Distinguished singer and writer Dr Anne Lorne Gillies will perform songs from her award-winning book Songs of Gaelic Scotland at the Burns Monument Centre on Wednesday 14th November (7.30 – 9 pm). She will tell the stories behind the songs, providing us with some historical background, and explain why these songs are so valuable to Gaelic speakers and non-Gaelic speakers alike.
For more information go to www.imprintfestival.co.uk or to book tickets call .
Next week is Imprint week at the Burns Monument Centre, and not surprisingly, our free workshop ‘A Place in History: Exploring the Collections’ is fully booked. The workshop will serve as a taster for the archive and local history collections here at the Centre, and will be hosted by Principal Archivist Christine Ewing and local history author (and member of staff) Heather Dunlop.
Image from Old Crosshouse, courtesy of Peter Kerr
They will introduce a range of resources (for example Poor Relief records, Kirk Session records, Burgh records, Valuation Rolls) and explain how they can be used for local or family history. Heather will also talk about how she used these resources when writing her book Old Crosshouse (Stenlake, £9).
Image from Old Crosshouse courtesy of Peter Kerr
Given the high demand for tickets for this workshop, we hope to arrange similar events in the near future!
At this year’s Imprint Book Festival we have a very special event featuring William McIlvanney and Stewart Conn, in converstation with Scotland on Sunday‘s Stuart Kelly. They will be discussing and reading around the theme of ‘A Sense of Belonging’ - from the anthology A Sense of Belonging: Six Scottish Poets of the Seventies (Blackie, 1977) in which McIlvanney and Conn appeared alongside Douglas Dunn, Tom Leonard, Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan. This little book is a major document of twentieth century Scottish poetry. That it features two writers with strong Ayrshire connections (both were taught at Kilmarnock Academy) means that it’s a treasured part of the area’s literary heritage.
The event is on 13th November, 8.30 pm – 9.30 pm. It’s preceded by an appearance by Janice Galloway, again in conversation with Stuart Kelly, discussing her award-winning memoir All Made Up (7 pm – 8 pm). For more information on the events go to Imprint Book Festival or call to book tickets.
The Imprint Festival brochure is now out and the new website live – www.imprintfestival.co.uk.
Most of the events are held here at the Burns Monument Centre, and this year the festival has a stronger Ayrshire connection than ever. We’re welcoming two award-winning Scottish writers to Imprint for the first time – Andrew O’Hagan and Janice Galloway. We also have a very special event featuring two of the major Scottish writers of the past 40 years – William McIlvanney and Stewart Conn, both ex-pupils of Kilmarnock Academy. But it’s not just about Ayrshire – go to www.imprintfestival.co.uk to find out more about this year’s programme and how to book tickets.