The line-up for the ninth Beyond Borders International Festival has been announced. The New York Times award-winning Hard Truths exhibition, former CIA operative Valerie Plame, historian William Dalrymple and authors Magnus Linklater, Richard Holloway and Stuart Kelly will be among the headliners at this year’s festival on August 25 and 26.
Stirring Cajun, African, Syrian and Palestinian beats give a lively atmosphere to the festival, nestled in the grounds of the historic Traquair House, which promises “The World in a Weekend”. Featuring a host of local and international artists, writers, journalists, politicians, and diplomats for a weekend of panel debates and discussions, it’s a jam-packed weekend of spoken word, music, exhibitions, film, walks, and cycle rides, all in the beautiful surroundings of the Scottish Borders.
The location is extremely important to Executive Director Mark Muller Stuart, who said:
The purpose of the festival is to promote Scotland in the world and the world in Scotland. It’s a place for people who have like-minded ideas to come together and discuss them in a tranquil and neutral environment.
The Main Tent Programme features sessions with the UN Special Envoys to Yemen and Somalia, Head of Office for the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Stephanie Koury, exploring their work making peace in the world’s most volatile conflicts, with veteran BBC foreign correspondent Allan Little and Razia Iqbal interrogating headline speakers.
The New York Times photo exhibition Hard Truths will be displayed in full over the course of the weekend, and exposes the gripping reality of social and political upheavals from the ISIS-ravaged streets of Mosul, Iraq, to the vigilante-style war on drugs in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines.
BBIF 18 will be joined by The New York Times Associate Managing Editor Jodi Rudoren, who will discuss Hard Truths as well marking the 100th anniversary of the Suffragette Movement exploring the #MeToo Moment, gender and sexism in the industry alongside 50:50 champion of women’s rights, Talat Yaqoob.
Returning to Traquair House once again, the imitable William Dalrymple, will be hosting a session on the East India Company as the original corporate raiders, exploring its history, legacy and lessons of its brutal reign.
Conversely, Magnus Linklater explores iconic figures from Enlightenment Scottish history onwards, celebrating the “politicians, artists, inventors, explorers, soldiers, academics, philosophers and troublemakers – men and women who broke the mould of their time.”
Walled Garden an “explosion of cultural activities”
This year’s Walled Garden Arts and Music Programme will play host to an “explosion of cultural activities” according to the Lady of Traquair House, Catherine Maxwell Stuart, with music, spoken word, exhibitions, sustainable produce and workshops.
Cycle rides with social cycling authors Peter Walker, Will Manners, and Kate Rawles, and foraging walks take place around the grounds, offering festival goers moments of respite and relaxation.
The musical performance du jour on the Saturday is Barbara Dickon OBE. Scotland’s best-selling female artist will perform an enchanting series of songs from Scotland and beyond.
The Walled Garden will also feature Lisa Kristine’s pioneering new exhibition Bound to Freedom, a call to action and a brutal exposé of modern slavery and Thana Faroq’s The Passport, which tells the personal and universal story of crossing borders through the lens of asylum seekers’ and refugees’ experience.
Meanwhile renowned composer Nigel Osborne MBE will curate a promenade of discovery through the forests of Traquair, exploring the history of music and healing. Joined by Syrian, Ossetian and Georgian musicians, and followed by San Ghanny, Music for Palestine on Saturday and a rousing performance from E Karika Djal that evening, blending Romani, East-European, Scottish folk and klezmer influences in grassroots music from around the globe.
In celebration of another 100th anniversary, SOWhErTO Africa will pay tribute to Nelson Mandela and other South African legends by blending performance poetry, street music and dance from Sotho to Zulu, Sbujwa and Pantsula. The Jennifer Ewan Band will close the Walled Garden with toe-tapping Cajun beats.
Following unprecedented global crises this year, the closing Main Tent session of BBIF 18 will examine the new world disorder after Trump, Brexit and the growing Russia crisis, with Iqbal and Plame joined by Former International President of Médecins Sans Frontières Unni Karunakara and SNP economic advisor Andrew Wilson.
Highlights
Looking further afield, critically acclaimed author Maya Jasanoff talks about her latest book, The Dawn Watch, exploring empire and global capitalism through Joseph Conrad’s work, both a compelling biography and a commentary on world history.
On the centenary of Muriel Spark’s birth, her friend Alan Taylor, journalist and Editor of the Scottish Review of Books will be interviewed by veteran BBC journalist Geoffrey Baskerville on a remarkable memoir and a remarkable woman.
Award winning author and Columbian lawyer and activist Oscar Guardiola-Rivera discusses peacebuilding in Northern Ireland with Monica McWilliams, who was instrumental in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and Tim Phillips.
Madeleine Habib, the first female boat Captain of Médecins Sans Frontièrs rescue boat Dignity 1 will discuss her fascinating life in the session, voyage to discovery, making waves through the Mediterranean as a human rights activist.
Tim Phillips, Kevin Bales and anti-trafficking advocate Minh Dang will explore the psychological impact of modern slavery.
Hanna Rose Thomas will curate an exhibition of self-portraits created by Yezidi women who had escaped from ISIS, and set against gold backdrops, reflecting a reverence for the women and their stories as survivors, not victims.
Yemeni photographer Thana Faroq will offer a workshop on the power of visual storytelling, with human rights activist and actor Pinar Aksu leading one the following afternoon entitled ‘the theatre of the oppressed.’
Kate Adie, former BBC Chief News Correspondent describes her experience of the Beyond Borders Festival: “It’s like a rather wonderful party, but you are talking about serious matters, interesting matters.”
The full Beyond Borders Scotland Summer Events Programme and Box Office- available HERE!
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