something for everyone, so something for you
Yet again BIG LIT offers a rich literary diet to titillate your palettes – from our traditional Bards for Breakfast to a first fine shortlisted novel by Yvonne Bailey-Smith following in the footsteps of her famous daughter Zadie. We celebrate two centenaries – that of Willie Neill one-time resident of Crossmichael, a teacher at Castle Douglas High School and a major contributing voice to the Scottish Renaissance, and poet, author and dramatist George Makay Brown celebrated in a film, The Storm Watchers in our first ever Film Night with a Q and A with film makers about the problems of film making during lockdown.
2022 is Scotland’s Year of Stories which BIG LIT celebrates at with Bafta Award Winner Gerda Stevenson with her brilliantly reviewed time-line of tales ‘Letting Go’ and Kenyan/ Scots story teller and performance artist Mara Menzies bringing a series of heart warming, magical stories from her dual heritage.
There will be a whacky installation from artist Bill Barlow reviving his daft interactive poetry generating machine in The Bakehouse Studio, book talks, politics, the very best of contemporary jazz with Ingham and Sons, a brand new novel from our very own Karen Campbell and of course we’ll be discussing some of the most important issues of our times – the war in Ukraine, Scottish Independence and the climate crisis.
Our International Poet this year is Australian Bard Ross Donlon finally released from lockdown. He’ll be performing with the ever popular Jean Atkin. We’ll will have a screen writing workshop facilitated by Sergio Casci, a script/screen writer as well as a regular arts/political commentator on Radio Scotland and a book about the joys and frustrations of fishing and the steadying effect it has both at water’s edge and in the memory. This from award-winning author and singer-songwriter Malachy Tallack. And you definitely won’t want to miss our Saturday Night Craic hosted by Alan McClure and featuring Rob Barratt, a witty stand-up from the Black Country with other surprise guests
All this and so much more. Join us for an eclectic mix of talent both local and national for another BIG LIT fizzing with literary talent.
Chrys Salt MBE
Artistic Director of The Bakehouse Community Arts and BIG LIT.
