A good festival should be an encounter: with ideas, people, cultures and the landscape.
It should look outwards but rejoice at the best of what’s local.

Adrian Turpin . Festival Director

For those who, like us, cannot attend the Wigtown Book Festival this year, we invite you to browse the program, which, in itself, delivers much information on all the different scheduled activities.

Had we been there, it would have been very difficult for us to choose what to see and hear with the only result to leave frustrated at the end of the festival for not having been able to participate to everything.

Neither easy to make a choice in the very well documented programme of the Festival, but since our main interest is literature we’ve focused on that in our selection. Mainly Scottish literature of course, but with a few incursions into the Irish field however. Don’t forget, in Wigtown, we are not far from Ireland: only 30 miles (48 km) to go to Stranraer and with the Stena Line ferry you can get there in about 90 minutes.

Hop aboard our virtual tour ?

Margaret Elphinstone – The Gathering Night

Margaret Elphinstone

Scotland has been inhabited for some 10,000 years, but our knowledge of even half that period is scant. One of Scotland’s best-loved writers digs deep to imagine the stone-age past, creating a tale of love, loss and adventure that finds powerful echoes in the present.

Quintin Jardine

 Fatal Last Words

Claire Kilroy

Louise Welsh & Claire Kilroy

Two outstanding literary novelists from opposite sides of the Irish Channel. The author of The Cutting Room, Louise Welsh is also a former tutor on Glasgow University’s creative-writing programme.
Claire Kilroy’s third novel All Names Have Been Changed tells the story of a group of students on a similar course in Dublin.
Supported by Culture Ireland

Roddy Doyle – Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha(video you tube)

Dublin-born Roddy Doyle is the author of eight novels including The Commitments (filmed by Alan Parker) and the Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. One of Ireland’s best known writers reads from his latest work and talks to fellow novelist Glenn Patterson.
Supported by Culture Ireland and sponsored by Edinburgh Napier University

　
 
Christopher Brookmyre -  Pandaemonium

Christopher Brookmyre is famed for his satirical crime fiction. But his latest novel, a horror story set on a school trip, ventures into diabolically funny new territory. Always a charismatic performer, the bestselling author talks about why he has chosen to pit science against the supernaturalin Pandaemonium.

Ted Cowan

Ted Cowan  – Southwest Scots and the Northwest Passage

Three of the 19th-century’s greatest Arctic explorers came from Dumfries and Galloway: John Ross, his nephew James Clark Ross of Stranraer, and Dumfries native John Richardson.Ted Cowan, professor of Scottish History at the University of Glasgow,has just returned from Canada’s Northwest Passage where he has been researching a new book on the Arctic Scots. He tells the story of their epic achievements.
Sponsored by W A Barclay

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The Magnusson Lecture

Five hundred years ago, Europe endured one of the most turbulent periods of its history, riven by religious conflict. In the third annual lecture ommemorating the life of the broadcaster and polymath Magnus Magnusson, the former editor of the Herald newspaper, Harry Reid, talks about how an age of martyrdom, political intrigue and intellectual daring forged the world we know today.

Sophia Kingshill  – The Lore of Scotland

Scotland’s history and landscape have inspired an extraordinary array of legends. In The Lore of Scotland, two leading folklorists, Sophia Kingshill and the late Jennnifer Westwood, have brought together the most intriguing, including the remarkable story of the mermaid of Galloway.

Iain Banks  -Transition

When terrorism and financial collapse loom, the world requires a stable guiding hand. But does it need “The Concern”, an all-powerful multinational organisation with an evil leader and tentacles everywhere? One of our finest storytellers talks about his dazzling new novel, an apocalyptic fable for the times.
Sponsored by Edinburgh Napier University

　
Diane Athill & Irma Kurtz – Somewhere Towards the End & About Time: Growing Old Disgracefully

After 50 years editing authors such as VS Naipaul and Jean Rhys, Diana Athill turned her hand to writing. Now in her nineties, she won the 2008 Costa Biography Award for her book, Somewhere Towards the End. The much-loved memoirist talks to Irma Kurtz, author of About Time: Growing Old Disgracefully, about entering old age in a world obsessed with youth.

Irma Kurtz

Stone's inscription : "Ecoutez le fantôme qui pleure" (Listen to the weeping ghost) Massif Central, France

Don’t ask me to answer that question though I have more reasons to say YES than NO !

A black crow is cawing on the top of a pine-tree in front of my window as to agree with me…

Old rustic cottage - Massif Central, France

Old rustic cottage - Massif Central, France

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A few years ago, we rented an old rustic cottage, in a very lonely place on the edge of the Massif Central, in France, and for a couple of days we could try and imagine what it had been like to live there without fone, TV or computer. Flickering flames conjured up images of people gathering by the fireside with family and neighbours, at the end of a hard day of work, on the evenings when there was a “veillée” and it was as if we were listening with them to the blood-chilling stories told by the grand-father. Wind blowing outside, life quietly going on inside. What we call in France a “veillée” must be the equivalent of the “ceilidh” in Scotland…

Popular Tales of The West Highlands - J.F.Campbell - 1983 (First published 1860)

Most countries  keep in memory lots of tales inherited from their ancestry  but some of them seem to be richer than others, like  Scotland and Ireland.  Brittany, in  France, which has so much in common with these countries  is particularly rich in celtic legends and tales and shares with them a gift for story-telling.

Scottish Stories Tales and Traditions with Hugh Miller, Angus McLella, and Donald Macdonald

Old story-tellers have long gone by and new ways of life have created types of society which have little in common with the old ones. Fortunately enough, some people did realise in time that a priceless cultural patrimoine was in danger of being lost forever and they devoted their life to collect all they could. Let us mention Hugh Miller and the other contributors of Wilson’s Tales of the Borders, JF Campbell and its Popular Tales of the West Highlands…the list is long and we can now find, in very interesting books, a great choice of folk tales. Still better, a new generation of story-tellers seems to have been born who are ready to entertain crowds of people eager to listen to thrilling stories. Just have a look at Wigtown Book Festival Programme. Here there’s something that could well interest those who love ghost stories !

Wigtown 2009 Book Festival Programme

Late-Night Spooky Stories on 25 September 2009…

Ghostly tales for adults and teens with story-teller Marion Kenny.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Comfort is provided in the shape of hot-water bottles.

And you can go and discuss spooky matters with Christopher Brookmyre who will be present on the Festival on 27 September to introduce and dedicate his last book Pandaemonium.

Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre - 2009

Did you know how he began one of his most successful novels Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks?

Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks - Christopher Brookmyre -2007

Do you believe in ghosts ?

I’ve always liked mystery fiction. ‘You’re too young, you can’t take that book” they used to tell me when, as a young girl, I arrived to the librarian desk with some awe-inspiring book I had picked up on the adult shelves. But I’ve made up for lost time since, I can tell you…

Winter Tales - George Mackay Brown - 1996 (First published in 1975)

What I would like to add as a conclusion  is that if I do like ghost stories it’s not only for the mere sake of suspense or for what Virginia Woolf calls “The strange human craving for the pleasure of feeling afraid’ though I delight in such feelings but also because I find in them something more that makes me read and re-read my favourite ones.

But for now, I will leave you in very good company. Bonne lecture. A bientôt.

On The Island - Iain Crichton Smith - First Edition 1979

“I’ll tell you something,” said Daial to Iain. “I believe in ghosts.”

It was Hallowe’en night and they were sitting in Daial’s house – which was a thatched one – eating apples and cracking nuts which they had got earlier that evening from the people of the village. It was frosty outside and the night was very calm.

“I don’t believe in ghost,’ said Iain, munching an apple. ‘You’ve never seen a ghost, have you ?’

‘No,’ said Daial fiercely, ‘but I know people who have. My father saw a ghost at the Corner. It was a woman in a white dress.’

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Iain. ‘It was more likely a piece of paper.’ And he laughed out loud. ‘It was more likely a newspaper. It was the local newspaper.’

‘I tell you he did,’ said Daial. And another thing. They say that if you look between the ears of a horse you will see a ghost. I was told that by my granny.’

‘Horses’ ears,’ said Iain laughing, munching his juicy apple. ‘Horses’ ears.’

Outside it was very very still, the night was, as it were, entranced under the stars.

‘Come on then,’ said Daial urgently, as if he had been angered by Iain’s dismissive comments. ‘We can go and see now. It’s eleven o’clock and if there are any ghosts you might see them now. I dare you.’

‘All right,’ said Iain, throwing the remains of the apple into the fire. ‘Come on then.’

And the two of them left the house, shutting the door carefully and noiselessly behind them and entering the calm night with its millions of stars. They could feel their shoes creaking among the frost, and there were little panes of ice on the small pools of water of the road. Daial looked very determined, his chin thrust out as if his honour had been attack. Iain liked Daial fairly well though Daial hardly read any books and was only interested in fishing and football. Now and again as he walked along he looked up at the sky with its vast city of stars and felt almost dizzy because of its immensity. (…)

On the Island , Iain Crichton Smith – Chapter 4

Christopher Brookmyre at Sherlock Award Ceremony

The Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective? Sure Mairiuna, it is with great pleasure that I will talk more about it, especially that information on this very unique literary award is not easily gathered online. Furthermore, it is rather confusing as they are several categories.

I first heard about it when blogging a few days ago about Christopher Brookmyre‘s novel, Boiling a Frog, for which he won the award in 2000.

What’s different from other literary awards is that it recognises the best in detective fiction, but the award goes to the detective instead of the author !

“The creation rather than the creator”. The author brings back home from the prize winning ceremony, a stylish bust representing the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes.

The idea comes from Mike Ripley, himself crime novelist and reviewer.

Inaugurated in 1999, the ceremony, presented by the Sherlock magazine, was held in the premier crime fiction bookshop, ‘Murder One’ on Charing Cross Lane in London. In 2002, the venue was changed to the ‘Crime Scene’ at the National Film Theater.

From the numerous contenders, listed below are a few literary Sherlock Awards given at the beginning of the millennium:

2004 Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown ) - Be My Enemy with detective Jack Parlabane [Best Comic Novel]

Jack Parlabane in Be My Enemy by Christopher Brookmyre

It was a junket, a freebie. A ‘team-building’ weekend in the highlands for lawyers, advertising execs, businessmen, even the head of a charity. Oh, and a journalist, specially solicited for his renowned and voluble scepticism – Jack Parlabane. Amid the flying paintballs and flowing Shiraz even the most cynical admit the organisers have pulled some surprises – stalkers in the forest, power cuts in the night, mass mobile phone thefts, disappearing staff, disappearing guests: there’s nothing can bring out people’s hidden strengths or break down inter-personal barriers quite like not having a clue what’s going on and being scared out of your wits. However, when the only vehicular access for thirty miles is cut off it seems that events are being orchestrated not just for pleasure …And that’s before they find the first body. Thereafter, ‘finding out who your colleagues really are’ is not so much an end product as the key to reaching Monday morning alive.

Visit the author’s website at www.brookmyre.co.uk

2004 Val McDermid (HarperCollins ) – The Distant Echo [Best Crime Novel]

Scot officers Maclennan and Lawson in The Distant Echo by Val McDermid

Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow is smothering St Andrews. Student Alex Gilbey and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. And the only suspects are the four young students stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later, Fife police mount a cold case review. Among the unsolved murders they’re examining is that of Rosie Duff. But someone else has their own idea of how justice should be done. One of the original quartet dies in a suspicious house fire. Soon after, a second is killed in what looks like a burglary gone sour. But Alex fears the worst. Someone is taking revenge for Rosie Duff. He has to find out who it is before he becomes the next victim. And it might just save his life if he can uncover who really killed Rosie all those years ago.

http://www.valmcdermid.com/pages/books/echo.html

2004  Paul Johnston (Hodder & Stoughton) – The Last Red Death [Best Detective Novel]

2003 Mark Billingham – In The Dark. Series of London-based novels featuring D.I. Tom Thorne.

2001 Ian Rankin (Best Detective created by a British Author)

2000 Christopher Brookmyre - Boiling a Frog (Little, Brown)  with detective Jack Parlabane.

Jack Parlabane in Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre

Jack Parlabane, the investigative journalist who is not averse to breaking the law for the sake of a good story, has finally been caught on the petard of his own self-confidence and is experiencing accommodation courtesy of Her Majesty.

The fledgling Scottish parliament is in catatonic shock after experiencing its first dose of Westminster sleaze. The Catholic Church of Scotland is taking full advantage of the politicians’ discomfort and is riding high in the polls as the voice of morality.

Behind the scenes the truth is obscured by the machinations of the spin doctors and in prison, aware he’s missing out on a great story, Parlabane discovers that contacts and a pretty way with words are no defence against people he has helped to put away.

Part political satire, part cliff-hanging thriller this is high calibre entertainment.

And for the author’s own view on his books visit his website at www.brookmyre.co.uk.

Would you believe me Mairiuna if I told you that I am heading again to my preferred bookshop?

Wink…wink..

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Christopher Brookmyre - Scottish Crime Fiction Novelist

There is so much to say and so much going on at The Mitchell Library in Glasgow that I will, Mairiuna, stay in the building for another blog post.

Especially so, that there will be a Book Launch this month in the Mitchell Library Theatre, for Pandaemonium, the latest book written by Christopher Brookmyre, well known Scottish crime fiction novelist.

Interestingly enough, Christopher Brookmyre’s fifth novel  Boiling a Frog won the Sherlock Award for Best Comic Detective in 2000.

As you recall, Christopher  Brookmyre was featured on our listing of Glaswegians crime fiction authors which had chosen Glasgow as the setting of their plot.

Since we haven’t yet read any of his books, we must inscribe the following titles on our Scottish crime fiction authors’  reading list, which, by the way, gets longer each day that goes by!

Eleven more to add

* Quite Ugly One Morning, 1996
* Country of the Blind, 1997
* Not the End of the World, 1998
* One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night, 1999
* Boiling a Frog, 2000
* A Big Boy did it and Ran Away, 2001

Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre

* The Sacred Art of Stealing, 2003
* Be My Enemy (Or Fuck This For a Game of Soldiers), 2004
* All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye, 2005
* A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil, 2006
* The Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, 2007
* A Snowball In Hell, 2008
* Pandaemonium, To be published during 2009

Is there a way to read during sleep Mairiuna ?

Pandaemonium synopsis:
The senior pupils of St Peter’s High School are on retreat to a secluded outdoor activity centre, coming to terms with the murder of a fellow pupil through the means you would expect: counselling, contemplation, candid discussion and even prayer – not to mention booze, drugs, clandestine liaisons and as much partying as they can get away with.

Not so far away, the commanders of a top-secret military experiment, long-since spiralled out of control, fear they may have literally unleashed the forces of Hell.

Two very different worlds are on a collision course, and will clash in an earthly battle between science and the supernatural, philosophy and faith, civilisation and savagery.

The bookies are offering evens.

Source: http://www.littlebrown.co.uk

Christopher Brookmyre - Scottish Crime Fiction Author

Another title from the above list strikes my attention: Attack of The Unsinkable Rubber Ducks.

Book synopsis goes like this:

Do you believe in ghosts?

Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living?
Aye, right.

Ghosts? No need to tell me more.

I’m heading to the bookshop right now

Catch you later!

Janice