Nairn Book & Arts Festival

In Orkney Spirit Liz Ashworth shares her experiences of the magical islands of Orkney as well as many of the food dishes that are associated with the islands.  In this sumptuous volume Liz’s stories and recipes are presented with the beautiful images of Slovenian born artist Selena S Kuzman.  The result is a unique book that every lover of Orkney and of food will want to have on their shelves.

Liz Ashworth is one of Scotland’s leading food writers.  She has developed new products for various Scottish companies, a number of which have won awards, and is active in promoting Scotland’s food heritage.  Selena Kuzman left her native Slovenia to come to Scotland to take a degree at Moray School of Art.  In 2010 her work is being displayed in Edinburgh amongst the Royal Scottish Academy’s New Contemporaries and as an invited graduate artist by the Society of Scottish Artists.

Tim Bowler, who leads this workshop, has written eight novels and won thirteen awards, including the prestigious Carnegie Medal for River Boy. His novel, Frozen Fire, has won five awards to date, and his most recent stand alone novel, Bloodchild, has been nominated for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. He has been described by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘the master of the psychological thriller’ and by The Independent as ‘one of the truly individual voices in British teenage fiction’.

Come along with all your gardening questions to this popular event in the festival.  Our three top gardening experts – Donnie McBean from Moray College, Donald Green from Green’s Nurseries and Archie McLaren from the Broadley Garden Centre - will be there with their local knowledge and expertise to supply all the answers.
Expect some lively debate too!

‘Legendary… I defy you not to split your sides!’  Don’t miss poet, actor, musician James Ross’s unique blend of poetry performance and stand-up comedy!  Like lipstick on a rottweiler, he’s going rouge with poems from his collections Life & Death & Stuff, Orkney Strata & Mosaics and American Sublime.  Number one with soccer moms everywhere!

Have you ever looked at a stained glass window and wondered how it was made, or even wished that you could make one yourself?

Well now here is your chance to do just that. On a one day class you will learn how to cut glass, design a small panel and make a piece of art which will be uniquely yours, in the Tiffany style (copper foiling method).There will be pattern books for those who need help to find a design

Wear old clothes as it can be messy and bring a packed lunch

Come and enjoy playing with sheepswool. You can make a felt picture or/and a ‘magic felt ball’.

Everyone can do this!

The Pen and I started at a kitchen table in Fishertown and has now grown into four regular workshops of all genres for a dedicated group of Nairn writers, from beginners to published writers.  This year the theme of the stories and poetry which they will read at this event is Passion.

Off the Peg is the community art event in Nairn High Street.  Unframed paintings pegged inside shop windows for all to see and buy.  10% of sales will be given to the Children’s Art Club. 

The exhibition is supported by Nairn Art Society whose Summer exhibition takes place at the Court House from 2nd August.

Event Information (DOC)

Following the success of last year’s inaugural competition, instigated and run by the Nairn Book & Arts Festival, and responding to popular demand, this year’s Open will be exhibiting more art works and for a longer period.  Selected works in all media from oil to gouache, photography to sculpture will be displayed in the Court House and in the Seaman’s Hall.  These East and West exhibitions will be selected by a panel of judges from the many hundreds of entries which have been received from all over Scotland and beyond.  Good prizes have ensured huge national interest in the past and this year there is a new Highland prize for residents in the Highlands and Islands.  All works are for sale but none will be removed till the end of the exhibition on 19 June.

Download more information (PDF).
Download the application form (DOC).

Smallish paintings are always a challenge to artists but prescribed sizes (exactly 16” by 16”) make for an attractive and fascinating exhibition.  The subjects and media are not specified so our artists have been able to follow their own preferences.  We invite our audiences at the Community Centre, our main venue, to allow plenty of time to visit this exhibition which demonstrates the diversity and individuality of our chosen artists. All paintings will be for sale and the exhibition continues till 19 June.

Ruth Nicol has achieved a great deal since winning Nairn’s 2009 Open Art Competition.  She has completed her degree course at Edinburgh College of Art, and travelled frequently around the North East of Scotland.  Her solo exhibition is a pictorial record of her fascination with road travel and with the surrounding landscape as it changes throughout the seasons.  Never shy of covering large canvases, Ruth has excelled herself with this dynamic and inspiring exhibition in the Community Centre.

The annual short story competition, sponsored by the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust, will be judged this year by Cynthia Rogerson, a Director of Moniack Mhor Writers’ Centre Prize money will be at least £250, with £100 for the winning story.  The winner and runners up will be announced at the Little Theatre on Saturday 12 June at 4pm.  The winning entry will be read at this event, and copies will be available at Nairn Bookshop after the Festival.  Stories should not exceed 1,500 words, and may be shorter.  They should be based in or have an association with Nairn, or another seaside town in the Moray Firth area. 

Entries should be posted by 30 April to the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust at PO Box 6055, Nairn IV12 4YB

The winners:

First prize: Michael Marett-Crosby for Snow

Second prize: Alicia Lawson for The Terribly Lonely Beach Hut

Runners-up:

Eric Jones for The Missing Man

Chris Matthews for Skeleton of a Dog Found in a Cesspit at Simpson Street, Nairn

Karen Messruther for Pretend You’re Earthbound

An action-packed, and at times absurd, play inspired by the book Scotching Scottish Clichés by Isabelle Gilbert and Théodora Olivi.  The protagonist of Lost in Scotland – a French writer – finds herself trapped in a veritable Celtic Wonderland, a confrontation between reality and imagination. Lost in Scotland is a bilingual production by Theatraverse in which French and English rub shoulders and embrace their linguistic differences. Where words become an obstacle, physical theatre takes over.

Lost in Scotland allows both Anglophone and Francophone audiences of all ages to get together and enjoy the same show. The performance invites the spectator to question their ready-made ideas about Scotland and look further into the myths that make up a nation. 

Theatraverse is a Paris-based professional theatre company, made up of artists from Scotland, France, Finland, Algeria and New-Zealand.  The majority of the company met at the International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, and have a background in physical theatre and circus.

Theatraverse is supported by the European programme ‘Jeunesse en Action’

Ishbel Matheson was the BBC’s East Africa correspondent until 2005.  For her coverage of the Darfur crisis in 2005, she won the Bayeaux Calvados war correspondent’s prize, and the United Nations Foreign Journalists’ Prize.  Her award was presented at the United Nations by Kofi Annan.  A former Rotary Scholar (awarded through Nairn Rotary Club) and Nairn Academy graduate, Ishbel is now Director of Media for Save the Children.

Return to Sudan:  in 2005, a peace deal was signed to bring an end to one of the world’s longest running conflicts – between North and South Sudan.  Ishbel Matheson reported on the war – and the peace accord – for the BBC.  Now five years on, she reflects on what peace has delivered to the ordinary people living in the South – one of the poorest and most under-developed places on earth.

The Nairn Camera Club will exhibit entries for their competition, which has three categories: Under 12 (or attending Primary) 12 – 18 and Over 18’s.  The competition which is free to enter and open to all allows a choice of subject and either colour or black and white for the photographs.

Download Competition Poster
Download Entry Form

Richard Moore is a journalist, author and former racing cyclist, who represented Scotland at the l998 Commonwealth Games before becoming a journalist, writing on the arts, culture and sport.  In recent years he has specialised on cycling, covering five Tours de France, acting as cycling correspondent for the Guardian newspaper, and writing two books, In Search of Robert Millar (which won Best Biography at the 2008 British Sports Book Awards)  and Heroes, Villains & Velodromes:  Chris Hoy and Britain’s track cycling revolution.  He is currently working on two more books, Slaying the Badger, about the l986 Tour de France, and an as-yet-untitled book on the first year of Team Sky.  He will discuss his work with Alasdair Maclennan, President of Scottish Cycling.

David St John Thomas launches his new book Remote Britain:  Landscape, People & Books, a lively sequel to his Journey through Britain which in its year of publication outsold any other title in Nairn.  Hear about journeys to the extremities of Britain and the way of life and value system of isolated communities… and the interesting characters met on the way.

An exhibition of paintings with a broad range of styles/subjects by thirteen local artists, featuring the work of:

Sally Gunn, Adam Walker-Parker, Olive Starsmore, John Wilson, Mary Wilson,
Norma Shewan, Heloise Shewan, Chris Lane, Al Knight, Rod Verity, Chris Gaunt
Alex Webster, Chloë Furze.

Opening Times: 9.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday (Closed Tuesdays/Sundays)
Phone: 01667 456126