Literary tribute
The Wigtown Book Festival begins today and runs until September 26 with a cast of personalities and literary figures far too large to list here, but beginning with former bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway. However, its hottest ticket has turned out to be writings of the long-dead author of Ring of Bright Water, Gavin Maxwell, pictured.
This year is the 90th anniversary of his birth and the 90th anniversary of the death of his father, a captain in the Grenadier Guards who was one of the first casualties of the First World War, killed by a shell not long after his son's birth. Although his paternal grandfather, Sir Herbert Maxwell of Monreith, instilled in him a love of
natural history, the antipathy between his mother and her father-in-law meant it was a difficult relationship.
Nonetheless, it is at the Maxwell family seat, the House of Elrig at Monreith, that the Galloway Writings of Gavin Maxwell are to have their popular airing where your host will be Gavin Maxwell's nephew, Sir Michael Maxwell.
The celebration of the corner of Scotland he loved and hymned during his many periods of exile away from it will take place at 10.30am on Sunday, September 26, repeated at 2.30pm in the County Buildings at Wigtown.
All-star cast
SOME of the self-same literary figures who are among the warm-up acts for Gavin Maxwell will be appearing but a few weeks later in Inverness, when the Eden Court Theatre
hosts the Inverness Book Festival.
Running from October 7-10, it runs the political gamut from Lady Claire MacDonald to Winnie Ewing, pictured, inclusively taking in Jackie Kay, Toby Litt, Ali Smith, Iain Banks, Christopher Brookmyre, Mairi Hedderwick, Natalie Russell and Hamish the Cow along the way. Full details and ticket booking information at www.invernessbookfestival.com.
From the ashes
THE former WD & HO Wills factory on Glasgow's Alexandra Parade has flirted with the arts since it ceased to be a manufacturer of tobacco products.
Now the creators of its new identity as 300,000 sq ft business centre City Park are committing themselves to the regular display of contemporary art in the Art Deco building with the creation of Art@City Park. The first show includes paintings, photography and sculpture, and will be opened on Thursday of next week by Lord Macfarlane of Bearsden. Artists include Hill Johnston, Joy Parker and Norma-Louise Thallon, and the show previews from Monday and runs to October 22.
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