Tidelines Book Festival kicks off this week promising a magical mix of trad music, gin tasting, masters of crime and some cracking good stories.
North Ayrshire’s independent festival of books and writing starts off by bringing four well-known writers of children’s book into eight schools to talk to pupils about their work and inspire them to read and enjoy fiction.
Tidelines will also be donating £100 of free books to each school, funded by Irvine Housing Association and Specsavers.
The festival itself will get underway at the Harbour Arts Centre on Thursday evening with a foot-stomping session with leading folk-rock band Mànran,
Two former winners of the McIlvanney Prize for crime fiction, Denise Mina and Chris Brookmyre, will be there as well as two prize-winning Icelandic crime writers. If gin’s your thing, there will be a Scottish gin-tasting event at Puffers Café, and for the youngsters, there are Gruffalo and Matilda themed story-telling events.
Tidelines Chair, Siobhan Staples, said “Our great team of volunteers works hard all year to bring top-class writers to Irvine.
“This year we have been running writing workshops in the community, and have plans for more events throughout the year. We’re so proud that our festival is now recognised as one of the best small book festivals in the country.”
The festival runs from September 26-29 at Irvine Harbourside.
More more details at www.tidelinesbookfest.com
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