Third Time Lucky

JASON ROSE looks forward to welcoming a diverse range of writers to his third festival.

THE CREATOR of ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, a poet who plays golf because during a coma his dad told him to, and the man who wanted Britt Ekland’s bum on the big screen… Proof that the Inverness Book Festival has something for everyone! These are just three of the fourteen authors appearing at the Royal Highland Hotel this year.

So who besides literary megastar Louis de Bernieres, ‘Wicker Man’ creator Robin Hardy and acclaimed Scots poet and mountaineer Andrew Greig, is appearing?

Well, it would be a crime to miss Chris Brookmyre and Anne Perry, and there are real treats in store for kids thanks to bestsellers Matthew Fitt and Debi Gliori.

People with a soft spot for poetry and wildlife should make a bee-line for the brilliant Kathleen Jamie whose natural history observations have made ‘Findings‘ one of the most amazing books of recent years.

I’ve organised some events to explore aspects of our culture. Travel writer Nick Thorpe’s journey around Scotland by hitching a lift on boats made for a soul-searching serial on Radio 4 recently; Joanna Blythman’s hard-hitting journalism on supermarkets and junk food is particularly appropriate for Inverness (or Tescotown, as we’re now called); and Carl MacDougall is probably the most enthusiastic authority on Scots.

Of course the festival isn’t just a chance to meet great writers from Scotland and around the UK, it’s a platform for the best local talent. This year I’m delighted to give a slot to Angus Dunn and Peter Urpeth. Both are well known on the Highland literary scene, but only now have they become published novelists and their stories are definitely setting the heather alight.

Finally, there’s Adam! Need I say more?

The festival was always going to take time to ‘bed in’. It’s got to wiggle its way into people’s precious free time.

There are two challenges. Firstly, literary events are still novel, if you’ll pardon the pun, in the Highland Capital. Just the other day someone asked me: ’Will the authors be there in person and will they be able to sign books?‘

Er, yes. And I’ve even had folk refusing to believe that Louis de Bernieres really is coming to Inverness. Secondly, Inverness is a ‘family’ place where weekends are about barbecues and car boot sales. I found during the first two festivals that some of the weekend events had bizarrely low audiences, despite high calibre authors.
 In fact last year a number of people who said they’d see me at the festival over the weekend didn’t turn up and admitted to me later that they’d simply forgotten and did their usual thing.

So, in a move that I concede is a gamble, this year’s festival is on weekdays only. I’ve also introduced events at lunchtime. Just think of the city centre worker stuck in a windowless staff room during lunch reading a book. Wouldn’t you jump at the chance to meet a famous author instead? I can think of no finer way to escape the daily grind.

The Inverness Book Festival has made it to a third year, which suggests that it’s here to stay. Please spread the word and help continue its success.

Jason Rose is the director of the Inverness Book Festival.

© Jason Rose, 2006

Links

• Inverness Book Festival