Faclan 2024 The Hebridean Book Festival Beatha is Bàs: Life & Death by anlanntair

Introduction

No-one can remember being born, and – discounting an afterlifeno-one will remember dying. Conscious life exists in our waking hours, between these two points. Some say it’s all between our ears. The poles of our existence: Birth and death. Beginning and end. Start and stop.

In between is the messy, unpredictable interlude called life.

This year ’ s Faclan takes us from the womb to the tomb, with film, poetry, true crime, memoir and the many voices of lived experience, concluding with an appreciation of the remarkable life and cultural contribution of the late Finlay Macleod.

Roddy Murray Head of Visual Arts & Literature

EXHIBITIONS

Tiugainn Comhladh: Let’s Go Together: Tom Brice Inspired, variously by the book ‘Street Logos’ by Tristan Manco, and the likes of Shepard Fairey and D*Face. Inspired and influenced by travel, people, cultures and landscapes, and anime, graphic novels, music, album art and philosophy.

MAIN GALLERY

S geulachdan bho’n Loch: Tales from the Loch: Alice Macleod

Decorative arts and prints by this island art graduate. Lochs are significant local landmarks steeped in Island history with hugely diverse habitats This collection aims to capture their essence, exploring the interplay between their natural beauty and folklore.

CAFÈ BAR GALLERY

The Grapes of Wrath

Film: John Ford, 1940, 129 mins

Based on John Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an Oklahoma family of sharecroppers’ arduous migration to California during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made.

A Transfer of Grace: Island Lives.

Talk: Main Gallery, Free entry

Readings of poetry and prose from a publication on the theme of Island Life by members of the Catch 23 Writer's Group facilitated by Peter Urpeth.

Stuff the World is Made of

Film: Paul Cox, 2023, 60 min

The extraordinary art of sculptor Steve Dilworth examined in scenes from his studio on the Isle of Harris, and in interviews with afficionados such as Robert Macfarlane and his recent biographer, Georgina Coburn. From the seminal Hanging Figure piece of 1979 to one of his most recent sculptures, Guardian

Unnad: Indigenous: Calum Angus Mackay

Book Launch, 8.15pm £6/£5

Part catalogue, part autobiography, Unnad offers a unique perspective on the generations of the artist’s family, his work and community. An indigenous, unsentimental view framed by curiosity, honest selfexamination, and respect for the past.

Sweeney an Intertonguing: Rody Gorman

Author Event, 7pm £6/£5

A multilingual version of the Irish medieval story Buile Shuibhne (The Frenzy of Sweeney), in English, Irish, Scottish and Manx Gaelic, with lingua gadelica, phonemic pieces and round-trip translations: Suibhne mac Colmain, ruler of a kingdom in the north, is driven mad by a curse.

“Utterly extraordinary” – Robert Macfarlane “A complete masterpiece” – John Glenday

Rody Gorman is an acclaimed Irish born poet who lives in Skye.

The Dead

Film, 2pm £5/4

Adaptation of the classic short story by James Joyce. Set in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party hosted by two sisters, it focuses on the academic Gabriel Conroy and his discovery of his wife Gretta's memories of a deceased lover.

John Ford, 1940, 129 mins

Strandings: Confessions of a Whale Scavenger: Peter Riley

Author Event, 5pm £6/£5

Whenever a whale washes up on one of Britain's coasts, a fugitive community descends to claim trophies from the carcass Some driven by magical beliefs, some by profit: there is a black market for everything from ambergris to whale tooth sex toys. Meet witches, pedlars, fetishists, conspiracy theorists and fallen aristocrats.

'Wild and wonderful’ - Philip Hoare

Dr Peter Riley is Senior Lecturer in American Literature at Exeter University and the winner of The Ideas Prize for non-fiction (2020).

Highland Boundary Fault: Emma McKervey

Author Event, 6pm Free (Stornoway Library)

A poetic odyssey that draws the reader into myth, history, art, and a love story that travels from the Outer Hebrides to the Scottish mainland. Ancient worlds peopled by characters who are archetypes, and flesh and blood

”McKervey is sharp as winter. This is a tonic of a bookrattling, cleansing, energising.” - Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Poet & Editor

Emma McKervey is an award-winning poet from County Down.

A Tomb with a View: The stories and glories of graveyards: Peter Ross

Author Event, 7pm £6/£5

A graveyard is like a library in stone. This is for anyone who has ever wandered through one and wondered about the lives and deaths of those who lie beneath.

“ ... a considered and moving book on how the dead are remembered, and how they go on working below the surface of our lives.”

- Hilary Mantel

WINNER OF THE SCOTTISH NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021

We All Go into the Dark: The Hunt for Bible John: Francisco Garcia

Author Event, 8.30pm £6/£5

Journalist Francisco Garcia tracks an unidentified serial killer who has haunted Scotland for over five decades. All the victims had been strangled, all had been dancing at the Barrowlands Ballroom. Bible John’s status as a folk devil is undeniable, but whether he actually existed is more ambiguous.

Francisco Garcia is a London-based writer and journalist. His long form features, essays and investigations are regularly published in the Financial Times, The Guardian, the London Review of Books and many others.

Breith is Bàs is Ath-bheatha: Birth Death and Afterlife in the Islands.

Dr John Smith, a GP in the islands since the early seventies recounts what has changed and what hasn’t in midwifery. John ‘Rusty’ Macdonald, on the Island traditions of funerals and wakes, and Catriona Murray on premonitions, second sight and what lies beyond the grave.

Chaired by Agnes Rennie (Includes breakfast roll & hot drink)

The Scottish Cookbook. The Hebridean Baker: Coinneach Macleod

A celebration of tradition, innovation and delicious food Each chapter weaves a broad narrative of tradition, folklore and travel with tales of island life, pioneering women, Gaelic music and maritime adventures. This isn’t just a cookbook; it's a cultural expedition. Chaired by Alasdair Macleod.

The Raven’s Nest: Sarah Thomas

Visiting Iceland in 2008 as an anthropologist and filmmaker, Sarah Thomas is captivated by the country and a man she meets, which radically alters her understanding of herself and the living world. Amid a personal crisis, she finds inspiration in the artistry of a raven ’ s nest: a home which persists through breaking and reweaving – over and over.

Chaired by Renee Mason.

Talk, 10am £10/£9

Author Event, 12pm £6/£5

Author Event, 2pm £6/£5

Mirror

Film, 5pm £5/£4

Tarkovsky, 1975, 106 mins

Mirror unfolds around a dying poet’s memories of his life, combining incidents, dreams, memories, and newsreel footage, switching between three different timeframes: prewar (1935), wartime (1940s), and postwar (1960s or '70s) Since its release it has been reappraised as one of the greatest of all films.

FIONNLAGH

Finlay Macleod: An Appreciation

An Appreciation, 7.30pm £10/£9

Night Train to Odesa: Covering the Human Cost of Russia’s War –Jen Stout

Talk, 3.30pm £6/£5

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant. Millions of people were suddenly on the move In this great flow of people was a reporter from the north of Scotland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression.

An evening of readings, music, film, imagery and conversation in memory, celebration and appreciation of the extraordinary life and achievement of the late Finlay Macleod. (In English and Gaelic.) This event will be in two halves with an interval.

WithatastingoftheneweditionofTheHearach singlemaltfromtheHarrisDistillerytofollow. Or,alternatively,a‘wintercocktail.’

Victoria Williamson Louisa Macdougall

The Whistlers in the Dark by Victoria Williamson My name ’ s Jinny. I’m twelve autumns old, and this is how I woke the sleeping stones and brought fire and destruction down on us all. Set in Scotland, 158 AD.

Dates: Thursday 31 October

Suitable for: P4 – P7

Language: English

Location: Your School Cost: Free

Will Uncle Dod manage to make a Time Machine for the twin’s birthday? They want to go back to the Age of the Dinosaurs. Mairi NicGillIosa

Dates: w/c 28th October

Suitable for: P2 – P5

(environmental themes suitable for whole school)

Language: English

Location: Your School

Cost: Free

The Great Auks Great Escape by Louisa Macdougall Set in St Kilda and around the Hebrides, the story of a now extinct seabird and a young cabin boy

Dates: available during w/c 28th

October

Suitable for: P4 – P7

Language: Gaelic

Location: Your School Cost: Free

June Ghreumach

‘Pangur is a black cat living happily with his family in Bern in Switzerland – until they decide to return to Scotland.

Dates: Mon 28th October or Fri 1st

November

Suitable for: P4 – P7

Language: Gaelic

Location: Your School Cost: Free

Julia Donaldson

An Fhaochag agus a ’ Mhucmhara - Drama games with Catrìona Lexy Chaimbeul Catriona Lexy Campbell with games and activities based on the Gaelic translation of the The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Schaeffer Monday 28th October: P1 – P3

Language: Gaelic

Dates: Monday 28th October

Suitable for: P1 – P3

Language: Gaelic

Location: Your School Cost: Free

FACLAN

As part of Faclan: The Hebridean Book Festival, a number of inspiring author talks are available for schools. These events are available to Primary school classes in Lewis and Harris. Some Faclan Oga events are supported by the Scottish Book Trust Live Literature scheme.