Diana Gabaldon (above), author of the hit Outlander series, now a major TV series, will join top authors Val McDermid, Michael Faber, A. L. Kennedy, Vic Galloway, Juno Dawson and Kirsty Logan for the Saltire Society’s first ever virtual literary festival, taking place from 24 – 26 June.
The festival will also feature a live screening of William McIlvanney: Living With Words, an intimate portrait of the late great Scottish author, who died in 2015.
The inaugural Scot Lit Fest takes place as part of The Saltire Society‘s 80th anniversary celebrations, and will bring a host of the best and brightest authors straight to your desktop free of charge, wherever you are in the world.
Across the weekend there will be live video streams, Twitter and Facebook chats, collaborative events, and exclusive content. Diana Gabaldon will take part in a Twitter chat on Friday 24 June at 4pm where she will lead a conversation about how Scotland has influenced her bestselling Outlander series, why she chose Scotland as a setting for the series and what the country means to her.
The discussion can be followed via Diana’s own Twitter account (@Writer_DG) and will give participants an opportunity to ask their own questions directly to the author.
Val McDermid will join an online discussion about the importance of supporting local libraries, chaired by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) and a number of Scotland’s libraries including Stewart Bain, the voice behind the popular Orkney Library Twitter account.
Other newly announced authors taking part in the digital weekend event are Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun. She will be joined by Malachy Tallack and Kevin MacNeil for a Twitter discussion about Scotland’s islands and their influence on modern literature. Sara Sheridan will be taking part in the Collaborative Crime Creation with Louise Welsh, Alex Gray, Neil Broadfoot, Michael J Malone, Mark Leggatt and more. This will see some of Scotland’s best crime authors creating an original piece of crime fiction on Twitter based on the public’s suggestions. Kicking off on the Sunday at 12pm it promises to be an interesting and unusual event.
Poets Claire Askew and Theresa Munoz will join Saltire Poetry Book of the Year 2015 winner Ryan Van Winkle to discuss their respective work and the experience of being a modern poet. #feminisminYA creator and host Mariam Khan will chair a Twitter chat between top Young Adult authors Non Pratt and Kirkland Ciccone. Meanwhile, on Sunday 26 June, there will be a special showcase of emerging new Scottish writing talents, Helen Sedgwick and Mary Paulson-Ellis.
Finally, Angus Peter Campbell, Tim Armstrong, Alison Lang and Peter MacKay will all contribute to the dedicated Gaelic strand of the festival, #fèislitalba.
To close the Saturday there will be an online screening of the documentary William McIlvanney: Living With Words, which was filmed in early 2015.
Following the screening, the Saltire Society will release his pamphlet Dreaming Scotland in digital format along with companion piece Nevertheless by Allan Massie. Originally published prior to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the pamphlet provided McIlvanney’s own reflections on his reasons for voting for independence in the referendum and was released as part of the Saltire Society’s acclaimed pamphlet series.
ScotLitFest is supported by Creative Scotland and tickets for the festival are available here for free. There will be a launch party on Thursday 23rd of June at 6pm in the Saltire Society office at 22 High Street, supported by The Society of Young Publishers Scotland, and tickets are free although availability will be strictly limited.
Commenting on her participation in the Collaborative Crime Writing arm of the festival, bestselling Scottish Writer and Author of the Mirabelle Bevan Mysteries, Sara Sheridan said: “I’m looking forward to ScotLitFest, it’ll be great fun. So many crime writers – one crazy story. What could possibly go wrong?”
Gill Parry of CONNECTfilm, which produced Living with Words, added: “We were so pleased to be asked by the Saltire Society and ScotLitFest to screen LIVING WITH WORDS as a tribute to Scotland’s much loved and much missed William McIlvanney. We hope Scottish audiences and further afield will enjoy the chance to see this intimate and revealing portrait of a great writer and wonderful man.”
Jim Tough, Executive Director of the Saltire Society, said: “I’d like to encourage all fans of Scottish literature and culture to join us for what will be a spectacularly interesting weekend. We have such a great range of authors joining us for the weekend and I can’t thank them enough for giving up their time to be a part of it.”
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