It's not too late

Wigtown Book Festival 2020 took place online from 24 September - 4 October. If you missed it, don't worry. You can still view many of the events via our YouTube channel. They include a trio of award-winners: Booker Prize-winner Douglas Stuart; Women's Prize-winner Maggie O'Farrell; and Wainwright Award-winner Dara McAnulty. Subscribe to the channel for notifications, when we add new content.

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Events

#WigtownWednesdays

#WigtownWednesdays | Michael Shaw ~ 9 December 2020

25 Nov 2020
Michael Shaw talks to Ruth Wishart about A Friendship in Letters, his new book about the correspondence between Robert Louis Stevenson and JM Barrie.
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#WigtownWednesdays

#WigtownWednesdays | Ian Cobain ~ 2 December 2020

13 Nov 2020
Ian Cobain talks to Andy Cassell about Anatomy of a Killing, his new book about the Troubles.
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the kist

The Winter Kist | 27-28 Nov

19 Nov 2020
A festive gathering of some of the region's finest food, drink and craftmakers.
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Visit our online bookshop

Our online bookshop stocks all the titles for the 2020 Wigtown Book Festival, bestsellers and those from our recent online programme. You'll also find our exclusive Book Bond range and the chance to order any new title we don't stock to have delivered to your door within 3 working days (subject to availability). Each sale helps support the work of Wigtown Book Festival.

Browse the Bookshop
No 11 Main Street, the Wigtown Festival Bookshop

Featured content

podcast

Podcast Episode 36

Nicola Yoon and Alastair McIntosh

19 Nov 2020
On this episode we continue our series of highlights from this year’s festival with two very different authors who are united in emphasising the importance of promoting healthy relationships between us.
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Sensory Stories and Rhymes

Ailie Finlay and Kate Leiper

17 Nov 2020
A series of sensory stories and rhymes developed by storyteller Ailie Finlay and illustrated by Kate Leiper. New stories and resources released monthly November-April.
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eleven poets for wigtown

Gear Shift

Gill Butler-Orli

2 Oct 2020
The ninth in our 2020 festival series of readings by poets from Dumfries & Galloway.
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podcast

Podcast Episode 35

Michael Longley and Jan Carson

12 Nov 2020
On this episode we revisit two very special events from this year's festival, featuring two of Northern Ireland’s finest exports, poet Michael Longley and novelist Jan Carson.
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eleven poets for wigtown

The Sadness of Second Hand Books

Anndra Wilson

30 Sep 2020
The seventh in our 2020 festival series of readings by poets from Dumfries & Galloway.
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News

Year of Coasts and Waters

Festival 2020

2 Sep 2020
Take a look at how we're celebrating Scotland's Year of Coasts and Waters through this year's programme and an exciting new publication.
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visual arts

Exhibitions

2020 Festival

2 Sep 2020
Throughout the festival we celebrate visual arts and welcome our very first sound artist. Here's a peek at what to expect.
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essay

Captain, My Captain

Shaun Bythell

10 Jul 2020
Captain the bookshop cat has become one of the unexpected stars of Shaun Bythell's Diary of a Bookseller. Here the Wigtown-based author describes his love-hate relationship with his feline companion.
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story

The Ghosts of Wigtown

Karen Campbell

11 May 2020
Commissioned by the festival, author Karen Campbell has written a new tale of the supernatural which takes inspiration from Wigtown's women's history.
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Southlight Magazine 2020 - cover image. 1970s photograph of man with horses

Southlight

The latest edition of the Dumfries & Galloway new-writing magazine

Download Southlight (.pdf)
Galloway landscape - dry stane wall, hills and pasture
We need you

Wigtown Festival Company is commited to engaging new and existing audiences throughout the current crisis. Please consider donating to support our work

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Find us in Wigtown, Scotland’s National Book Town

Designated Scotland's National Book Town in 1998 - by an international panel - Wigtown is home to a community of booksellers and literary events.

Wigtown: Scotland's National Book Town. Road signage on a grassy verge
Wigtown Book Town

A community regenerated through books

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A browser outside The Bookshop on Wigtown's main street
Bookshops

Wigtown is home to more than a dozen bookshops

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A panel event during Wigtown Book Festival
History of the Festival

We celebrated with our 20th Festival in 2018

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More than just a festival: what we do

Since the first Wigtown Book Festival in 1999, we have expanded to become an energetic arts organisation working through the year to deliver a programme of literature development activities in the Dumfries & Galloway region of south-west Scotland.

Read more about our projects
Interior of The Bookshop, Wigtown. Armchair by fireplace, bookshelves
The sort of festival people become possessive about.

The Guardian