AUTHORS

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Jess Smith SUNDAY 23rd 7pm Free

Jess Smith (born 1948) is a Scottish writer and storyteller. Her work focuses on the experiences of Scottish travellers.

From the ages of 5 to 15, Jess Smith lived with her parents, sisters and a mongrel dog in an old, blue Bedford bus. They travelled the length and breadth of Scotland, and much of England too, stopping here and there until they were moved on by the local authorities or driven by their own instinctive need to travel. By campfires, under the unchanging stars they brewed up tea, telling stories and singing songs late into the night. "Jessie's Journey" describes what it was like to be one of the last of the traditional travelling folk. It is not an idyllic tale, but despite the threat of bigoted abuse and scattered schooling, humour and laughter run throughout a childhood teeming with unforgettable characters and incidents.

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Kellan MacInnes SATURDAY 22nd 7pm £8

Kellan MacInnes has been climbing the mountains of Scotland since he was a teenager. For the past 25 years he has lived with HIV/AIDS. His first book Caleb’s List  was acclaimed by readers, reviewers and mountaineers alike. Caleb’s List  went on to be a best seller and as well as being  entered for the Boardman Tasker Prize for mountain literature it was shortlisted for the 2013 Saltire Society Scottish First Book Award, Scotland’s most prestigious literary prize. Kellan’s first novel The Making of Mickey Bell was published by Sandstone Press on 15 September 2016.

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Morven-May MacCallum SUN 23rd 2pm £8

Morven-May MacCallum's debut novel ‘Finding Joy’ was released on the 31st of May 2017.

In 'Finding Joy', main character Joyce is only sixteen when she’s torn from the life she loves. Two-years pass, but Joyce, her family, and her best friend Logan, are no closer to learning what’s causing her dizzying array of symptoms. As Joyce tries to come to terms with her increasing limitations those around her struggle to understand what she is going through. Baffled and unsure, the Doctors eventually diagnose Joyce with ME and CFS. But when Joyce and her family refuse to accept this diagnosis, her mental stability is called into question. Desperate for the truth and scared for Joyce’s life, their only hope lies in a private hospital where she is diagnosed with Lyme disease. Can Joyce survive a treatment as brutal as her illness? Can she find her way in a world she no longer recognises?

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Lorn MacIntyre SATURDAY 29th 2pm £8

Lorn MacIntyre was born in Taynuilt, Argyll, in 1942. He is a poet, novelist, short story writer and television scriptwriter. He spent formative years on the Isle of Mull.

In his book, 'The Leaper' Seumas Macdonald is an outsider, not only because he lives on an isolated primitive croft, but also because, being the only child in the school to speak Gaelic (apart from his disturbed sister), he is the favourite of MacCallum the headmaster, which leads to the boy being bullied in the playground.  The Leaper chronicles Seumas’s late and troubled introduction to sex; revealing how he finds consolation, companionship and hope in the company of a wild creature, in the face of violence and discrimination from the community. The novel is also about the loss of the old oral Gaelic tradition and the emergence of a new form of Gaelic culture, literate, but lacking the continuity of the old spoken tales.

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Lachlan Munro SATURDAY 29th 7pm £8

Lachlan Munro hails from Stirlingshire, and is of Highland parentage. He is currently completing a PhD in History & Literature at the University of Glasgow. 

Lachlan Munro will be launching his new book, The Scenery of Dreams, on Saturday September 29th at The Bookends Festival.

The Scenery of Dreams traces the curious origins of Stevenson’s favourite work - his masterpiece of classic adventure - Kidnapped, before relating the extraordinary stories and fates of the real characters, the literary influences, and the real events and places that Stevenson incorporated into it. The book also paints a vivid picture of Stevenson himself, and the Highlands after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, which includes the pivotal event in the book - The Appin Murder, and is full of fascinating details of Highland life, history, culture, poetry, songs, and folklore.

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