Read all about Dumfries and Galloway Libraries Book Week Scotland Celebrations.
Dumfries and Galloway Library Service is holding a number of unique events during Book Week Scotland 2015 (23-29 Nov) including an evening with leading fiction writers Helen Fitzgerald and Karen Campbell at the renovated Theatre Royal, a Celebration of Memoir Writing with Renita Boyle and the first ever play at the Ewart Library – An Audience with Mr and Mrs Carnegie.
Book Week Scotland is a national celebration of books and reading. This year’s theme is transformation and through these events we will be celebrating the powerful and positive impact that books can have on people’s lives.
On Monday 23rd November, in the newly created Studio at the Theatre Royal, join Helen Fitzgerald and Karen Campbell in conversation with John Cairns.
Helen is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. Her latest book The Cry has received the wide critical acclaim, The Independent on Sunday stating: “Astonishingly good…. It embeds that everyday terror in a plot so up-to-the-minute that you’ll swear it’s been lifted from the pages of a newspaper”. The TV rights to her next novel Viral, due in 2016, have already been purchased by the producers of Broadchurch.
Karen is a Scottish writer now living in Galloway. Her experience as police officer inspired her four Glasgow crime books and won her a Best New Scottish Writer Award. Her fifth book, This is Where I am was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. Her latest novel Rise is set in a mythical Highland village called Kilmacarra, it has a distinctly contemporary feel with a backdrop of the Referendum on Scottish independence and the sustainable energy debate raging as the plot unfolds.
John Cairns, Arts Programmer, said “We are delighted to welcome Book Week Scotland as one of our first events in the re-furbished Theatre Royal. Hosting an event with two such experienced and interesting writers is an exciting new development for the Theatre. It is also appropriate for this first event to be a partnership
between the Theatre and Dumfries and Galloway Library Service with whom we hope to work with very closely in future.”
This event is FREE but ticketed: tickets are available from The Ewart Library and the Midsteeple, Dumfries, Doors and Bar open at 7.00pm.
On Tuesday 24th November, join Renita Boyle, Reader in Residence 2014/15 for a Celebration of Memoir! Listen to short pieces of memoir writing, with some music and exhibiting art created by local writing groups. They will be chatting through the experience of reading memoir, writing memoir and giving some pointers if you wish to start. A warm welcome awaits. Lochthorn Library, Heathhall, Dumfries, 2.45-3.45pm. Free event, everyone welcome.
On Friday 27th November the Ewart Library will host An Audience with Mr and Mrs Carnegie. This is the first play to be held in the Ewart Library, which is a Carnegie library. The evening will see actors play Andrew Carnegie, his wife Louise and an interviewer. Discover how a Scot became the richest man in the world, the controversies surrounding him and how he gave away his vast fortune. Tickets can be booked from the Ewart Library, paid for on the night: £10 per ticket.
Councillor Tom McAughtrie , Chair of the Customer and Community Services Committee said: “It’s great to have these unique events in Dumfries. Being part of the first event held in the newly renovated Theatre Royal and the first play in the Ewart Library are really exciting ways for people to celebrate Book Week Scotland”
There are school events throughout the region and special Bookbug Sessions. Everyone can join in the celebrations by collecting a free book, Journeys by the Scottish Book Trust, from any branch library. If you can’t make it along to an event then remember that Book Week Scotland is the perfect chance to sign up to your local library. Also, make sure that there are books in your house and to take time to enjoy them yourself and together with your children.
For further information on any Book Week Scotland events please visit www.dumgal.gov.uk/lia email [email protected]. Or telephone 01387 260290.
