Podcasts about wigtown book festival

This week on Read On we have three very different authors,  Ariane Bankes discovers her mother's and aunt's correspondence in The Quality of Love: Twin Sisters at the Heart of the Century, Irvine Welsh tells us about the third Ray Lennox book, Resolution, and Elizabeth Oldfield is Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times in her book, Fully Alive. All that plus some new books (including the new Sally Rooney) in the RNIB Library. The image features elements associated with the Wigtown Book Festival Top Left Corner: The book cover for The Quality of Love: Twin Sisters at the Heart of the Century by Ariane Bankes. The cover has a bright green background with a vintage-style image of two women, likely representing the twin sisters mentioned in the title, facing each other. Top Center: A photograph of Irvine Welsh and Robert Kirkwood. Irvine, on the left, is bald, with a slight smile, dressed casually in a light brown jacket over a striped shirt. Robert, on the right, is taking the selfie, recognizable by his glasses and beard. Bottom Left Corner: The logo for the Wigtown Book Festival, featuring stylized text with a tree sprouting from the letter “W.” Below this is the logo for RNIB Connect Radio Bottom Center: A smiling portrait of Elizabeth Oldfield, who is standing indoors, wearing a black top with a blue and turquoise jacket. Her open, warm smile and relaxed pose convey a friendly, engaging presence. Bottom Right Corner: The book cover for Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield. This cover has a circular design with green and yellow rings radiating from the title.

There's a food theme in this week's episode as we head to Wigtown to chat to The Hebridean Baker Coinneach MacLeod, food historian Pen Vogler on her books Scoff and Stuffed and philosopher Julian Baggini tells us How The World Eats. Plus we get the Books of Your Life from Gareth Brown and find new books in the RNIB Library. The image used is a fun collage featuring moments from the Wigtown Book Festival, along with some of the authors and their works. On the top left, there's the festival's lovely handwritten-style logo with little birds fluttering around it. Just beside that, we see the cover of The Hebridean Baker by Coinneach MacLeod, showcasing a man in a kilt standing in the rugged Scottish outdoors—probably hinting at some great Scottish baking stories! To the right, we have the RNIB Connect Radio logo. In the middle left, there's a picture of three smiling people: Robert Kirkwood (who you might know from RNIB Radio) is standing on the left, holding a microphone. Next to him is Coinneach MacLeod holding a book, and to the right of him is Pen Vogler, who is holding her book Stuffed: A History of Good Food and Hard Times. Then, on the center right, there's a nice portrait of Pen Vogler herself, looking thoughtful and confident, with her book cover prominently displayed next to her. Moving down to the bottom, on the left is the colorful cover of How the World Eats by Julian Baggini, which seems to explore food from different cultures across the globe. And on the bottom right, there's a picture of Julian Baggini himself, standing casually outdoors against a stone wall. All in all, this collage gives a taste of the authors and books you'd encounter at the festival, with a nice focus on food and culture.

In a talk sponsored by RNIB Connect Radio, Gareth Brown talks to Teddy Jameson live on stage at the Wigtown Book Festival about his best-selling time-travelling page turner, The Book of Doors. Plus we find some brand new books in the RNIB Library.

Christos Tsiolkas, the Australian writer best known for The Slap, talks about The In-Between, his visceral yet tender new novel about two men finding love in their fifties. Victoria Canal performs her Ivor Novello award winning song Black Swan and talks about her life in music.And with several literary festivals severing their ties with Baillie Gifford, Martha Gill and Grace Blakeley discuss the growing story behind the sponsorship row along with Adrian Turpin, Director of the Wigtown Book Festival in Dumfries and GallowayPresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Ciaran Bermingham

Three more authors interviewed at the Wigtown Book Festival in this week's show. Ex-BBC technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones tells Robert Kirkwood about his memoir Ruskin Park, we go swashbuckling with Kate Mosse and her book The Ghost Ship, and we time travel with actor and writer Nigel Planer as he tells us about Jeremiah Bourne in Time. Plus we find some new books entering the Talking Books Library.

In a second visit this year to Wigtown, Robert Kirkwood talks to comedian Jo Caulfield about her moving memoir The Funny Thing About Death, we get poisons, monsters and some secret lairs in Kathryn Harkup's Superspy Science and we take a trip during the Italian Renaissance with Maggie O'Farrell and her book, The Marriage Proposal. All that plus four new gems in the Talking Books library, one of which is narrated by Meryl Streep!

Throughout the programme we hear from Dr Kevin Frediani, curator of Dundee Botanic Garden. Kevin is very much in favour of letting nature do its own thing and Mark hears how he has managed to put that into practice in the garden. He also tells Mark about his drive to find a net zero path for the upkeep of the gardens and grounds while looking after a huge array of plants from all around the world. Rachel visits the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, one of the most significant neolithic settlements in the world. The site has been excavated for nearly 20 years but as Rachel finds out, next year will be the last dig for the foreseeable future. Archaeologists Anne Mitchell and Nick Card explain why. Renita Boyle is a storyteller who is fascinated by nature. As part of last week's Wigtown Book Festival, she was holding poetry, story and art sessions which usually happen outside. However, as the weather put paid to that, Rachel found her indoors with a great view of the countryside. And with potatoes in our minds as schools head off on their tattie holidays, we hear about the importance of this crop to Scottish farming and culture. As the days get shorter, we'll all be spending a bit more time in the dark. But how switched on are you to your local landscape at night? Ranger Elizabeth Tindall and writer Dan Richards were holding night walks at the Wigtown Book Festival to encourage people to explore more in the dark. They told Rachel about what sights and sounds you can encounter.

This week Robert Kirkwood travels to Scotland's Book Town and talks to novelist Lynsey May about her debut book, Weak Teeth, Stuart Paterson reads his viral poem, Here's the Weather, historian Ruth Scurr talks about Napoleon: A Life told in Gardens and Shadow and author Louise Doughty talks about her brand new thriller, A Bird in Winter. Plus we find four new gems in the Talking Books Library.

Helen heads to Inchgarth Reservoir on the outskirts of Aberdeen to meet Ian Broadbent, Local Bird Reporter for the North East, who tells her why recent bad weather in the USA has meant some new arrivals on our shores. He also tells her about the work that has been carried out at Inchgarth to improve the habitat for Snipe and Jack Snipe. Earlier this week Rachel visited the Wigtown Book Festival. Established in 1999, the festival has gone from strength to strength and now offers a ten day programme featuring hundreds of events and activities for all ages, including music, theatre, food and visual arts. Rachel chats to two women who have recently taken the plunge into writing books, endurance cyclist Jenny Graham and Helen Rebanks. Jenny tells her all about the different challenges writing brought compared to her round the world cycle. And Helen Rebanks explains how her and husband James manage their fell farm as well as a busy family life. In our midweek podcast Mark chats to mountaineer and former planner Bob Reid. We hear an excerpt where he explains to Mark how National Scenic Areas came to be created and what they actually are. Continuing our literary theme we chat live to Christina Riley, founder of the Nature Library. The pop up library tours the country and aims to connect people to the world around us. Long before it was fashionable environmentalist Roger Deakin was at the forefront of wild swimming. Rachel hears about his fascinating life from author Patrick Barkham who has written a new biography of Roger. Helen meets musician and composer Mhairi Hall at Loch Garten as she gathers sounds for the Underwater Cairngorm Project. And Rachel explores a secret garden that has opened its doors as part of the Wigtown Book Festival.

Guest: Colin Macrae joins John as the Marketing and Media Assistant for the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland that is taking place from 22 September to 1 October. This year the festival is hosting more than 200 events and activities for all ages, including theatre, music, and visual art.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode Elaine chats with spoken word poet, theatre maker, facilitator, writer, and singer. We chat pathway into the industry, the music scene and the misogyny that comes along with it. We also talk her new show Love the Sinner which is on at the Tron Theatre Glasgow 11th, 12th and 13th May 2023 and The Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 16th, 17th May 2023. Ticket link here. https://www.imogenstirling.com/events Imogen Stirling Imogen is a Glasgow-based artist. She is a performance poet, theatre-maker, musician, writer and facilitator. Imogen has performed her work extensively around the UK and Europe, with partners including Sofar Sounds, BBC Scotland, Latitude Festival, Lindisfarne Festival, Neu! Reekie! and Aye! Write. She can currently be seen on Sky Arts' BAFTA-winning show Life & Rhymes where she performed alongside Benjamin Zephaniah and Hollie McNish. Imogen was the inaugural Writer-in-Residence for Paisley Book Festival 2021 and is currently leading Wigtown Book Festival's youth development programme. She was awarded ‘Artist of the Year 2021' (Scottish Emerging Theatre Awards/National Theatre of Scotland) and was shortlisted for the Out-Spoken Prize for Poetry 2022. As of April 2022, Imogen is the Artist Development Coordinator at Tron Theatre. Website - www.imogenstirling.com Instagram - @imogenstirlingpoetry Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Support In The Room - https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/in-the-room Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE WeAudition offer: For 25% off your monthly subscription quote: NASTY25 Backstage Offers: Get a free 12 months Actor Subscription: https://join.backstage.com/persistentnasty-uk-12m-free/

In a packed show recorded on location at the Wigtown Book Festival, Robert Kirkwood chats to a whole host of writers, including three very different historians, Nick Jubber on the Fairy Tellers, Alex von Tunzelmann on toppled statues in Fallen Idols and Estelle Paranque on Fire, Blood and Gold - the relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici. There are some Wigtown natives ... we speak to storyteller Renita Boyle, and bookshop diarist Shaun Bythell. Plus a trio of female Scottish writers, Olga Wojtas on Maria Blane's Prefect, Lynne McEwan on Dead Man Deep and In Dark Water plus recent guest on the show Elissa Soave on her debut Ginger and Me.

Lesley Traynor is a Scottish writer published nationally and internationally. In 2021, her most recent chapbook of poetry, Thrawn, was published by Hybriddreich. Her poem, ‘Towards Stromness,' was accepted into the George McKay Brown Fellowship Centenary archive, and her poetry and poetry films representing her experience of Lockdown were accepted into the Elphinstone Institute archive. Winner of 2019 Edinburgh International Book Festival memoir writing prize and short-listed for the 2019 Beyond Borders International writing prize. She is a trustee of the Federation of Writers (Scotland), a former Director of the Scottish Writers' Centre, and has an MLitt in Creative Writing. She is currently researching a Shetland-based novel for her MRes in Creative Practice with the University of the Highlands and Islands while transcribing seventeenth-century documents for the Orkney Archives. Passionate about supporting women's voices, she founded the inclusive collective Women With Fierce Words in 2016, winning the 2021 Jonni Stanton International Award for a filmed event. Her poetry films have been screened at Celtic Connections, Beyond Border Literary Festival, and the Wigtown Book Festival.                                                                            Facebook@womenwithfiercewords L A Traynor/Lesley Traynor Twitter @latraynor Instagram latraynor4060

Robert Kirkwood travels to a real life book festival for the first time in a few years! Read On this week was recorded on location at the Wigtown Book Festival and features... Booker Shortlisted author Graham Macrae Burnet on his new novel, Case Study (Starts at 1.56) Comedian Robin Ince on The Importance of being Interested (11.11) Girl on the Train author, Paula Hawkins on A Slow Fire Burning; (25.53) Autograph Hunter Adam Andrusier on Two Hitlers and a Marylin (31.41) We get the Books of My Life from literary editor of the Scotsman, Stuart Kelly. (48.13) Plus as an online bonus we also get the Books oy My Life from Graham Macrae Burnet (58.20)

Immersing yourself in thought-provoking art and literature starts here. Transport yourself to Moat Brae, the home where Peter Pan author JM Barrie used to play as a child, then on to Dumfries to take a tour of The Robert Burns Centre. Turn the page to Abbotsford, home of Sir Walter Scott before heading to Kirkcudbright, a shining light for Scottish artists of past and present in the South of Scotland. Our final chapter takes you to Wigtown, home of the famous Wigtown Book Festival, full of its eclectic mix of independent bookshops. You’ll be inspired the second you tap play. So, don’t forget to visit www.scotlandstartshere.com

Hello, all! We're back, and straight back into the Tech Talk email inbox! Joining RNIB Connect Radio's Steven Scott this week - Robin Christopherson from the wonderful AbilityNet, Tim Schwartz from the lovely lifeafterblindness.com, and of course emails Andy. Quite a few themes in the emails this week including lots on Lady A, such as: calling costs and VOIP calls, tripod mounts and a link with guide dogs. There's also plenty on Audible Sync problems. Some of the other topics we cover include: iOS14 issues, Eggnog, hellos from Croatia, listening to us whilst doing the ironing, Gadflies, An Englishman struggling with obscure Scottish phrases, Utunes (or is it oooo-tunes?), iPad being set up straight out of the box, Wigtown Book Festival, and a right techie question that Steven could get his teeth into - is the Rodecaster Pro accessible? Davinder also joins us from the RNIB Technology for Life team, talking to us about memory... I'd tell you more, but I've forgotten... ha! We've done a right good job getting through these emails over the past month or so, so now is a super time to get your questions answered in the new year! what does 2021 hold for you, tech wise? any purchases planned? what can we help you on? TechTalk@RNIB.org.uk (mailto:TechTalk@RNIB.org.uk) is the place to send us stuff. Chat to you all next week!

This episode features the wonderful Polly Pullar. No stranger to Wigtown Book Festival audiences as one of our wonderful chair people, the tables are turned here as we hear about Polly’s life and work as a wildlife rehabilitator and journalist - Perthshire’s own Dr Doolittle. In this conservation, Polly tells us about a childhood spent in thrall to nature, introduces us to some of her menagerie and stars of her books, including A Scurry of Squirrels - Nurturing the Wild, due out in July, rewilding, the joys of nature during lockdown, and all other times too.

This episode features the entire event from this year’s Wigtown Book Festival with chair Lee Randall in conversation with author Douglas Stuart, who was announced last week as the winner of the 2020 Booker Prize for his novel Shuggie Bain.

On this episode we feature more edited highlights from this year's Wigtown Book Festival with excerpts from our events with wildlife TV presenter and author Kate Humble and former British Army officer, international aid worker and spy thriller writer Simon Conway.

In the first podcast of edited highlights from this year's Wigtown Book Festival we feature two award winning authors whose very different books look at our interconnected lives. Conservationist and nature writer Dara McAnulty, winner of the Wainwright Prize at the age of just 16, talks to Rachel Plummer about his book Diary of a Young Naturalist. Multi-award winning author Maggie O’Farrell speaks to Stephanie Merritt about her fictional account of Shakespeare's son, the eponymous Hamnet, who died at the age of 11 in 1596.

Usually at this time of year, Read On would be in the beautiful Galloway Hills at the Wigtown Book Festival, but what with Covid and Robert's broken ankle, our attendance this year was doomed! So, this week in a packed show we revisit the 2019 Wigtown Book Festival.Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson on his book, 'In My Life: A Musical Memoir' (Starts at 1.34)Kerry Hudson on Lowborn (Down the Chipper) (7.00)Shaun Bythell has some 'Confessions of a Bookseller' (13.41)Sarah Jane Douglas treats illness and grief as 'Just Another Mountain' (21.08)Chair of RNIB Scotland Sandra Wilson on sponsoring a Talking Book (25.03)Music from, and chat with, The Bookshop Band (27.08)We go 'Under the Wig' with William Clegg QC (36.00)Richard Frazer describes his 'Travels with a Stick' (41.04)Jon Day races pigeons and combines memoir, philosophy and culture in 'Homing' (44.49)And we get the Books of Your Life from stand up classicist Natalie Haynes. (51.03) Thanks to @MarkMcKie1 for the cover picture depicting fireworks over Wigtown.

Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi Gill from shared reading charity Open Book present the second of their two Wigtown Book Festival takeovers. On this episode they discuss an excerpt from the book A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti and the poem 'Hinge' by Alycia Pirmohamed. You can read along with each of the readings by having a look at Open Book's special Wigtown newsletter bit.ly/WigtownOpenBook - and do come along to Luis Sagasti's digital event at 1700 on Saturday http://bit.ly/WigtownOpenLS or catch up with Alycia's event from Sunday 27th: bit.ly/WigtownOpenAP Find out more about Open Book from their website: openbookreading.com

Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi Gill from shared reading charity Open Book present the first of two Wigtown Book Festival takeovers this week, focusing on authors who feature in our programme. In this special podcast version of one of their sessions, they read and discuss an excerpt from the essay 'Three Meditations on Absence in Nature and Life' by Chitra Ramaswamy and the poem 'Meditation While Plaiting My Hair' by Alycia Pirmohamed. You can read along with each of the readings by having a look at their special Wigtown newsletter at http://bit.ly/WigtownOpenBook - and do come along to Chitra's digital event at 1530 on Thursday http://bit.ly/WigtownOpenCR or catch up with Alycia's event from Sunday 27th: http://bit.ly/WigtownOpenAP Find out more about Open Book from their website: https://openbookreading.com

We'll be releasing a daily podcast during the 2020 Wigtown Book Festival and as this is our first day, here's the first podcast! In this very special episode we're featuring our first online event with Wigtown's very own Shaun Bythell. Usually you have to watch these events on our website wigtownbookfestival.com or on our YouTube channel, but as a special treat we present Shaun and the marvellous Lee Randall in conversation in their audio-only glory!

We talk to our Operations Director, Anne Barclay, and our Artistic Director, Adrian Turpin, about what to look forward to at this year's digital incarnation of the Wigtown Book Festival including our involvement in the Reading is Magic festival and a special premiere from Alexander McCall Smith. Our official launch is on Wednesday 2 September - find out more on our website https://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/

Winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Philip Ardagh is a prolific writer of adult and children's fiction and non-fiction and towers over us mere mortals at over 2 metres tall. He often has trouble fitting into things designed for ordinary human beings - aeroplane seats, hotel beds and Wigtown Book Festival judges’ thrones. So it’s no surprise that we couldn’t fit him into our ordinary podcast— we had to dedicate an entire episode to the Great Ardagh himself.

In this episode of the Wigtown Book Festival podcast we catch up with poet Nadine Aisha Jassat and novelist and short story writer Kevin Barry. Nadine Aisha Jassat talks about her unique experience of lockdown as she was taking part in the Edinburgh International Book Festival's Outriders Africa project. She also discusses her debut collection, Let Me Tell You This, and talks about a future piece of work which she is writing as part of her Scottish Book Trust New Writer's Award. Longlisted for last year's Booker Prize, Kevin Barry first attended the Wigtown Book Festival in 2012. He chats to Peggy about that experience, as well as telling us about the genesis of Night Boat to Tangier and giving us a flavour of what to expect from his forthcoming collection of short stories That Old Country Music. Presented by Peggy Hughes. Incidental music by Ragland.

On this episode we talk to poet and Wigtown Poetry Competition judge Roseanne Watt about what makes an interesting poetry submission. She also reads from her debut collection Moder Dy and tells us about how it marked a returning to the Shetlandic dialect of her childhood. For more info on the prize head to: https://www.wigtownpoetryprize.com We also feature birder and naturalist Stephen Rutt, whose award-winning The Seafarers is out in paperback next month. He shares his passion for seabirds and also tells us a little about an exciting new project he's concocting with Wigtown Book Festival. Music: Ragland

Join us for a supernatual-themed edition of the podcast this week with host Peggy Hughes. Karen Campbell discusses her new tale of the supernatural, "The Ghosts of Wigtown", which was written exclusively for the Wigtown Book Festival, and how it was inspired by her own research into the women who used to live here. Edward Parnell talks about Ghostland, his moving exploration of what has haunted writers and artists such as M.R. James and W.G. Sebald. In particular he tells us about visiting the locations in Galloway where cult 70s horror film The Wicker Man was filmed. And we chat with Kathleen Cronie of Mostly Ghostly and Wigtown Festival's Creative Director Adrian Turpin about an exciting collaboration exploring literary tourism in Dumfries and Galloway. Image credits: Ian Watson, Colin Tennant Music: Ragland

In this week's edition, we consider the pull of home and the lure of the open road. Sara Maitland, author of The Book of Silence, joins us on the phone from her home in rural Galloway and talks about her unique experience of lockdown, her tips for thriving on your own and her upcoming story commissioned by the Festival. Carys Davies discusses her transition from short story writer to novelist, muses on how contemporary events influence her work and talks about her latest novel, West, and her upcoming novel,The Mission House. We share an excerpt from our #WigtownWednesday event with explorer poet Robert Twigger, where he muses on the long distance walker's experience of the invisible world alongside the practical necessities of keeping yourself fed and watered. Find out more about Wigtown Book Festival and our own programme of online events at www.wigtownbookfestival.com. Produced by Colin Fraser. Incidental music by Ragland.

In this pilot episode Peggy Hughes explores the world of literary festivals in lockdown. Critic, chair and programmer at Granite Noir Lee Randall shares her thoughts on how we are adapting to the new landscape with Wigtown Artistic Director Adrian Turpin. We also chat to Sasha de Buyl of the Cúirt International Festival of Literature, fresh from their very successful digital festival over the weekend. Check out their archive of events: https://www.cuirt.ie Find out more about Wigtown Book Festival and our own regular events in lockdown at http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com Incidental music by Ragland.

In today's show we listen to the Booker winning audiobooks, 'Girl, Woman Other' by Bernardine Evaristo and 'The Testaments' by Margaret Atwood (Starts at 1.07) Salman Rushdie tells us about the joint narratives of 'Quichotte' (13.02) We return to the Wigtown Book Festival where founder of The Big Issue, Lord Bird, reveals how learning to read saved him from a life of crime. (28.02)   Journalist Melanie Reid discusses coming to terms with disability and recording her memoir as a Talking Book. (37.00)   And Professor Steve Jones shares some fascinating facts about the vital role the sun plays in our lives. (45.42)

In a packed show Red Szell and Robert Kirkwood report from the Wigtown Book Festival with ... Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson on his book, 'In My Life: A Musical Memoir' (Starts at 1.34) Kerry Hudson on Lowborn (Down the Chipper) (7.00) Shaun Bythell has some 'Confessions of a Bookseller' (13.41) Sarah Jane Douglas treats illness and grief as 'Just Another Mountain' (21.08) Chair of RNIB Scotland Sandra Wilson on sponsoring a Talking Book (25.03) Music from, and chat with, The Bookshop Band (27.08) We go 'Under the Wig' with William Clegg QC (36.00) Richard Frazer describes his 'Travels with a Stick' (41.04) Jon Day races pigeons and combines memoir, philosophy and culture in 'Homing' (44.49) And we get the Books of Your Life from stand up classicist Natalie Haynes. (51.03)  Thanks to @MarkMcKie1 for the cover picture depicting fireworks over Wigtown.

Clare Balding walks the final part of the Whithorn Way with a local group of walking enthusiasts. It's an an an ancient pilgrim route from Glasgow down along the west coast ending at the holy site of St Ninian's Cave on the southern tip of the peninsula looking towards the Isle of Man. Pilgrims have been making the journey for centuries until they were banned from doing so after the Reformation during the 16th century, but the tradition has been revived and with the restoration of the walking route, more people are expected to do the 146 mile route through some of Scotland's most beautiful but often overlooked landscapes. Pictured left to right: Ian Gemmell, a retired local vet from Whithorn, Clare Balding, Finn McCreath local farmer and trustee of the Wigtown Book Festival and Jessica Fox, former NASA storyteller. Producer: Maggie Ayre

With Red away in San Fransico this week, Robert Kirkwood recorded this packed show live on location at the Wigtown Book Festival and coming up today … Robin Ince on a comedian's guide to what makes us human, Broadcaster Sally Magnusson on her first novel and her links to Iceland, Ann Cleeves on her last 'Shetland' book, John Connell on his bestselling book about the humble cow, William Davies on 'Nervous States,' a look at our new political reality, Shaun Bythell on life at the Bookshop during the festival, and Lee Randall with the books of her life.

This intimate discussion made headlines around the world as Sturgeon revealed she's writing a diary which she may publish. In an intimate conversation with Damian Barr she reveals the books that shaped her as a person and a politician, from Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 'Sunset Song' to 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker, and recommends some reading for President Trump. Recorded live at Wigtown Book Festival in September 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Bew talks to host Red Szell about the Orwell Prize winning Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee ... at the Wigtown Book Festival we chat to Marian Veevers, author of 'Jane and Dorothy: A True Tale of Sense and Sensibility' and Robert Kirkwood hears Jonathan Dimbleby's Churchill impression.

Red Szell visits the Petworth Literary Festival and meets his hero, Chris Bonington and finds out about the festival from artistic director Stewart Collins. We hear about 'Another Day in the Death of America' from journalist and author Gary Younge and at the Wigtown Book Festival we hear the remarkable history of horses from Susanna Forrest.

To celebrate the release of the Science(ish) book, Rick and Michael travel to the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland to record a special live episode on dystopian classic 'Gattaca'. Are we more than our genes? Can they predict our future? And should we use genetic technology to create the perfect human? This episode features; Professor Steven Rose and Professor Peter Singer. https://radiowolfgang.com/s/scienceish

The Husband Hunters: Social Climbing in London and New York. Towards the end of the nineteenth century and for the first few years of the twentieth, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. Red Szell talks to Ann De Coucy in this interview clipped from the full Wigtown show.

In a packed show, Red Szell and Robert Kirkwood talk to Anne de Courcy about her book 'The Husband Hunters', Christopher Brookmyre on 'Want You Gone', Anthony McGowan on 'The Art of Failing', Adam Macqueen on 'The Lies of the Land'. Peggy Hughes gives us the Books of her Life, Adrian Turpin gives us a history of the Wigtown Festival, we explore the The Diary of a Bookseller with Sean Bythell and hear about the festival's charity partner Fight for Sight.

As we gear up for this year's Wigtown Book Festival here's what Robert Kirkwood got up to last year with Susan Calman, Helen Sedgwick, Hardeep Singh Kohli and much more!

Scotland Women's Football team put 7 past Bosnia but it's Tam Cowan's comments that make the news. Equally, Lesley visits  the Wigtown Book Festival and finds as ever; feisty conversations, women who lend watches and a whole different spin on the independence debate. And then there was the Green Party Conference in Inverness, Lesley reports back from the front line.

 Is Ian Paisley beyond the pale ? In the opening address at this year's Wigtown Book Festival, the Northern Ireland First Minister was in top form. Following up some of his remarks, Lesley met up with Belfast writer, Malachi O'Doherty and took the temperature. The 'Troubles', the new leadership and Ulster Scots were the focal points. In fact, Ulter Scots and 'big jessies' seemed to inflame everyone...