BookFest is on track to hit funding target
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AN Inverness book festival which had to be saved at the eleventh hour last year is already well on course to meet its funding target for the 2018 event.
NessBookFest, which was set up in 2016 to replace the Inverness Book Festival, hit financial problems in 2017 after its application for funding from public arts development agency Creative Scotland was turned down, leaving a shortfall of more than £4000.
However, the Inverness community stepped in to save the free event, which takes authors and poets into schools and public places, through a crowdfunding campaign.
Now the festival is back for its third edition, and organisers are looking forward to welcoming the people of the Highlands back for another successful year.
NessBookFest chairwoman Alicia Socas said: "Both local businesses and the public were incredibly generous, and the festival couldn’t have gone any better last year.
"But we are glad that we do not have to rely on them quite so much this year!"
Some of the lineup for this year’s festival, held from October 4-7, have already been unveiled, with some big names on show including multi-award-winning author and playwright Ali Smith, who was born and brought up in Inverness.
Among the other writers appearing will be John D. Burns, Natalie Fergie and Elizabeth Wein, who recently wrote a tie-in novel for Star Wars: Episode VIII –The Last Jedi.
The festival will showcase a number of genres, including poetry, children’s books, crime, non-fiction and Gaelic literature.
Organisers have worked tirelessly to secure funding from the Inverness Common Good fund, the ScotRail Foundation managed by Foundation Scotland, Caring and Sharing and the Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature Fund.
However, Melanie Manwaring Mackay, the festival’s treasurer, warned that the event is not yet over the line and says the hard work to secure the funding needed must continue to ensure that it goes ahead as planned.
She said: "We are very grateful to those who have seen fit to invest their trust in us.
"This is excellent news for NessBookFest and for Inverness.
"But we are far from complacent – there is still a shortfall and we need to address that.
"But considering where we were last year, this is a fantastic position to be in.
"We have already secured Book Week Scotland funding for November too."
NessBookFest begins in Inverness on October 4 and runs until October 7.
All of the events organised by the festival are held free of charge.
For more information visit the NessBookFest Facebook page.
