Nairn Book & Arts Festival

This popular course, designed to help aspiring authors improve their creative writing skills, will be led by Cynthia Rogerson, a Californian author who has lived in the UK for the last 30 years.  She is a Director of Moniack Mhor, the only dedicated creative writing centre in Scotland.

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)

Accomplished Glenfinnan musician and Blazin Fiddler, Iain MacFarlane has created a humorous yet informative look into the world of our national drink. Musicians/singers Ingrid Henderson and Ewan Robertson and his father, Charlie MacFarlane join Iain with music, song, humorous anecdotes and visuals to celebrate our most famous export, Uisge Beatha - the water of life.

Uisge-beatha; Gàirdeachas a’ Ghàidheil air an Uisge-Bheatha
Riochdaire Iain MacPhàrlain

Fàilte oirbh dha saoghal an Uisge-bheatha! Tha an ceòladair ainmeil Iain MacPhàrlain, à Gleann Fhionnain, air rud iongatach a chur ri chèile a tha na mheasgachadh de ceòl, òrain, dealbhan is ar deoch nàiseanta. Cho math ri Iain fhèin, bidh na seinnadairean/luchd-ciùil ealanta Ingrid NicEanraig is Eòghann MacDhonnchaidh a gabhail air an ùrlar còmhla ris agus cuideachd an athair Iain, Teàrlach MacPhàrlain, le bàrdachd, sgeulachdan is fealla-dhà.

Frank Clark will give a talk about whisky before this event.  Former owner of the Aberlour Hotel, he launched a very successful malt whisky shop in Aviemore, and is regarded by the industry as a real expert.

Alistair Moffat’s history of the Highland clans is enlivened with stirring tales of celebrated names and heroic deeds.  His book reveals a fearless people, shaped by the unique traditions and landscape of the Scottish Highlands.  He traces the history of the clans from their Celtic origins to the coming of the Romans, through the great battles of Bannockburn and Flodden, to the Clearances and the present day.  The final part of the story describes the great emigration of millions to the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and what clanship means now in Scotland and in the countries of the diaspora.

Author Alistair Moffat ran the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for five years, making it the largest arts festival in the world.  He then moved to Scottish Television where he became director of programmes and eventually chairman.

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

Brian Denoon will will give a personal glimpse of life in the Great Glen, which he relates in his book Do you say ‘Sir’ to your Father? His childhood was spent in Abriachan and Fort Augustus, he was educated in Fort Augustus, Inverness and Glenurquhart, and gained his degree at Aberdeen University.  He subsequently taught in Inverness High School and Charleston Academy, Inverness. During his working life, and especially since his retirement, he has broadcast frequently on BBC Radio Highland, and published many newspaper articles in the Inverness Courier, The Scotsman, The Herald and the Scottish Field, which form the basis of his book, together with other published and new material.   

Patrick Richardson was educated in Edinburgh, where he now lives.  He has been travelling for forty years, and writing for The Herald, the Sunday Herald, The Scotsman, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph for the last twenty. He has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland, and has also held several exhibitions of his travel photography.  He will read from the first chapter of his book Reports From Beyond, which describes his dramatic encounter with the great Argentinian writer, Jorge Louis Borges.  Andrew Greig comments on Patrick’s book, ‘…over forty years Patrick Richardson has probably seen more remote parts of the world than any other traveller.  He is not looking for funny stories or opportunities to advertise himself, he merely seeks to be there, to see, to look, to listen and to witness.’
 

For the last thirty years, John Lister-Kaye has taken the same circular walk from his home deep in a Scottish glen up to a small hill loch.  Each day brings a new observation or an unexpected encounter – a fragile spider’s web, an osprey struggling to lift a trout from the water or a woodcock exquisitely camouflaged on her nest – and every day, on his return home, he records his thoughts in a journal.

John Lister-Kaye will talk about his new book, At the Water’s Edge, which draws on this lifetime of observation and encourages us to look again at the nature around us and to discover its wildness for ourselves. It also forges wonderful connections between the most unlikely subjects, from photosynthesis and the energy cycle to Norse mythology, to weasels and perfume and to the over-population of our planet.