CB authors to international festival
Great news out of Scotland today! (Okay, we knew about it but couldn’t say anything until today.)
The Ullapool Book Festival takes place in that seaside town in Scotland in May 2014 and this year’s Canadian contingent of two authors are both from Cape Breton.
Frank Macdonald, Inverness, and Lindsay Marshall, Potlotek First Nation, will appear during the tenth festival, May 9-11.
The list of their predecessors is impressive: Award winning novelists Iain Banks, Alistair Macleod, Wayne Johnston and Linden MacIntyre, as well as Alexander MacLeod, Roger Hutchinson, folklorist Margaret Bennett and poets Angus Peter Campbell and Rody Gorman.
Frank Macdonald’s two novels, A Forest for Calum and A Possible Madness, were both longlisted for the IMPAC Dublin International Literary award as well as for Atlantic Book Awards. Both books have been used in school and university classrooms, A Possible Madness in particular for its strong environmental theme. Both books are published by CBU Press.
Mi’kmaw poet Lindsay Marshall is a former chief of Potlotek First Nation, Nova Scotia. His poetry collection Clay Pots and Bones, first published by Solus in 1997, will be re-released by CBU Press in 2014. Marshall was honoured to be Mi’kmaw poet laureate, leading the official welcome of Queen Elizabeth II to Nova Scotia in 2010.
Founded by a group of literary enthusiasts in Ullapool and a local voluntary arts organization the Ullapool Book Festival was first held in 2005.
Literature and the arts have a significant place in Highland culture and life. The book festival is a showcase for Highland writers, writers from other parts of Scotland, and indeed the world, to come and create and enjoy an inspirational atmosphere. It gives an opportunity for local people and visitors alike to hear the best the world of literature has to offer.
Financial support for the Ullapool Book Festival comes from Creative Scotland and Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The festival’s program will be announced in late March when tickets go on sale.
Congratulations Frank and Lindsay!