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Award-winning authors announced for ‘exciting’ return of book and arts festival

Cal Flyn, Sarh Moss, Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan, and more will take part in the upcoming festival
Cal Flyn, Sarh Moss, Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan, and more will take part in the upcoming festival

Nairn Book and Arts Festival will return this September with a stellar line-up of award-winning authors drawn from across Scotland and the UK.

The writers were carefully selected to reflect the festival’s environmental theme – Close to Nature’s Heart – taken from a quote by influential Scottish-American naturalist, writer and environmental philosopher John Muir.

This environmental theme will celebrate Nairn’s coastal location in support of Visit Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters, while raising awareness of climate change in anticipation of the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this November.

The Nairn Book and Arts Festival is an annual celebration of literature, art, music, drama and film in the Scottish Highlands.

 Nairn Book and Arts Festival
Author Sarah Moss, photo by Sophie Davidson

One of the authors confirmed for the cultural event – an annual celebration of literature, art, music, drama and film – taking place from September 4 to 12 will be Glasgow-born Sarah Moss. Her seventh novel, Summerwater – a mystery set in a caravan park deep in the Scottish Highlands – has garnered critical acclaim.

Environmental writers confirmed for Nairn Book and Arts Festival

Orkney-based journalist and author Cal Flyn will talk to audiences about her latest book, Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape, which explores what happens to places when people depart and nature returns.

Historian David Gange, who won the Highland Book Prize 2019 for his non-fiction book The Frayed Atlantic Edge: A Historian’s Journey from Shetland to the Channel, will also be part of the festival.

His award-winning book documents a year spent kayaking the weather-ravaged coasts of Atlantic Britain and Ireland from north to south.

Other contributors include Edinburgh-based Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan, whose new book, The Art Of Wild Swimming: Scotland, is a unique and quirky guide to how and where to swim, and ways to care for our natural waters.

Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan, photo by Anna Moffat

Mixture of live and online events

Approximately 20 authors are expected to participate at this year‘s festival, which will feature a mix of online events and live performances for socially-distanced audiences at Nairn Community and Arts Centre.

Several authors will also visit local schools as part of the festival’s outreach activities. The full festival programme will be announced in early July.

Festival chair Alex Williamson said: “We are all getting really excited about the festival.

“Having cancelled last year’s live event due to Covid-19, we’re coming back this year with an innovative festival programme focused on one pressing concern – the environment.

 Nairn Book and Arts Festival
Historian David Gange

“Strongest author list to date”

“This is possibly one of our strongest author lists to date, featuring some of the most exciting and inspiring writers working in the UK today.

“From wild swimming to sea-kayaking, from desolate loch-side retreats to abandoned islands, these authors have all penned compelling stories where the natural world plays a pivotal role.”

Alex said the authors they announced today are “just the tip of the iceberg”.

“There will be so much more to discover and explore at the next festival.”