A LONE piper, a Sunday Times best-selling author and the world premiere of a new song cycle from Alexander McCall Smith and Tom Cunningham are all lined up to celebrate the launch for Wigtown Book Festival.
This year’s festival is set to get under way today with a programme of 10 days of online experiences, including music, conversations with authors, poetry and even a whisky tasting.
The event’s launch is normally celebrated with a party and fireworks but this year will take on a different tone.
Instead, lone piper Karen-Marie Keenan will stand close to where the main marquee normally is, with her music being streamed to audiences around the world.
The first day will also feature Wigtown’s own Sunday Times best-selling author Shaun Bythell, who will be talking about his latest work, Seven Kinds Of People You Find In Bookshops.
READ MORE: The virtues of travel writing and the work of Karel Capek
A highlight will be a performance of Ninian’s Gift – introduced by McCall Smith, who provided the words, and Cunningham, who has created the music – performed a cappella by four singers. It tells stories of early saints, including Ninian, Mungo, Margaret and Columba, and will be followed by a live video discussion.
McCall Smith has always been intrigued by the heroic – and sometimes strange – stories of saints like Ninian. He said: “I have wanted to write something about the early saints for a long time. I have always been intrigued by the stories of these people who came here when Scotland was a dark and dangerous place, and who had the idea of spreading a message of light, love, kindness and forgiveness.”
Adrian Turpin, Wigtown Book Festival artistic director, said: “This festival usually brings thousands of visitors to Wigtown.
“Clearly we can’t do that at the moment but we aim to fly the flag for Scotland’s Book Town, its businesses and its region across the world. The lone piper – replacing previous years’ pipe band – marks the way in which all our lives have changed in 2020. But above all its a symbol of resilience – the show will go on and we aim to make it as engaging, challenging and uplifting as ever.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here