American tribal chief for Ullapool Book Fest
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A NORTH American tribal chief, a political journalist and the first Gaelic science fiction novelist are among the writers heading to the Ullapool Book Festival.
Tickets for the festival, which runs from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 May, go on sale tomorrow (Friday).
This year’s festival marks a special milestone for the renowned festival - it is celebrating its 10th anniversary year. And there is much to delight in the programme – from emerging young authors to award-winning and best selling writers and poets.
Heading the guest list will be well-known Scottish authors such as William McIlvanney, Jackie Kay and AL Kennedy.
The festival’s overseas guests this year are both from Cape Breton in Canada. Frank Macdonald will talk about his celebrated fiction and award-winning journalism - and maybe there will be a sneak preview of his forthcoming novel Tinker and Blue. Lindsay Marshall is a former chief of Potlotek First Nation (a Mi’kmaw First Nation) on the shores of the Bras D’Or Lake, Cape Breton. There will be some stories and poems and he will talk about the Mi’kmaq.
Non-fiction comes from Jenni Calder and Iain Macwhirter.
Jenni Calder is former Head of Museum of Scotland International which focused on emigration and the Scottish diaspora. She will discuss her most recent book Lost in the Backwoods: Scots and the North American Wilderness which begins in 1773 when the emigrant ship, the Hector, left Loch Broom for Nova Scotia. Iain Macwhirter is the award-winning political commentator for the Sunday Herald and the Herald. He will talk about his critically acclaimed book on the national question in Scotland, Road to Referendum is a best-seller.
There will also be a Gaelic session with simultaneous translation. Tim Armstrong, from Seattle in the USA, and Andrew Dunn, from Point in Lewis, will read from and talk about their respective Gaelic novels Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach - the first science-fiction novel in Gaelic - and Còisir nan Gunna.
A host of other writers will also guest and full details can be found on the website www.ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk.
Ullapool Book Festival has received funding from Creative Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Bord na Gaidhlig. It also received support from local companies and The Open University in Scotland.
