History of the Festival
2023 will be our 25th festival
A ten day literary celebration in Scotland's National Book Town
Wigtown is a traditional market town, set in the beautiful countryside of Dumfries & Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is also Scotland's National Book Town, a designation that reflects its dozen or so secondhand bookshops and annual literary festival.
The Festival
Founded in 1999, the 10-day Wigtown Book Festival is now one of the
UK's best-loved literary events and this year has more than 200 events
and activities for all ages, including music, theatre, food and visual
arts.
Awards
The festival, which has won a ScottishPower Foundation Award for
Community Engagement, Sunday Herald Scottish Culture Awards 2018 Cultural Event of the Year, Thistle Award for tourism, the Arts & Business
(Scotland) Community Award and a Creative Places Award, welcomes
writers from far and wide. It also celebrates the rich history and
landscape of Galloway.
About us
In 2007, Wigtown Book Festival became a charity. It is run by a small professional staff assisted by more than 100 volunteers.
One of the best autumn festivals in the world.
The Telegraph
It may only have a population of 1000, but Wigtown doesn’t just punch above its weight when it comes to attracting big-name authors to its annual book festival, it punches above pretty much everybody else’s weight, too.
Roger Cox, The Scotsman
Vintage Wigtown
