Reading and writing in Ross-Shire Homecoming 2009 event
Dingwall is definitely the place to be on Saturday 7 November when not only will Ross County play Inverness Caley in the all important derby match at Victoria Park,but also Ross and Cromarty Readers’ Groups(RCRG) will stage an all day literary Homecoming event at Dingwall Academy.
RCRG was set up in 2006, to support, develop, improve and promote the enjoyment of reading, primarily within library based reading groups in Ross and Cromarty.
The day, it is hoped, will continue where the official Highland Homecoming celebrations leave off and provide fans of Margaret Bennett, the award winning Scottish writer, folklorist, singer and storyteller and other literary
enthusiasts with a further opportunity to indulge in the literary homecoming scene with Readings and discussions from talented local writers and a publisher as well as two widely acclaimed Scottish authors, all in the comfortable surroundings of the state of the art multipurpose Hall in Dingwall Academy.
The event starts off at 10am with Jacqueline Liuba, of Applecross, the Neil Gunn Adult Prose Writing Competition winner 2009, reading her short story, “…..there are angels as there are trees”.
Jacqueline was a member of the Ross-Shire Writers’ Group at the time of writing her story and is currently completing an Open University course in Literature.
Next,at 10.45 Christina MacDonald,of Ross-Shire Writers’ Group,reads her
poem, “The Iolaire” which although written recently, was inspired by childhood
memories of reciting a poem “Prologue Spoken By The Players” by Neil Munro in her Stornoway school days and by ballads and poems from various sources she has since collected.
Christina is followed,by fellow Ross-Shire Writers’ Group member,Catriona Tawse with a Reading of her short story, “Strumming”.
Catriona,too has connections with Gaeldom and is a gifted storyteller with a wry sense of humour.
Before lunch, at 11.40,urban crofter, Daily Mail journalist and author, John MacLeod, talks about his recently published book, ” When I Heard The Bell” with some reference to his earlier,” Banner In The West”.
John’s basic theme will be “cianalas”, a near-untranslatable Gaelic word for homesickness, yearning, nostalgia, the anguish of exile, the longing for return and reunion - it has both a spiritual meaning (for the Christian) and a physical one (for the exile).
“ When I Heard The Bell” is the first English account of the Iolaire tragedy which happened 90 years ago and is still Britain’s worst peacetime disaster at sea since “The Titanic”. The devastating consequences for life in the Hebrides is still being felt up to the present day.
At 2pm author and poet, Andrew Greig reads excerpts from his next book “At the Loch of the Green Corrie” and his Fife and Orkney poems from “Into You”.
Andrew is a great favourite at Highland Book Festivals and events. In 2007 he appeared at The Black Isle Words Festival and read excerpts from his book, “Preferred Lies”, to a rapt audience. Andrew has published a number of
novels including “In Another Light” for which he won the 2004 Saltire Society
Scottish Book of the Year Award.
To finish the day at 3.25pm,Robert Davidson, the founder and Managing Director of Sandstone Press Ltd, talks about, “Sandstone Press, Publishing from Highland Scotland”.
For some years now Sandstone Press has been an educational and non-fiction publisher. That is about to change and a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes for some months now. In this talk Robert will discuss the company’s progress and ambitions for the future.
Then, at 4.10pm it will be time to bid everyone farewell and get that match score!
Entrance costs £10 at the door and includes all talks and Readings and tea/coffee morning and afternoon. Lunch is not included or provided. No booking required.
This event is sponsored by The Ord Group, Muir of Ord, MacLean Electrical, Dingwall and The Highland Council Dingwall and Seaforth Discretionary Budget.