Moffat Book Events activities for 2013

Ian Mitchell

Garrison Keeler

 Here is a schedule of Moffat Book Events activities for 2013:

1. Website: undergoing upgrade

2.2013 activities:

·      Bi-lingual Editions – in Preparation for UK Year of Russian Language and Culture 2014,  in partnership with All Union State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow (VGBIL) -. The idea is to run short pieces of writing or poems side by side online (to start with – print may come later) so that the reader can see both the original Russian and the English translation – or vice versa -  side by side and hear the pieces read in both languages as per The Writer's Almanac http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ where you can click to hear Garrison Keillor reading each entry. The first two short pieces are first hand anecdotes about aspects of British life, a cricket match and a pub. An iconoclastic Scottish author resident in Moscow, Ian Mitchell, has been invited to supply an introduction to the series, as someone who currently straddles these two particular languages and cultures, to ruminate on the nature of culture, language, communication etc, The British press will be alerted to the launch of the series.

•   Weaver Man – Chrys Salt Literature Convener D&G Arts Festival and Artistic Director of The Bakehouse, Gatehouse of Fleet will be in Moffat on Jan 31 to plan a performance of her poems about the celebrated Gaelic-speaking shell shock victim of WWI at Craigieburn later in the year  and have further discussions with the organizing committee of MBE

•  Coffee Morning  Town Hall Moffat March 16

•  Year of Natural Scotland 2013: ‘The Cauldron’ – Dumfries-based artist Matt Baker and others to engage via the arts the sometimes neglected inhabitants of the great watershed (Tweed, Annan, Clyde) at a pinch point marked by road, rail, the National Grid and the biggest landbased windfarm in Europe .  In partnership with Elvanfoot Development Group

•  Murder in Moffat April 20/21 – a celebration of crime fiction led by Moffat book seller Katherine Clemmens

•  World Book Night April 23 – at the Green Frog, courtesy of Kris Allen

•  D&G Arts Festival :

Book launch  June 1  - ‘Jean Erskine’s Secret’ by best-selling local author D E Stevenson, Edinburgh publisher Grey Ladies  at 21 Well Road Moffat

One-woman show:’ Miss Havisham’s Expectations’  June 1                 

 at 21 Well Road, Moffat (both in partnership with Forestry Purposes LLP)

•  International conference 'Translation'  Sept 20-22 at Moffat House hotel

•  Book launch ? Dec Persephone Books D E Stevenson novel ‘The Two Mrs Abbotts’

•  Day of the Region application (in partnership with Old Well theatre/Jim Tildersley)

•  Moffat Old Academy -  ‘The Scottish Genius’

 A destination building at the gateway to Scotland for the arts and associated activities;  'The Scottish Genius', performing an analogous role in the town to that played in Hawick by the 'Heart of Hawick' building. Moffat Old Academy will house Richard Demarco's archive, which spans a lifetime at the cutting edge of the arts in Scotland and Europe,  including  1.2million photographs as well as material from his famous galleries and from his long association with international performance via the Fringe and the Traverse theatre.  This building will also embody, be an expression of, make manifest,  Richard's international outward-looking ethos. Moffat stands at the gateway to the south of Scotland, it is a watershed, a place visited for centuries for spiritual and bodily refreshment, deserving a world class space for the living arts, including from Europe and beyond. Moffat Old Academy will also provide much-needed adaptable and flexible performance and rehearsal space in a building with high 'green' credentials for its many resident creatives, and the local community. It is to be a site of regional excellence and a base for visiting exponents of theatre, music, dance and the visual arts of the highest quality .