A new event with strong royal links will be launched next month in Braemar.
The Fife Arms in the Royal Deeside town has announced it will play host to the inaugural Braemar Literary Festival in October, with the event being developed with the Royal Reading Room, a book club launched by Her Majesty the Queen Consort.
The festival will bring a host of well-known authors to the picturesque village of Braemar including leading Scottish crime novelist Ian Rankin and the poet and former Scottish makar, Jackie Kay.
Tom Parker Bowles, son of the Queen Consort and an author and food writer, will also feature at the event as well as support the curation of its programe.
The hotel, owned by art-world power couple Iwan and Manuela Wirth, said it was making its “first foray into the world of words” with the new festival, which comes after the “runaway success” of its Fashion Weekend in 2019.
The event is a new fixture in the village, which has hosted the long-time royal favourite event, the Braemar Gathering.
The literary event will take place from October 7 to 9 2022.
The festival will also feature a wide range of free workshops and a pop-up “Poem & A Pint” programme, where roving poets Shane Strachan and Mae Diansangu, both from Aberdeen, will entertain customers in local bars and cafes, with spoken word performances.
Community elements include “word walks”, combining the great outdoors with creative writing, walking tours to Robert Louis Stevenson’s house and a reading of Braemar Commemorative Jubilee Poem by north-east poet Gillian Shearer.
Members of the public will be able to book subsidised festival tickets (price capped at £10) to enjoy all lectures being held at St Margaret’s and Braemar Village Hall and free creative workshops, walks and book signings at various village venues.
Guests staying at the Fife Arms on the hotel’s Braemar Literary Festival room package will enjoy two nights, including a specially curated three-course festival launch dinner cooked by chef Angela Hartnett, with special access to private drinks receptions featuring festival speakers and supporters, dinner and post-dinner readings from invited authors, an in-room gift and complimentary tickets to all festival lectures and events.
Conversation