We are joined by Abiola Bello and Helen Lewis from the Diverse Book Awards. They discuss how they started the awards in the middle of the pandemic, the challenges of running them and even a sneak peak of what to expect from Wigtown YA 2021.

31 Questions with Caleb Azumah Nelson

Jul 28th, 2021 11m 45s

Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of 'Open Water', answers 31 pressing questions for Same Page. If you're not signed up for Same Page, here's the link: https://bit.ly/samepageya

Wigtown: Inklings with 404 Ink and Katie Goh

Apr 7th, 2021 30m 57s

We go behind the scenes with publishers 404 Ink and their forthcoming new non-fiction series, Inklings. This conversation features founders Heather McDaid & Laura Jones, and author Katie Goh whose The End: Surviving the World Through Fictional

Wigtown: Steven Lovatt

Mar 23rd, 2021 28m 31s

Sometimes a book comes along that marries meaning, moment and enthusiasm with such force and beauty that it stops you in your tracks. Steven Lovatt’s Birdsong in a Time of Silence is such a book. Started as the world ground to a halt - its firs

Wigtown: Robert Shearman

Mar 7th, 2021 40m 51s

As an audio finale for Big Bang we present an interview with Robert Shearman, a man of many talents whose stellar writing career spans theatre, television, audio drama, novels and short fiction. We discuss Rob's forthcoming novel, a Doctor Who

Big Bang Stargazing: Orion and the Seven Sisters

Mar 6th, 2021 6m 4s

As a special extra for Big Bang, Wigtown's annual dark skies festival, Elizabeth Tindal, Freelance Ranger and Biosphere Dark Sky Ranger, will be talking us through her stargazing adventures in the Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park every evening at

Big Bang Stargazing: Mars

Mar 6th, 2021 8m

Big Bang Stargazing: Orion

Mar 4th, 2021 6m 11s

Big Bang Stargazing: The Plough and the North Star

Mar 3rd, 2021 7m 10s

Big Bang: Introduction to Stargazing with Elizabeth Tindal

Mar 2nd, 2021 5m 47s

Wigtown: Sara Baume

Feb 17th, 2021 32m 56s

We chat with writer and visual artist Sara Baume about her third book, handiwork. Just last week shortlisted for the prestigious Rathbones Folio Prize, it is a contemplative short narrative that charts Sara's daily process of making and writing

Wigtown: Burns Night with Gerard Carruthers and Gerda Stevenson

Jan 24th, 2021 36m 38s

On this episode we’re joined by two special guests well-acquainted with the life and work of Robert Burns in a special episode for Burns Night 2021.Professor Gerard Carruthers is Francis Hutcheson Chair of Scottish Literature at the Universit

Wigtown: Jenny Colgan

Dec 14th, 2020 27m 54s

On this, the last episode of 2020, we look back at podcasts past to pluck out some books for your reading future. And for Christmas present, we chat with New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan about piano playing, Christmas traditions a

Wigtown: Polly Pullar

Dec 7th, 2020 28m 24s

This episode features the wonderful Polly Pullar. No stranger to Wigtown Book Festival audiences as one of our wonderful chair people, the tables are turned here as we hear about Polly’s life and work as a wildlife rehabilitator and journalist

Wigtown: Douglas Stuart

Nov 27th, 2020 52m 24s

This episode features the entire event from this year’s Wigtown Book Festival with chair Lee Randall in conversation with author Douglas Stuart, who was announced last week as the winner of the 2020 Booker Prize for his novel Shuggie Bain.

Highlights: Nicola Yoon and Alastair McIntosh

Nov 17th, 2020 32m 39s

On this episode we continue our series of highlights from this year’s festival with two very different authors who are united in emphasising the importance of promoting healthy relationships between us. The ways in which we relate to the world

Highlights: Michael Longley and Jan Carson

Nov 10th, 2020 34m 10s

On this episode we revisit two very special events from this year's festival, featuring two of Northern Ireland’s finest exports, poet Michael Longley and novelist Jan Carson. Listen to the short story 'Soup' which Jan reads in its entirety an

Highlights: Kate Humble and Simon Conway

Nov 3rd, 2020 35m 16s

On this episode we feature more edited highlights from this year's Wigtown Book Festival with excerpts from our events with wildlife TV presenter and author Kate Humble and former British Army officer, international aid worker and spy thriller

Highlights: Peter Ross and Alice Tarbuck

Oct 27th, 2020 32m 13s

On this episode we hear about witches and graveyards with authors Alice Tarbuck and Peter Ross who discuss their books A Spell in the Wild: A Year (and six centuries) of Magic and A Tomb with A View: The Stories and Glories of Graveyards with H

Highlights: Maggie O'Farrell and Dara McAnulty

Oct 20th, 2020 36m 41s

In the first podcast of edited highlights from this year's Wigtown Book Festival we feature two award winning authors whose very different books look at our interconnected lives. Conservationist and nature writer Dara McAnulty, winner of the

Wigtown: Susie Dent

Oct 13th, 2020 27m 39s

On this episode Jessica Fox speaks to etymologist and lexicographer Susie Dent ahead of the publication of her new book Word Perfect, a brilliant linguistic almanac full of unforgettable true stories tied to every day of the year.

Festival 2020 Day 11: Wilde at Heart with Matthew Sturgis and Sally Rees

Oct 4th, 2020 34m 49s

This episode continues our celebration of the legendary Oscar Wilde with Matthew Sturgis, the author of acclaimed biography Oscar: A Life, and Sally Rees, a teacher and festivals organiser in Enniskillen who offers her unique insights into the

Festival 2020 Day 10: Wilde at Heart with Rupert Everett

Oct 3rd, 2020 28m 30s

On this episode we feature actor, director and author Rupert Everett for a very special chat with Wigtown favourite Lee Randall. In his highly anticipated third memoir, Rupert Everett tells the story of how he set out to make a film of Oscar Wi

Festival 2020 Day 9: Featherston Book Town

Oct 2nd, 2020 54m 40s

On today's episode we're teaming up with our sister book town, Featherston, to celebrate all things New Zealand. Featherston became a full member of the International Organisation of Booktowns two years ago in 2018 and so we’re taking the oppor

Festival 2020 Day 8: Reading Luis Sagasti and Alycia Pirmohamed with Open Book

Oct 1st, 2020 36m 25s

Claire Urquhart and Marjorie Lotfi Gill from shared reading charity Open Book present the second of their two Wigtown Book Festival takeovers. On this episode they discuss an excerpt from the book A Musical Offering by Luis Sagasti and the poem