To celebrate the beauty of the Scots language and contemporary Scottish culture, a new literary festival is coming to Perthshire this April.

Soutar Festival of Words

26th APRIL - 28th APRIL 2019

08.00AM
10.00AM
AK Bell Library

AK Bell Library

2-8 York Place
Perth, Perth and Kinross, PH2 8EP, Scotland
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To celebrate the beauty of the Scots language and contemporary Scottish culture, a new literary festival is coming to Perthshire this April.

The Soutar Festival of Words will take place at venues and outdoor locations across Perth over the weekend of 26th to 28th April.

The inaugural Soutar Festival of Words will host over twenty events, with highlights including author talks, a poetry slam, an open mic session, traditional Scottish music and opportunities for local people to gain an insight into the world of creative writing.

The festival, organised by the charitable trust, Culture Perth and Kinross, will take place in a number of well-known venues across the city, from the AK Bell Library and St John’s Kirk to exploring the local area on walking tours inspired by books, stories and tales.

Kicking off the weekend on Friday 26th April, crime writers Denzil Meyrick, Neil Broadfoot and Douglas Skelton will take part in a crime writers panel at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.

Among the many festival events, there will be a poetry walk through well known Perth landmark, Buckie Braes with Perthshire poet Jen Cooper on Saturday 27 April. Authors Ajay Close, Susi Briggs and Alex Gray will host events through that day, which will be capped off with award-winning author Bernard MacLaverty. Forty years on from his first book, and one of Ireland’s greatest living writers Bernard is appearing at the Soutar Theatre in the AK Bell Library. .

On Sunday the festival will celebrate emerging authors with a visit from three of Scotland’s newest and most exciting authors;  Conner McAleese, Tracey Emerson and Liz MacWhirter, an inspiration to anyone who is thinking about writing or publishing a book for the first time.

By happy coincidence Perth’s chamber choir, Chansons, will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary on Sunday April 28 and to mark the occasion has commissioned a suite of songs to words by William Soutar from Edinburgh composer Tom Cunningham. The choir’s celebratory concert “Voice and Verse” in St John’s Kirk at 7.30 that evening will include the world première performance of this attractive work . Full details of this event can be found on the choir’s website www.chansons.co.uk

A full programme will be announced in the upcoming weeks with tickets going on sale shortly afterwards.  The Soutar Festival of Words will run from 26th - 28th April 2019.