19 June
The 23rd Nairn Book and Arts Festival launches, introducing 'Storriestreet'
Nairn Book and Arts Festival (29 August – 6 September 2026) has launched its eagerly anticipated programme, featuring former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and leading lights of the literary world, including Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart, Graeme Macrae Burnet, and Sarah Hall, while two Scots cultural giants - one of literature and one of comedy - are celebrated in Alan Bisset’s critically acclaimed play ‘When Billy Met Alasdair’ .
The festival - themed this year A Sense of A Place: Overland and Underground - will launch on Saturday 29th August with a new storytelling-focused venture - ‘Storriestreet’ - on Nairn’s High Street, and end on Sunday 6th September with a giant puppet parade as part of the festival’s ‘Finale Day’. The final weekend will also host the premiere performance of Vision Mechanics’ extraordinary marionette show Circus Of Dreams, and an outdoor dance performance from Dudendance on Nairn Beach.
Now in its 23rd year, the festival will also play host to John Pasche, former Creative Director of the South Bank Centre in London and one-time artist to the Rolling Stones, who was responsible for designing the famous ‘Lips’ logo alongside other posters for the band.
There will be panel discussions digging deep into the thorny issue of AI’s role in publishing, and exploring the work of prolific and influential Highland writer Neil Gunn - led by new publisher North House Press.
The front cover of the programme, specially commissioned from a Highlands-based artist each year, has been designed by illustrator and animator Rachel Bevan Baker, who has directed and art-directed numerous animation projects, including ‘A Bear Named Wojtek’ for the BBC, and teaches animation online through Animation Pie.
“Our new initiative, ‘Storriestreet’ will bring storytellers from across the Highlands and beyond into venues along the High Street, while Finale Day will be enhanced by dance performance bringing an environmental message against the stunning backdrop of the Moray Firth, and Vision Mechanics’ wonderful, original ‘Circus of Dreams’. We have a rich variety of extraordinary authors and poets coming to Nairn for festival week, and we are delighted that Alan Bisset is returning with his critically acclaimed play ‘When Billy Met Alasdair’. We are incredibly grateful to our major funders Creative Scotland, our Principal sponsors Haventus, and all the other grant giving bodies and businesses who give us essential support. The festival involves hundreds of people, and I’d like to thank everyone who contributes to making it such a richly varied event.”
— Claire Dormer, Chair of the FestivalMusic at the festival includes acclaimed Liberata Collective performing Antonia – part play and part opera – revealing a different side to Marie Antoinnette through the composers she nurtured, with a talk on Baroque gesture beforehand. The programme also leans into traditional music with transatlantic folk from Ewan Macintyre Band and the unique melding of Scottish ‘trad’ and dub music with An Dannsa Dub.
On the final Saturday of the festival, Nicola Sturgeon will discuss her bestselling memoir ‘Frankly’; also in the line-up for the day are poet, Scots language performer and writer, and mental health advocate Len Pennie, and playwright, performer, and multidisciplinary artist Inua Ellams MBE.
The evocative tradition of Gaelic psalm singing is celebrated in Rob MacNeacail’s film Sailm Nan Daoine (Song of the People) - Rob will also lead a Gaelic psalm-singing workshop. Scots Makar Peter Mackay will visit Gaelic language students at the local secondary school, Nairn Academy.
Musician-turned-award-winning music journalist and author Daniel Rachel talks about his book ‘Isle of Noises’, while Marc Marnie continues the story of his decades-long career as a music photographer in ‘My Favourite Hour (Revisited)’.
The literary programme also features an afternoon of crime with Doug Johnstone, Marion Todd and Daniel Aubrey, and there are also appearances by debut authors Margaret Macdonald, Kristie De Garis and Kirsty Mills, in addition to Karen Campbell, Shona Maclean, Gavin Francis, Mandy Haggith and Tom Newlands.
The eclectic programme features workshops in creative writing with Kirsty Gunn, craftivism with Sarah Corbett, filmmaking with Cassiah Joski-Jethi and a workshop on ‘Kineku’ - short form film with Graeme Johnson. Amy Neville will lead a weekend of community puppet-making workshops, creating giant insects for the Finale Day parade.
Musician, artist and curator Arun Sood will explore the art of music collage and discuss his book and album project, ‘Searching Erskine’, about the lost community of the Isle of Vallay in the Outer Hebrides.
The festival’s New Writing event, showcasing local talent, will feature the winner of the festival’s short story writing competition, The Astley Prize.
The festival has a schools outreach programme of author visits, artist visits and music workshops planned, which will reach over 900 children and young people. Visiting local schools this year are Emily Dodd, Peter Mackay, and Barbara Henderson, artists Gordon Maclellan and Rachel Bevan Baker, and Drumfun.
An Open Exhibition will feature original work by artists from across the North of Scotland and the Islands, while the local WASPS studios will open their doors, hold a special exhibition and run an Art Car Boot sale.
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