NessBookFest 2024 in Inverness to feature winning young writers, published authors and competing poets
The winners of a young writers’ competition will showcase their talent at this year’s annual NessBookFest when they read out their work.
Primary and secondary school pupils across the Inverness area were invited to write a short story on Ambition - the theme of this year’s festival which runs from September 26 -28.
The winners will receive their prizes at a ceremony at Inverness Library on Saturday September 28 when there will be the chance to hear some of the award-winning pieces.
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The programme for NessBookFest 2024 includes a talk by former MFR presenter Helen MacPherson, author of Just a Country Girl: Inverness to Nashville.
She will talk about her 40 years in radio, travelling to America every year and interviewing all the top country music artists.
Calum Maclean will give a talk about the life and work of Alexander Ross who is regarded as the Highland’s finest architect from the Victorian era.
Examining original drawings, records and press reports of the time, he will reveal a legacy still more remarkable than had previously been thought.
The differing political ambitions of the Scottish Radicals of 1820 and the Jacobites of 1745 will be the subject of a talk by writer Maggie Craig while local writer Barbara Henderson will lead an interactive event around her latest book, The Boy, the Witch and the Queen of Scots.
Poets will go head-to-head to be crowned the NessBookFest Poetry Slam Champion 2024 and book their place in the Scottish National Finals in 2025.
In keeping with NBF’s ethos, all events are free of charge and can be booked via Ticket Tailor by searching for NessBookFest on that platform. Links to tickets are also provided on the festival’s social media pages and on its website.
The festival is partnering with venues and organisations, including Inverness Library, the Junction Church and the Bike Shed, and has received funding and support from the Scottish Book Trust and Inverness Paving.
The inaugural NessBookFest took place in November 2016 and is organised and run by the community for the community.
