The Pentlands Book Festival is back this month with Douglas Skelton offering “something nasty”.
From the darker side take a walk in the sunlight and join Liz Beevers on her tour of Malleny Gardens or a trip to the Botanics library.
If you miss out on these, Kirsty Wilson of Beechgrove and Garden Manager at the Botanics will be discussing sustainable gardening. Staying with the Botanical, Sara Sheridan (of Fair Botanists fame), in another welcome return, takes readers to 1822 Edinburgh and the scent of scandal.
From the garden border to the Borders, Chair of the Trimontium Trust John Reid’s latest research will provide thought-provoking reassessments of many aspects of the story of the Romans in Scotland. And Jamie Crawford (of BBC1’s Scotland from the Sky) in his Wild History will introduce us to many lost places: from the ruins of prehistoric forts and ancient burial sites to abandoned bothies and boathouses and derelict traces of old, faded, industry. But abandoned sites can be repurposed, and Mike Scott and Eddie Banks will bring us up to date on their labour of love, the Colinton Tunnel.
Favourite visitor to Pentland Art Club, Damian Callan, always makes an impression, and stitching together the art section, Andrew Crummy, MBE, will relate more about the Great Tapestry of Scotland.
If poetry is your bag then go along and hear Scots Performer of the Year 2021 and Herald columnist, warrior poet Len Pennie. There will also be more to hear about Colinton resident Dorothy Dunnett, Queen of historical fiction and creator of The Lymond Chronicles and The House of Niccolò, and debut authors will take readers back to their childhoods and Ukraine before Putin’s invasion.
And if you want to hear what brings people to settle in this beautiful area, go along and hear a late addition to this year’s programme, Jean-Luc Barbanneau.
Some events are already sold out but you can still find some gems at http://www.pentlandsbookfestival.org/
All events are free.
