Pitlochry Festival Theatre announce the line-up for its nineteenth Winter Words Festival, featuring an exciting line up of well-known, and well-loved authors, playwrights, poets, adventurers, broadcasters, and TV personalities from around Scotland and further afield for a celebration of all things artistic and literary.
From 9-12 February, Pitlochry Festival Theatre will host, in its Auditorium and newly opened Studio performance space, an exciting programme of events including stimulating and entertaining conversations, presentations and performances from: Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster Liz Lochhead in conversation with actor and writer Nicola Roy; crime writer and broadcaster Denise Mina talking to playwright David Greig about her new novel Confidence, an exhilarating thriller revolving around vanished filmmakers, international art smuggling and religious fanaticism; and celebrated Scottish singer and frontman of Deacon Blue Ricky Ross will talk to Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Elizabeth Newman about his acclaimed memoir, Walking Back Home, which charts his path from a rollercoaster childhood to playing at Wembley Arena and beyond.
Also featuring at this year’s festival is BBC Scotland documentary filmmaker Paul Murton who will be talking about his new book The Highlands which explores his fascinating journey across the length and breadth of this beautiful Scottish region; and award-winning journalist and author Chitra Ramaswamy will be talking about her Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year, Homelands: The History of a Friendship, which tells the story of the journalists’ friendship with a 98-year-old German Jewish refugee.
The theme of the arts will be explored in this year’s line-up when brothers Alan and Colin McCredie talk about their lives as a photographer and actor respectively. Ahead of its return to the Theatre’s Amphitheatre in the summer, River City actor and writer Lesley Hart talks about her stage adaptation – Sherlock: A Lesson in Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood – of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel A Study in Scarlet, the origin story for Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Lesley Hart will be joined onstage by actor Deirdre Davis who will perform extracts from the acclaimed production. Writer, critic, broadcaster, and stand-up comedian Viv Groskop also hosts a lively conversation about Chekhov and why his writing is still relevant today. She will be joined by actor Ali Watt who will perform About Love, and Elizabeth Newman, Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director, who adapted this short story by Chekhov for the stage.
In partnership with the Highland Book Prize 2022 Longlist, Pitlochry Festival Theatre is delighted to be featuring two of the twelve long-listed authors in conversation: Amanda Thomson on Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity, home, and Jim Crumley, Seasons of Storm and Wonder. Both books are inspired by the nature and landscape of Scotland. Presented by the Highland Society of London and facilitated by Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre, the Highland Book Prize seeks to recognise the rich talent, landscape, and cultural diversity of Scotland’s Highlands and Islands. And the William Grant Foundation provides funding to encourage public engagement with the Highland Book Prize.
Poetry will also feature strongly in this year’s festival as five Perthshire poets will read extracts from Perthshire 101 a poetic tour around Perth & Kinross inspired by the geography, history, people, and cultural icons of the region, in a fast-moving poetry show. There will be the opportunity to see a live reading by actors Sophia McLean and David Rankine of A Journey with Nan Shepherd by the award-winning Firebrand Theatre Company. The play dramatises the much-loved poet and writer Nan Shepherd’s fascinating life and literary times based on Dr Kerri Andrews’ The Correspondence of Nan Shepherd, 1920-1980.
Other authors attending this year’s festival include: Ben Aitken talking about his warm, candid and funny books The Gran Tour: Travel with my Elders and The Marmalade Stories; Rosemary Goring on Homecoming The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots; broadcaster, journalist and lecturer Ian Bradley on The Coffin Roads; Louise Welsh on her McIlvanney Prize 2022 nominated book The Second Cut; Alastair McIntosh on the new edition of his book Poacher’s Pilgrimage: An Island Journey, Nick Evans and Gordon Noble on their new book The Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North; Dr Kerri Andrews on her fascinating book Wanderers – A History of Women Walking, Alistair Moffat on Islands of the Evening: Journeys to the Edge of the World and finally a welcome return for Colin Liddell who will take audiences on a jaunt through 70 years of Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
As well as this impressive line-up of authors, this year’s Winter Words Festival will include two very exciting events. The extremely popular Banff Mountain Film Festival, which features some of the world’s best adventure filmmakers and explorers as they push themselves to the limits in the most remote and stunning corners of the globe. And, for all true crime fans, and those of a curious mind, The Makings of a Murderer, an evening with the Scottish Detective David Swindle exploring the cases behind some of the UK’s most notorious serial killers.
The Winter Words Festival runs from 9-12 February. Individual and multi-buy package tickets options for Winter Words will go on sale on Tuesday 10 January.