Auchterarder Book Festival

Programme

Taster Workshops
10:45 – 11:30 |Poetry workshop - First Meetings with Ann MacKinnon
This workshop focuses on using all your senses to describe emotions that will come to life on the page. You will have the opportunity to write individually, and as a group, in this interactive workshop.
11:45 -12:30 | Creative writing workshop - Gothic writing with Barbara Stevenson
What makes writing ‘gothic’? Find out more in this fun session where you will be guided to compose an atmospheric piece of writing using a series of prompts. Could you be the next Mary Shelley?
1:00-1:45 | Book illustration workshop - Etching into Photographs with Jenni Gudgeon
Using this easy technique, design and etch your own fantastical creature into a photograph. No ink or paint is used, as the process reveals colours which lie hidden under the surface of every photo. All photographs and equipment supplied.
These workshops are suitable for all levels and for both older teens and adults. Limited places, booking strongly advised.

Author Events
1:00-1:45 pm | Crime Panel - Fact v Fiction, hosted by George Paterson
Meet true crime writer Mark Bridgeman and welcome back Val Penny, author of the fictional DI Hunter Wilson series, as they discuss the place of both fact and fiction within crime writing, the different writing challenges they present, and why both genres are popular today.
2:15-3:00pm | General Fiction Panel - Why Fiction Matters, hosted by Barbara Stevenson
Should fiction educate, challenge, or simply entertain its readers? Our author panel - Ajay Close, Craig A Smith and Pauline Tait - write very different types of novel, from fiction based on true-life events, to romantic thrillers. Join them as they discuss why fiction matters today, and what they aim to achieve through their writing.
3:30-4:15pm | Nature Journeys
Popular nature writer Keith Broomfield shares his lifelong passion for the wildlife all around us. He will talk about the nature journeys that provided the inspiration for his series of books on Scottish and British wildlife, including A Scottish Wildlife Odyssey and Wild Quest Britain

All events take place on the first floor of the venue, which is only accessible by a flight of stairs.