Keith Chapman presents winning prices
21st September 2011
Bob the builder creator, Keith Chapman presented Nursery - P4 children with their prizes for the Create A Character Competition.
View photos here: http://www.photoboxgallery.com/3176
Mark Douglas Home receives great reveiws
20th July 2011
‘THERE comes a time when a novel raises the bar for a particular genre, and Mark Douglas-Home’s debut
The Sea Detective does just that for Scottish crime fiction. Elegantly written and compelling, it introduces a new,
thoroughly modern hero into the crime-fighting canon.’ The Scotsman 17 July 2011
http://living.scotsman.com/books/Book-review-The-Sea-Detective.6802248.jp
Links to other reviews:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/fiction-reviews/mark-douglas-home-the-sea-detective-sandstone-press-1.1102488
http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/lifestyle/borders-book-festival/borders_author_s_debut_set_to_make_waves_1_1730654
http://www.aberfeldywatermill.com/books/scottish_field/
Bob the builder comes to Nairn Book & Arts Festival
19th June 2011
Nairn Book and Arts Festival has persuaded Bob the Builder’s creator, Keith Chapman, to feature in this year’s Festival, when Nairn’s primary school children will help him create a new character to join Bob, Fifi, the Flower Tots and Roary the Racing Car - stars of his books and television shows.
Now pupils from the four Nairnshire Primary Schools will take part in a competition to create their own character. Keith will judge and present prizes to winners and runners up on Saturday 3 September in the Community Centre where he will be performing as part of the Festival’s programme.
Following the success of Bob the Builder in the 1990’s, Keith’s characters continue to give enormous pleasure to children, parents and teachers and are brought to life through fantastic animation and the wonderful voices of famous actors and sports personalities including Jane Horrocks, Peter Kay, Sir Stirling Moss and Murray Walker.
This year the Nairn Book and Arts Festival runs from Wednesday 31 August to Sunday 4 September and once again the organisers have put together a fascinating and eclectic selection of events which will appeal to a wide range of visitors and audiences. Very welcome is the return of historian Tom Devine who will be talking about his new book to be published this summer. Jackie Kay, Andrew Greig, Sophie Cook, Neil Forsyth, Aonghas Dubh, Timothy Neat, Jane Yeadon and Dennis Canavan will all be reading and discussing their recent works. Stuart Brown will be cooking up from his Mma Ramotswe’s cookbook whilst David Purdie & Hugh Dodd will have a wealth of stories for golf enthusiasts.
Between the readings, audiences will be able to view a major Art exhibition featuring new work from many well known Scottish artists. Rona Munro’s new play, ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous’, will be receiving its Scottish premier and Mike Maran’ will be offering his tribute to Italians who moved to Scotland in ‘Italia n’ Caledonia’. both Music Nairn and Cinema Nairn will be hosting special festival events.
Add creative writing, performances in school by poet Kenneth Steven and a host of local performers and writers including Mishmash, Tim Honnor and Peter Muskus and you can already feel the buzz in anticipation of a wonderful five days in Nairn.
2010 Chairmans Report
8th October 2010
Last year I reported that the Nairn Book and Arts Festival was more ambitious, and bigger than ever. The programme was well balanced and most arrangements worked smoothly. The event is now one of Scotland’s best provincial book and arts festivals. This year we had feared that, in a period of recession, the festival would suffer a downturn. In spite of this, the seventh Nairn Book and Arts Festival was the best yet. Attendance and ticket sales outstripped all previous years and audiences told us that over seventy percent of the events were ‘excellent’.
Organisation worked smoothly. The programme brochure was particularly attractive. The hard work and commitment of the festival small festival team supported by the whole-hearted involvement of Community Centre staff ensured the success of the Festival. Local organisations such as Music Nairn, Nairn Rotary Club, Nairn Museum, Nairn Literary Association, the Nairn Ceilidh Group, the Nairn Camera Club and the Little Theatre have been willing to support and promote events within the Festival. The willingness of the local schools to become involved and to embed Festival activities into the curriculum has significantly developed.
As usual the comedy slot, filled this year by Fred MacAulay, played to a packed house and it was particularly heartening that our core literary events did so well. For example the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy was a sell out and Doctor Tony Pollard, on the archaeology of the Culloden Battlefield along with the Dog Star Theatre production of The Tailor of Inverness were both fully attended. Traditional and classical concerts were also a great success.
It was encouraging that the majority of audience members new to the festival came from outside the area and over 10% of our local Nairnite audience attended for the very first time. It has been reported to us that there was a shortage of accommodation in the area during the festival period in June and that this is predicted to get worse next year since more events have been moved into this part of the season. Given that one of our aims is to extend the tourist season we have decided to reschedule the festival to the season’s other ‘shoulder’, that is at the beginning of September.
We have been particularly grateful for the support of our sponsors. The Festival could not exist without them. However, future funding will be difficult as the public sector sponsors is compelled to scale back and we already know that the private sector is being severely squeezed. In view of this we have already decided that it would be prudent to scale back the number of events next year
The second year of the Open Art competition, sponsored by Event Scotland and Highland Culture, was greeted by critical approval but, in the current economic climate, did not bring in as big a profit as last year. In any case, since funding was for two years this competition can no longer run in future. However, the highly successful 4Square exhibition of small paintings by invited contemporary artists at the Community Centre was such a success that it will become an annual exhibition. The Off the Peg display of paintings by local artists enlivened shop windows on the High Street and we are grateful to local shop- keepers for entering into the spirit. 4Square Art and Off the Peg galleries will, therefore continue and we hope to be able to feature more exhibitions by local artists.
The festival was run by a very small group of hard working and committed enthusiasts. It is now at a crossroads. Jean Campbell, the highly effective programme co-ordinator is now retiring after many years of service and Angela McOwan, our lynch-pin administrator, has been headhunted to be the project manager of a prestigious new Islands Festival. I myself, having had several spells in hospital must now stand down as chairman. We all believe that the festival is good for Nairn and we will continue to work for its success but it is clear that in order for it to continue to thrive we need more like-minded Nairnites to come aboard. We anticipate that the Festival will continue to attract financial and practical support from sponsors who want to see Nairn’s literary/cultural/artistic activities continue to flourish and to attract audiences of both residents and visitors. If you have organising skills and can commit a few hours a month to help with planning we invite you to get in touch at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .
John Fyfe
Chairman
Nairn Open Art Exhibition Prize Giving
9th June 2010
Nairn’s increasingly prestigious Book and Arts Festival got off to a flying start yesterday (Friday) with the prize giving and pre-view of the Nairn Open Art Competition.
The innovation this year a of a double gallery format was a great success and on a beautiful sunny evening a large crowd moved between the Seaman’s Hall and the historic Court House. The Festival organiser Angela McOwan was thrilled with the enthusiasm of the guests -“Having two venues has allowed us to show twice as many works as last year in great comfort. Pictures and sculptures by over 100 artists have been beautifully hung and our expert visitors have been very complimentary about the quality of the work and its layout”.
Nairn Provost, Cllr Laurie Fraser, welcoming guests to the prize giving commented that the Festival is now established as an important part of Nairn’s visitor programme and is a major component of Scotland’s cultural scene. In addition to the Council, support from other sponsors EventScotland, Albyn Housing Association, Dynam Graphics and Nairn Rotary has allowed the Open Art Competition to offer very generous prizes. First prize winner Andrew Thomson said
“this is the first major prize I have won and it will give my career in the arts a terrific boost”. His picture ‘Sparrow Tree’ was snapped up by an important collector immediately sales opened.
The exhibition will remains open until June 19th at the Court house and the Seaman’s Hall. At the same time the 4Square Exhibition, Ruth Nicol’s solo show, both at Nairn’s Community Centre, and other shows at the Railway Station and throughout the town give visitors to Nairn plenty to see.
Free Event from Michel Faber
9th June 2010
Following a late cancellation, acclaimed writer Michel Faber has stepped in to give a reading. Michel was born in Holland, grew up and was educated in Australia, and emigrated to the Scottish Highlands in l993. He won three major short story competitions, and was signed up by Edinburgh’s Canongate Books. He’s well-known for his novels Under The Skin and the international bestseller The Crimson Petal and The White. At this event he may read from his latest novel The Fire Gospel, or from unpublished work, or even from his early books. Come along for a dramatic, and deeply engaging event at 4.30pm on Thursday 9th June at Nairn Community Centre.
Open Art Exhibition - Receiving Day
30th May 2010
Handing in day for this year’s Open Art Exhibition was a lot of fun - looks like we have over 350 entries this year - it will be a busy day for the judges on Sunday. Exhibitions run from this Saturday 5th June - Saturday 19th June.
Poetry & Music on Thursday 10th June
25th May 2010
This event has been cancelled by the Antonious Players who are very sorry they are not able
to attend the festival. Shakespear in Love now has a new start time of 8pm
Dr Tony Pollard
27th April 2010
Dr Tony Pollard, one of the world’s foremost battlefield archaeologists, has announced some exciting findings about the location of the historic Jacobite Battle of Prestonpans. Dr Pollard, the Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University who will speak at the festival on Friday 11 June, led the team which investigated an area some distance from the originally recorded battle site.
Nairn Festival signs up first female poet Laureate
1st April 2010
You can read the full article on the BBC News website.
Programme Launch 2010
1st April 2010
It was a very cold windy morning down at the bandstand when John Fyfe, Festival Chairman launched this year’s programme of events.
Tickets go on sale this Easter weekend at Nairn Book Shop, the Community Centre and on http://www.thebooth.co.uk
Pictured with Festival Administrator, Angela Mcowan.
What's happening now
23rd March 2010
The Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who will be appearing at the festival, was so moved by David Beckham’s devastating injury she immediately put pen to paper and wrote a new poem: Achilles in which tributes to Beckham’s ability with a football are mixed with references to the classical myth in which the warrior is let down by his one weakness – his heel – while fighting at Troy. She told the BBC: “He (Beckham) is almost a mythical figure himself, in popular culture.
A.L. Kennedy’s dark comedy set in 1870s London and based on a true ... Confessions of a Medium has just been broadcast on Radio 4.
The BBC’s Book at Bedtime has recently featured several festival writers: Sally Vickers, Katy Hickman and Esther Woolfson.
Nairn Open Art Exhibition 5th- 19th June 2010
1st March 2010
More Venues & Prizes for Nairn Festival’s Art Exhibition
Gallery space has greatly increased for this year’s Open Art Exhibition. Following the remarkable success last year’s event when over 500 entries were received, this year selected works will be exhibited in both Nairn’s Town House and in The Seaman’s Hall.
Artists from all over Scotland entered the Competition last year and the organisers are anticipating another bumper entry this year –particularly with a new prize for artists from the Highland and Islands as well as acceptance of photographic works for the first time.
Robyn Ruane, organiser of the Open Art Competition, said “We were so excited last year by the enthusiasm of the entrants who submitted so many more entries than we had expected that we want to highlight a much greater number this year while maintaining the high standards required by our judges”
EventScotland are continuing their support for the Competition , with a prize roll starting at £1500, a second prize of £500, a Student prize of £500, sponsored by Nairn’ Rotary Club and the new Highland Prize, sponsored by Inverness’ design company Dynam, of £500.
The student winner will also be offered free exhibition space at the following year’s Festival. Last year’s winner, Edinburgh’s Ruth Nicol, whose pictures so impressed the judges that they made her overall winner, will be showing her latest work in the Community Centre during the 2010 Festival said today – “I have received a lot of recognition throughout the art community since winning the Nairn Open and my work has been accepted by professionals in the high quality art world. I’m looking forward to showing my work again to the friendly and knowledgeable visitors who come to the Nairn Festival.”
Cinema Nairn at this year's Festival
22nd February 2010
Cinema Nairn, the community initiative reviving big screen entertainment in the Highland seaside town, has revealed its programme for the next six months.
The project has also received a major boost in the form of a financial donation from the local Rotary Club.
Starting on Saturday 20 February, films will be screened regularly at Nairn Community Centre with six confirmed so far, ranging from classic 1950s movies ‘The Searchers’ and ‘The Sweet Smell of Success’ to two of last year’s hits, ‘Moon’ and ‘Looking for Eric’.
Cinema Nairn will also programme films with a literary theme during Nairn Book & Arts Festival week in June.
Novelist A L Kennedy
14th February 2010
The novelist A L Kennedy, who will be at the festival on 13 June, is giving a series of readings entitled The Writing Life on BBC Radio 4 at 3.30pm on 16, 17 and 18 February.
Her play, Confessions of a Medium, with a very strong cast including Bill Nighy, will be the Saturday Play on Radio 4 on 13 March at 2.30pm.
