People

Adrian Turpin - Artistic Director

Adrian has been involved in the  Wigtown Book Festival since 2006 when he began to help with booking authors as a volunteer. Under his creative leadership, the festival has won a Creative Places Award, Thistle Award and Arts & Business Scotland Award. As well as programming, he is responsible for the strategic development of Wigtown Festival Company and is leading on the Spot-Lit Literary Tourism project. A journalist by training, he formerly worked as an editor and writer for The Independent, The Scotsman and The Sunday Times among others. He has a BA in English Literature from the University of Oxford and diploma in journalism from the City University, London. In 2017, he received an OBE for service to literature and the economy of Wigtownshire.

Anne Barclay - Operational Director

Born and raised in Wigtown, Anne returned to the area after graduating in 2006 and has worked for the company since 2007. Anne is responsible for the day to day operations of the company, as well as fundraising and accounts. Having witnessed the desolation Wigtown experienced in the late 80s and early 90s, Anne thrives on seeing the town flourish, with busy streets and shops brimming with happy customers. She loves working with our army of volunteers and dedicated staff team to help others experience Wigtown's unique charms.

Andy Stewart - Producer (Children and Young People)

Andy joined us in the summer of 2019 to lead our CYPE portfolio into a new and exciting phase. A former media and fine arts student in his home city of Durham, Andy is now studying Business Management at the Open University. Andy is a judge for the Diverse Book Awards and a director at Visible Fictions, an innovative and dynamic creative production house based in Glasgow. Our CYPE portfolio is expansive and Andy is responsible for the production and delivery of Wigtown YA; Hooked - a young writers' weekend; Big Wig - the children's programme at Wigtown Book Festival; Big DoG - Scotland's only stand-alone children's book festival; The Big DoG School's Tour; education & outreach programmes; Wigtownshire Young Writers & Book Bridge - young reader and writer development groups; Book Week Scotland & Live Literature programmes; and youth recruitment, development and accreditation. You can find Andy on Twitter @ThatAndyStewart.

Rosie Littler-Davis - Commercial Officer

Rosie, born and brought up locally, joined the Book Festival Team after graduating from Dundee University with an Honours degree in Biomedical Science. Rosie manages all digital commerce and stock control, including overseeing the annual festival bookshop. She organised the annual Kist; our biannual art fair showcasing local talent and manages upkeep and booking for the The Print Room; our year-round event venue. Rosie also manages the database and day-to-day administration in the festival office.

Rosie is passionate about animal welfare, sustainability, climate change and books. Her hobbies include music composition and foraging.

Bee Williams - Marketing and Communications Coordinator

Children’s literature enthusiast and aspiring author, Bee is deeply passionate about good storytelling. She is therefore thrilled to be a part of the Book Festival mission of cultivating the literary culture of the region. As Marketing Officer, Bee oversees marketing strategy, campaigns and content creation, including email marketing, social media administration, asset design, copywriting and market research. Bee also manages the Wigtown Book Festival website and is responsible for ticketing administration. Bee writes in her spare time and has won a number of literary competitions, most recently long-listed for the Mslexia Flash Fiction Award. She has two young children and enjoys writing and performing folk music.

Cathy Agnew - Chair

Cathy’s professional career has always been involved with the arts – initially working for the BBC in London and New York before becoming a freelance documentary television film researcher and producer.

Since moving to south-west Scotland 35 years ago, she has continued to pursue a working life in the arts, mainly focussing on rural cultural development and regeneration. She set up the South West Scotland Screen Commission; the CatStrand Arts and Community Centre in New Galloway; and was Project Director for the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust in Dumfries – a project to create a National Centre for Children’s Literature in the very place that inspired JM Barrie’s Peter Pan.

Cathy was the founding Chairman of DGUnlimited, a charitable organisation that seeks to bring together and promote a network for Dumfries and Galloway’s artists and creative sector. A former Chairman of LEADER, Cathy is also a Trustee of the Crawick Multiverse in Sanquhar, an extraordinary land art park in a former coal-mine, created by Charles Jencks.

Roger Davis - Vice-Chair

Raised in Edinburgh, Roger moved from the Highlands with his young family to the Wigtown area in 1998 and has no intention of leaving. He has a background in professional social work and social work education having recently completed a 20 year career with the Open University as a social work lecturer/senior lecturer and latterly senior academic manager. Roger continues to sit as a panel member on Mental Health Tribunals and locally is a volunteer delivery driver with the Food Train. Roger joined the book festival volunteer team in 2019 and the WFC board of Trustees later that year. At the AGM in February 2021 he was appointed as WFC Vice-Chair. He retains a longstanding interest in the arts generally as well as in a range of outdoor pursuits including digging holes in the garden and on the golf course.

Philippa Cochrane

Head of Reading Communities at Scottish Book Trust, Philippa has 25 years’ experience of working in the arts. She currently leads the delivery of Book Week Scotland and all of Scottish Book Trust's programmes for adults and the organisations Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory group. She is passionate about the impact that reading and writing for pleasure can have in learning, mental health and wellbeing, and in supporting people's creativity and sense of connection across communities. Philippa brings her experience in literature programming, schools, adult and community learning, programme design and delivery, and large-scale event management to her role as a Wigtown Board Member. She is also always willing to talk greyhounds and cookbooks with anyone!

Nicholas Walker

Nick grew up in New Zealand but has lived in Scotland for three decades, working as an NHS psychiatrist. He has always had an interest in community projects and the Arts. He has been involved in various community groups, from developing a community garden in Renfrewshire to setting up Wigtown & Bladnoch Community Initiative, and overseeing its purchase of the former Bank of Scotland in the town and its conversion into affordable tenancies and a small bunkhouse hotel.  Since moving to Wigtown in 2010, he has become a Community Councillor and published a book by local historians about Wigtown's WW1 Victoria Cross winner. He has been a volunteer for the Wigtown Book Festival but is now too busy as he is part of the Beltie Books & Café team contributing directly to Scotland's National Book Town. He became a Trustee of Wigtown Festival Company in February 2020.