Book lovers can look forward to a treat next week when they’ll get a second helping of the Dundee Literary Festival, which is relaunching as a winter programme of events.
Since it began in 2007, the festival has rapidly grown from a two-day affair to a five-day event, attracting names such as Nick Cave, Iain Banks, Ian Rankin, Philip Pullman and William Boyd.
It celebrated another successful run in June but festival director Anna Day said they have decided to change the programme to winter to give people some entertainment as the nights begin to draw in.
The Warm Welcome will be held on October 27 and 28 at the Bonar Hall Dundee University’s Baxter Suite will see a series of Scottish authors reading from their work.
There will also be a special appearance by Aberdeen-born actor David Rintoul, star of television series Dr Finlay’s Casebook, who will read from a new edition of the stories, written by A. J. Cronin. In addition, there will be a workshop with Dundee University creative writing tutors which is open to all, irrelevant of writing experience.
Anna said, “Dundee is a fantastic city to visit all year round and we decided that we’d be working harder for the people of the city if we gave them something to look forward to during the winter months.
“From a Dundee point of view, there was so much happening in the city already that we were putting on too many things at once. From a university point of view, the book festival came at the same time as graduation and, for everyone, that is the main focus. Moving it away means that staff and students should have more of a chance to attend events.
“What we didn’t want to do was wait 18 months between festivals. We just felt that was too long. There will also be literary events throughout the year as usual and we’ll still hold events with honorary graduates in the summertime.”
Anna says the festival is keen to expand its events for schoolchildren and having the programme just before the summer holidays was proving problematic.
“What we found this year was schools really struggled to attend the festival because it was the final weeks of term. We don’t have any schools events at the Warm Welcome but we will in 2011 and we’re hoping that we will be able to interact a lot more than we have in the past.”
Other regular features such as the publication of creative writing anthology New Writing Dundee and the announcement of the Dundee International Book Prize will coincide with the winter festival in 2011.
Anna believes Dundee’s burgeoning literary community is testament, not just to the festival, but to all the events that have grown up around it such as Poetry Hour, Cultural Quarter, Hotchpotch and Writers Anonymous.
She said, “The festival has grown to meet that demand. It stretched to five days this year, including the Comic Conference, which attracts a lot of people from across the UK.
“What we want to do is provide entertainment but we also want to show off the city. Everyone involved in the festival believes in Dundee and thinks it has a real literary heart to it and a buzz about books and writing.”
The programme will see appearances by Blairgowrie-based author James Robertson, former StAnza poetry festival director Brian Johnstone and Booker Prize-longlisted Alan Warner.
Author and Courier journalist Norman Watson will be reading from his new definitive biography of the world’s worst poet, William McGonagall. His book tells the compelling story of the one-time Dundee weaver who went on to become a literary legend popularised by Spike Milligan, JK Rowling and Philip Pullman, to name but a few.
There will also be a special celebration of Dr Finlay’s Casebook to coincide with a new omnibus edition of A. J. Cronin’s stories, as well as a biography of the author written by Alan Davies.
David Rintoul, who played the doctor in the hugely successful 1990s TV series, will read from Cronin’s short stories, while Alan Davies will discuss his book.The Dundee Literary Festival takes place on October 27 and October 28. For a full programme visit www.literarydundee.co.uk or phone 01382 384413.