West Over Sea
Welcome to the fourth Tobermory Book Festival
Curated by Duncan and Sally Swinbanks of Tackle and Books, Hugh Andrew of Birlinn Ltd and Lesley Graham, Hugh and Jane Stuart Smith of Ardtornish and Frances Sutton of Garron Communications, the festival showcases Tobermory as the Book Capital of the Hebrides!
Spend a few days in Scotland’s most beautiful small town, enjoying superb speakers and eating the best food the Highlands can offer.
Friday 27 October
Christine Leach and colleagues: The Beatons of Pennyghael
HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH:
David Greig – Columba’s Bones
An Tobar | 10am–11.15am
The first ever novel by award-winning Scottish playwright David Greig, Columba’s Bones recasts 9th century Scotland as the setting for a Scandi-noir-style thriller. A darkly funny story of abandonment, subterfuge and new horizons set on 9th century Iona, featuring bloodthirsty Vikings, beatific Nuns and a hidden treasure.
David Greig is a Scottish playwright who studied Drama and English at Bristol University. Since setting up the Suspect Culture theatre company in the 1990s, his plays have been performed widely in Scotland and around the world, including Midsummer, The Events, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Local Hero, and The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. He is currently the Artistic Director at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre. Columba’s Bones is his first book.
Ticket code for this event is F1. Tickets are £10 each.
Dougie Strang:
The Bone Cave
An Tobar | 11.30am–12.45pm
Combining history, myth and travelogue, The Bone Cave recounts a month-long walk following the invisible strands of story across the Scottish Highlands, exploring the weave of folklore and landscape in which human beings have sought to make sense of the world.
Ticket code for this event is F2. Tickets are £10 each.
Sarah Ross Thompson and Jane Smith
An Tobar | 1pm–2.30pm
Enjoy the company of two of Scotland’s leading artists of nature and landscape. Sarah and Jane will be showcasing their work and talking about future projects.
Lunch provided by Mark and Brendan from the Boathouse on Ulva.
Ticket code for this event is F3. Tickets are £25 each (including lunch and a glass of wine)
Dr Natalie Sanders:
The Last Sunset in the West: Britain’s Vanishing West Coast Orcas
An Tobar | 3.00-4.15pm
Dr Natalie Sanders joined the crew of the Silurian in 2014 to study these mysterious and extraordinary mammals on the verge of extinction from our shores. This is a moving account of what we know of their story, the role of man in their decline and its meaning for us and our planet.
Ticket code for this event is F4. Tickets are £10 each.
Kevin Morgans:
Puffins: Life on the Atlantic Edge
An Tobar | 4.30–5.45pm
Kevin has followed and photographed puffins across the British Isles and few are better qualified to talk about their world. His talk is Illustrated with spectacular photographs of the lives of one of Scotland’s most iconic and best-loved birds.
Ticket code for this event is F5. Tickets are £10 each.
Meet Colin MacIntyre:
Talk and Signing
Western Isles Hotel | 6.15–7.15pm
Colin’s new novel When the Needle Drops is the second in his Ivor Punch series of crime novels set on Mull. A plane and pilot have gone missing off the island and Punch is brought back from a diet of whisky and The Faces on vinyl to investigate the mystery. Born and brought up in Tobermory, Colin is a founder of The Mull Historical Society and one of Mull’s best known faces.
Ticket code for this event is F6. Tickets are £5 (including a glass of wine, talk only)
Dinner with Colin MacIntyre
Western Isles Hotel | 7.15–9pm
Ticket code for this event is F7. Tickets are £35 each (including dinner with a glass of wine and admission to previous event)
Saturday 28th October
Dr Kerri Andrews:
Wanderers: A History of Women Walking
Western Isles Hotel | 10am–11.15am
‘A wild portrayal of the passion and spirit of female walkers and the deep sense of “knowing” that they found along the path’
- Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path and The Wild Silence
Dr Kerri Andrew traces the footsteps of ten women walker-writers from eighteenth-century parson’s daughter Elizabeth Carter to more recent writing from Nan Shepherd and Cheryl Strayed. Her book Wanderers offers a beguiling, alternative view of the history of walking.
Ticket code for this event is S1. Tickets are £10 each.
Isabella Tree: The Book of Wilding
Western Isles Hotel | 11.30am–12.45pm
‘This is a deep, dazzling and indispensable guide to the most important task of all: the restoration of the living planet’ - George Monbiot
After the enormous success of Wilding, the story of Knepp Estate, Isabella Tree presents an ambitious, visionary and pragmatic handbook for how we, as individuals, can help restore nature.
Ticket code for this event is S2. Tickets are £10 each.
Lunch with John Goodlad: The Salt Roads
Western Isles Hotel | 1pm–2.30pm
The extraordinary story of how salt fish from Shetland became a staple food for Europe, powered an economic boom and inspired artists, writers and musicians. From the fjords of Greenland to the bacalao restaurants of Spain this is an epic tale of heroism and seamanship across generations.
Ticket code for this event is S3. Tickets are £25 each (including lunch and a glass of wine)
Banjo Beale: Wild Isle Style
Western Isles Hotel | 2.30–3.45pm
Fresh from the huge success of his TV series and shortly before setting off to conquer the US, Mull’s best known interior designer has the UK launch of his book in Tobermory. With a unique style, Banjo guides you on how to reinvent your home or business on a budget and with the look and feel you want.
Ticket code for this event is S4. Tickets are £10 each.
Sir Lachlan Maclean and Ray Canham
Western Isles Hotel | 4pm–5.30pm
Sir Lachlan Maclean speaks about his ancestor’s autobiography A Short History of the Life of Colonel Sir Fitzroy Maclean Baronet, the extraordinarily rich and long life of the Clan Chief who fought in the Crimea, restored Duart Castle and in his 100th year planted a rowan tree in the grounds of Duart to ward off evil spirits.
Ticket code for this event is S5. Tickets are £10 each.
Meet Alexander McCall Smith and Anna Marshall Western Isles Hotel | 6pm–7pm
Join Alexander McCall Smith as he dissects his latest books and the eating habits of Edinburgh’s glitterati with Anna Marshall, author of The 44 Scotland Street Cookbook, over a glass of wine.
Ticket code for this event is S6. Tickets are £10 each (including a glass of wine, talk only)
Dinner and conversation with Alexander McCall Smith Western Isles Hotel | 7.15pm–9.15pm
Ticket code for this event is S7. Tickets are £45 each (including dinner with a glass of wine and admission to previous event)