Winter Words: Writers getting warmed up for literary festival

Pitlochry’s Winter Words Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary from February 8-11 and promises “a true celebration of Scotland’s finest fiction and nonfiction writers”.

Some big names are among those scheduled to appear, including Scottish actor James Cosmo, known for his roles in Braveheart and Game Of Thrones.

The Sunday National spoke with Scottish writer Jackie Kay as well as Dougie Strang about what to expect from this year’s festival.

Making connections

KAY is well known for serving as Scotland’s poet laureate from 2016 to 2021 and has published a number of novels and poetry collections.

She told the Sunday National she’s particularly looking forward to this festival as it’s one she’s been invited to before but never been able to attend.

“I love things that happen in the winter – stuff like Celtic Connections and really anything that gives people winter cheer is something to be applauded,” the author said.

“I’m going for a few extra days just so I can have some time there. I will be going to hear some of the other writers and I like that the programme is tailored towards people’s interests and hobbies.”

READ MORE: Last piece of Alasdair Gray archive joins Poor Things at National Library

Kay will be speaking with Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s artistic director Elizabeth Newman to reflect on her career.

After achieving so much, has it encouraged her to think back on her career these past few months?

“Not in advance, really, I wouldn’t say because I like to think on my feet. I’ll do some reading from my forthcoming book which is coming out in April although it’s called May Day.”

Influences

Throughout her life, Kay says she’s been lucky enough to meet a number of influential writers, including Alasdair Gray. The Glaswegian has been in the news plenty lately with the release of the Oscar-nominated Poor Things.

Kay was first encouraged towards writing when a teacher sent some of her poems to Gray.

“I think a lot of Gray’s work could be filmic or could be adapted so he’ll end up getting a whole new set of readers with this film,” she said.

“I’m just sad he’s not around to see it. His work is so visual as well as theoretical and jam-packed with ideas, so that appeals to a wide range of people.

“He was quite a maverick. I met him when I was 16. His mind was a mixture of chaos and order which I loved.”

Indeed, Kay says she has always been drawn to writers who work across more than one form – with Gray known for his art as well as his writing.

Likewise, she’s produced a wide variety of novels, poetry and plays across her career.

READ MORE: Poor Things: What I thought of the film as an Alasdair Gray fanatic

“Many writers a writer makes, I like to say. It’s the opposite of too many cooks spoil a broth – there’s no such thing really as a sole writer.

“I’m a reader as much as a writer.”

She adds that she recently had to write an introduction about her work and said that there are three key writers who have influenced her – Gray, John Le Carré and Audre Lorde.

For a brief time as a student, Kay worked as a cleaner for Le Carré and fondly remembers how he was always very encouraging about her writing although she does recall one slightly awkward moment.

“As a gift, he gave me hardback copies of all his books but I left them at home for safe-keeping because I was still a student.

“When I came back, my mum had put them all into the party jumble – it was one of those terrible moments.”

Travelling back

Much of Strang’s work focuses on the natural landscape and his latest work – The Bone Cave: A Journey Through Myth And Memory – focuses on the north-western Highlands.

He’ll be appearing at Pitlochry Festival Theatre on February 11.

The book is the product of a month-long walk through the Highlands in which Strang looked to take a number of classic Scottish folk tales back to their source.

The author explained: “Part of my motivation for this trip was that I had just turned 50 and my kids were starting to have their own lives.

“I had the slightly romantic notion to take these tales back to the landscape that held them.”

After exploring so much of the Highlands, though, there was one particular story that stood out to him.

“You find that the Cailleach is a major figure,” he said.

“She’s an ambiguous figure. She’s on the one hand the kind of hag in winter but she’s also this land-shaping giant, she’s the goddess of the deer in many stories.

“She’s a fundamental figure in Gaelic folklore in myth, pretty much everywhere you go there’s a stream, loch or mountain with a connection.

“She haunts the book and I think she haunted that month-long walk.”

Discussing the Winter Words, he added: “It’s amazing that Pitlochry has such an ambitious festival. There are some amazing writers coming so I’m delighted to be asked to talk about my book.”