WIGTOWN’S bookselling community has been springing into action to herald the return of the town’s weekend festival.
The booktown’s Spring Weekend has not been held since 2019 due to the covid pandemic but the relaunched Association of Wigtown Booksellers has grouped together to create a fantastic programme of events to be held over the bank holiday weekend at the end of April.
Chair of the association, author and bookseller Shaun Bythell said: “We’re very pleased to be able to get the spring festival back into Dumfries and Galloway’s creative calendar.
“The booksellers and other businesses in the town have pulled together to put on a weekend of music, theatre, exhibitions and, of course, talks by a range of authors.”
The diverse backgrounds of the town’s booksellers means that they have been able to draw on their various contacts to bring some excellent events to Scotland’s National Booktown. There are exhibitions from subjects as diverse as traditional boat building to textiles. The programme includes practical workshops in bookbinding, papercrafting and metal detecting. There will be talks by crime writers, historians, archeologists and children’s authors.
Amongst the highlights will be an appearance by the BBC’s reporter for the south west, Willie Johnston who covered the Lockerbie air disaster, the loss of the Solway Harvester and the Foot and Mouth Crisis.
The Lockerbie Disaster will also be the subject of a talk by Lord Bracadale who was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Lamen Khalifah Fhimah.
Music and theatre events include The Bookshop Band, the Jones Family and Friends, and a performance of the acclaimed production of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Whithorn based Townsend Theatre Productions which is currently touring the UK to sell out audiences.
A full programme of events with details of how to book tickets will be available at the end of March and will also be accessible on www.wigtown-booktown.co.uk
