Big Bang Week

A Dark Skies Festival from Scotland's National Book Town

3-6 March 2021

Coming Up Next

FOR FULL PROGRAMME CLICK HERE

 
Nathan Case
The Northern Lights
Thu 4 Mar - 17:00 UK
More Info
 
Brian Clegg
What Do You Think You Are?
Thu 4 Mar - 19:30 UK
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Joe Zuntz
The Dark Sector
Fri 5 Mar - 14:30 UK
More Info
 
Ed Forrest & Joan Mitchell
The Biosphere Revolution
Fri 5 Mar - 17:00 UK
More Info
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HOW TO WATCH OUR EVENTS

Facts and FAQs

Find information here about how to watch our events and other questions.

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HOW TO DONATE

We need you

Normally, more than half our event income comes from ticket sales. Find out how you can support us this year.

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Featured content

audio

Audio | Big Bang Stargazing: The Plough and the North Star

Elizabeth Tindal

3 Mar 2021
Biosphere Dark Sky Ranger Elizabeth Tindal talks to us about the Plough and the North Star tonight during her stargazing adventures in the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park.
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Big Bang

Star Poets | Kriss Nichol

3 Mar 2021
The third in a series of poems from Dumfries & Galloway inspired by our dark skies. Curated by Hugh McMillan.
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Big Bang

Star Poets | Harry Neill

2 Mar 2021
The second in a series of poems from Dumfries & Galloway inspired by our dark skies. Curated by Hugh McMillan.
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audio

Audio | Big Bang Stargazing

Elizabeth Tindal

2 Mar 2021
Freelance Ranger and Biosphere Dark Sky Ranger Elizabeth Tindal introduces us to her stargazing adventures in the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park, which she'll be sharing with us every evening at 8pm throughout Big Bang.
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Big Bang

5 Questions

Brian Clegg

22 Feb 2021
When Brian Clegg says you’re a bit of a dinosaur it turns out he’s being literal rather than rude. The atoms in our bodies have been around for billions of years and have been part of many other creatures – so we all have an inner T Rex.
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Big Bang

The Space Doctor in a Scottish A&E

19 Feb 2021
Dr Christina Mackaill spends much of her time treating Covid cases, car crash victims and a multitude of other patients arriving at a hospital A&E department.
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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

Wigtown Wednesdays

Our regular series of author talks

#WigtownWednesdays

#WigtownWednesdays | Katherine May ~ 24 Feb 2021

13 Jan 2021
How do you survive the winterings of your life? Katherine May talks to us about her popular book, Wintering, and the power of rest and retreat in difficult times.
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#WigtownWednesdays

#WigtownWednesdays | Gavin Esler ~ 17 Mar 2021

18 Jan 2021
Journalist Gavin Esler discusses his latest book, How Britain Ends: English Nationalism and the Rebirth of Four Nations.
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#WigtownWednesdays

#WigtownWednesdays | Samira Shackle ~ 31 Mar 2021

12 Feb 2021
In her powerful and fast-paced debut, Samira Shackle reveals the complex and fascinating city of Karachi as it is experienced through the lives of its inhabitants.
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Featured content

Mentoring

News | 2021 mentors announced

26 Feb 2021
Wigtown Festival Company announces the five talented authors leading this year's mentoring programme for writers in Dumfries & Galloway.
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Opportunities

News | The impact of Scottish book festivals

19 Feb 2021
As part of our work with the Scottish Book Festivals Network, we are excited to be commissioning a study on the impact of Scotland's many literary festivals to advocate for the sector.
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Podcast Episode 41

Sara Baume

18 Feb 2021
We chat with writer and visual artist Sara Baume about her third book, handiwork. Just last week shortlisted for the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize.
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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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Story | The Ghosts of Wigtown ~ Karen Campbell

11 May 2020
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Mentoring

News | Mentoring awards for writers in Dumfries & Galloway

Wigtown Festival Company announces this year's mentees

12 Jan 2021
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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

Donate

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