Town on countdown to book festival

KIRKCUDBRIGHT’S Book Festival returns next month with over 40 authors and 20 events set to take over the town. The festival runs from on March 5–8, with the four days including a diverse range of writers and a variety of topics from big issues currently facing the world and UK to history, nature and countryside, creative writing, new and established fiction and emerging new voices and storytellers. Highlights of this year’s event include political journalist and broadcaster Michael Crick on leadership in difficult times, touching on his biographies of Nigel Farage and Alex Ferguson; Scottish journalist and writer Rosemary Goring on Mary Queen of Scots; Beaty Rubens on the impact of radio in the British home in the 1920’s and 1930’s; the graphic novelist and author Darryl Cunningham on his biography of the tech boss Elon Musk; Richard McLaughlan on the cultural story of the bagpipes; and Burns scholar and authority Robert Crawford on the life, times and genius of Robert Burns and why he is still a unique and radical voice. Looking ahead to next month’s event, festival chair Naomi Johnson said: “This new look festival will create a new buzz, excitement and energy celebrating local authors and stories while bringing together Scottish and UK voices. It builds on the work of previous Book Weeks while developing the festival with new ideas, authors and audiences.”