Saturday 16th April  3.00 – 4.00pm

As part of The Big Lit Festival

Kenneth Steven was inspired to write A Song Among the Stones by a talk about early Celtic hermits thought to have made the difficult and dangerous journeys from Iona to seek solitude in Iceland. It was first broadcast by Radio 3’s The Verb and went on to become a choral work by composer John Hearne. Then world renowned harpist Wendy Stewart composed music to be woven through and around the sequence. Wendy and Kenneth have gone on to perform it many times in different corners of Scotland.

£10
Sponsored by the Scottish Book Trust

Saturday 16th April  1.30 – 2.30pm

As part of The Big Lit Festival

With old photographs, poems and a summary of his philosophy, Dr Christine Kupfer explores the life and thought of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore was a polymath who reshaped Bengali poetry, literature, music, art and theatre. He was honoured with the Nobel Prize in literature in 1913 for Gitanjali. India still celebrates him as one of its greatest cultural heroes. Dr Kupfer, author of a book on Tagore’s philosophy and education, talks about Tagore’s life, worldview and his educational experiments at his Indian ashram.

£8.00

Saturday 16th April  10.30 – 11.30am

As part of The Big Lit Festival

Writer, photographer, and exhibition and book designer Phil Cope will take readers on a series of surprising journeys: travels through time, through our contested histories, through the responses of our poets and writers, and through the inspiring territories of our changing beliefs, in his illustrated talk on the sacred springs and holy wells of Scotland.

£8.00

See additional associated event - a free guided walk to Rutherford’s Well at Anwoth (weather permitting!)

Friday 15th April  3.45 – 4.30pm

As part of The Big Lit Festival

World renowned Scottish harpist Wendy Stewart entertains with a programme of Gaelic and Scots song  highlighting the poetry of both languages and the links in culture and history.

£5.00

Friday 15th April   2.30- 3.15pm

As part of The Big Lit Festival

Tom is one of Scotland’s foremost contemporary poets; lyrical, celebratory and sensitive to the world around him. He reads from his latest collection At the Well of Love (Mariscat Press, 2016), and of other unexpected locations. Come and share a varied and engaging 45 minutes in his company.

£5.00
Sponsored by the Scottish Book Trust

2016 is the 10th Anniversary of Gatehouse literary venue, The Bakehouse, which runs BIG LIT. Big Lit, the Stewartry Book Festival has gone from strength to strength since it began as part of the Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival in 2011. This year it has grown even bigger, with the expansion of activities for young people. So whether you have small children underfoot, are an Archer’s fan, enjoy the work of Jane Austen, love the combination of music and poetry, are into contemporary writing or writing from other generations and cultures, are interested in installation or  exhibition  – there will  be something in this year’s BIG LIT programme you can enjoy.  The Mill is the main venue for most of the events, but other events are happening around town as well as ad hoc unprogrammed entertainement from guerilla poets to buskers.  A lively weekend in Gatehouse is guaranteed.  Check out the Big Lit website for full details.

Mill Events

Tuesday 29th September 2015
7.30pm

In association with The Wigtown Book Festival

We are made of star stuff ... how the atoms in our bodies come from stars through star death.

www.wigtownbookfestival.com