A BROADCASTER who attempted to row solo across the Atlantic from New York to Stornoway will tell his dramatic story at a festival this autumn.
Gaelic TV and radio presenter Niall Iain MacDonald will share testimony and unseen footage from the trip, as well as explaining why he attempted such a perilous journey as part of Faclan: the Hebridean Book Festival, which takes place over Halloween at An Lanntair on the Isle of Lewis.
MacDonald’s headline event is among the “extraordinary stories of humanity and landscape” to feature at the ninth edition of the acclaimed festival, which this year focuses on human nature.
Further highlights include adventurer Dan Richards discussing his new book Outpost: A Journey To The Wild Ends Of The Earth and a celebration of anthropologist Margaret Fay Shaw by Fiona Mackenzie of the National Trust for Scotland.
In 1938, Shaw and her folklorist husband Dr John Lorne Campbell established an archive of Gaelic culture and language at Canna House in the Small Isles.
Other events exploring Hebridean Gaelic culture include Neil Rackham launching A Telling Of Stones, his re-interpretation of the prophecies of the semi-mythical “Gaelic Nostradamus”, the Brahan Seer and historian James Hunter telling the story of the famine and food riots of the 1840s. Cult musician Momus will also bring his surreal walking tour the Unreliable Tour Guide To Stornoway to Faclan’s Fringe.
Early bird passes are available now, while tickets for individual events will go on sale on September 3 when details of the programmes will be announced.
Roddy Murray, An Lanntair’s head of visual arts and literature, said: “The theme this year broaches philosophical questions about our inherent, innate nature, who we are, the environment we inhabit, how we shape it and how it shapes us. In these ‘interesting times’ it takes us inside and outside ourselves.”
October 30 to November 2, An Lanntair, Isle of Lewis, early bird pass £55. Tel: 01851 708480.
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