.G.Fergusson  Selkirk Arms High Street 2pm £5
J.G. Fergusson is a former BBC Scotland journalist/producer and author of several walking guides for the ‘Pocket Mountain’ series. Born in the Rhins of Galloway, and now living in Moffat, he has been riding motorbikes since the 1970s. A lifetime’s love of Scotland, her landscape, highways and history led to the publication of The Motorcyclist’s Guide to Scotland in 2018, a guide book aimed at bikers.
In this illustrated talk, he shares some of his amusing and alarming adventures and answers the question ‘what does it take to produce a successful guidebook?’
In JG Fergusson’s case, it took two years of research, countless hours on the road (and many more on the internet), help from friends, kindness from strangers, more midge bites than he cares to remember and a couple of near death experiences he’s trying hard to forget. The result has been widely praised, not only by motorcyclists but also by car drivers seeking to explore some of the less well known corners of the country. In this talk, the author shares his adventures on the road while researching the book –  from the hair raising to the humiliating – and provides an insight into the processes and pitfalls of publishing a book for the first time.   

Monday 27th March 2023 - A walk on the dark side - Crime writers

A sell out evening at Broughton House with crime writers Jackie Baldwin, Ian Robinson, Ann Bloxwich and John Dean as they explore the art of crime writing, illustrated through examples from their crime novels.

Tuesday 28th March 2023 - Where Rivers meet Poetry Part 1 - with Hugh Mcmillan, Stuart Paterson and Clare Philips

Tuesday February 28 Where Rivers Meet Join Hugh McMillan, Stuart Paterson, Clare Phillips and Nicola Black in an evening of poetry and song from four of the finest writers in contemporary Dumfries and Galloway.

Meet Ann Bloxwich - crime writer

Chris and Gerry chat to Ann Bloxwich about her passion for crime writing and how it all began managing a male strip show ! Ann is appearing at The Kirkcudbright Book festival on Monday 27th February at Broughton House.