Tickets for the programme for this year’s event, running from May 10-12, are now on sale.
The festival, named in honour of local writer, James Boswell, the inventor of modern biography, is held at Dumfries House.
Every year, hundreds of keen book-goers from across Ayrshire and far beyond turn out to enjoy the festival and the big names who appear on each year’s programme.
The festival kicks off with Ayrshire-born Rose Reilly, who became the only Scottish person to have won a football world cup, while playing for Italy in 1983.
Rose Reilly will be in attendance. (Image: NQ Archive)
Also star billing on the opening evening are the first of this year’s festival poets, former Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, and one of the UK’s finest comedic actors, Doon Mackichan, talking about her life and career/
Festival director Caroline Knox, who created the event in 2011, said: “Now in our 13th edition our unique theme of biography and memoir reinforces our reputation for attracting the finest writers and performers to what has become one of south-west Scotland’s major cultural events.”
On Saturday two remarkable veterans of the Second World Wa3r will take to the stage to describe their separate experiences of the conflict.
They are Olga Henderson, 92, who is one of the last survivors of a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and 100-year old Patricia Owtram, who worked as a code-breaker at Bletchley Park and was involved in the planning for D-Day.
The majority of this year’s events will be live-streamed.
Festival Director, Caroline Knox. (Image: NQ Archive)
Caroline added: “Ever since founding the festival I have taken huge pride in hosting a remarkable group of WW2 survivors, many of whom wrote compelling memoirs which have added to the ever-changing narrative of how the conflict is described.”
The range on Saturday spans insider royal correspondent Robert Hardman on Charles III; the world’s most popular history podcaster, Tom Holland, on ancient Rome at its peak; Scottish international ‘starchitect’ John McAslan, on his game-changing creativity bridging the old and the new as at Kings Cross Station; and Catherine Coldstream on the 12 years as a nun that have inspired her writing.
Sunday’s programme features Times Radio presenter, Aasmah Mir on the highs and lows of growing up between two cultures in Glasgow, and Ayrshire-born, international best-seller and screen writer, John Niven on his brother’s death and the life that led up to it.
Find out more about this year’s festival programme, and book tickets, at boswellbookfestival.co.uk.
