A Kist o Riches: Writing Workshop with Janis Mackay
Thursday 3rd November, 7 – 9pm
sense memory to stimulate creative writing
Join this sensory exploration into memories with author and creative writing teacher Janis Mackay. Sense memory is a rich seam for writers and working in this way we can create stories/poems or simply pieces of writing that have authenticity and a strong sense of place.
7 – 9pm, An Lanntair Community Room, £6/5
The Undiscovered Islands: Malachy Tallack
9pm, Thursday 3 November
Malachy Tallack is from Shetland. His debut, Sixty Degrees North, was an exploration of the landscapes and cultures of the sixtieth parallel, and tackled that most challenging of questions: what does it mean to be at home? His new book, The Un-Discovered Islands, is concerned with the geography of the mind, introducing an archipelago of mythical, phantom and fraudulent islands. Malachy is a writer, singer-songwriter and contributing editor of The Island Review.
This event will be hosted by Ian Stephen.
Maritime: Ian Stephen (with Peter Urpeth, piano, and Gary Carr, bass)
8.15pm, Thursday 3 November
Maritime is a poetry anthology gleaned from 35 years work and evokes the dramatic waterscapes, rocky shores and wind-blasted textures of his native Hebrides. It follows the success of Ian Stephen’s first novel, A Book of Death & Fish. For this event Ian’s readings will be accompanied by piano from Peter Urpeth and bass, Gary Carr.
A Coastguard for 15 years, Ian Stephen has been a full-time artist/writer since winning the inaugural Robert Louis Stevenson award in 1995.
The Brilliant & Forever: Kevin Macneil
Part of North Atlantic Cabaret #1
7pm, Thursday 3 November
The Royal Literary Fund Talk.
On an island like no other, this year, three best friends – two human, one alpaca – are chosen to compete in the annual Brilliant & Forever literary festival. A whip-cracking, energetic, laugh-out-loud satire on what we value in culture and in our lives, and a moving exploration of integrity, friendship and belonging.
Kevin MacNeil was born and raised in Lewis. A multi award-winning poet, novelist, screenwriter, playwright and editor he has written five books and edited a similar number. He is published internationally and has taught creative writing at the universities of Uppsala, Edinburgh and Kingston.
Kevin returns to Faclan with his first novel since A Method Actor’s Guide to Jeckyll & Hyde. He will be introduced by a representative from the Royal Literary Fund, who are sponsoring the event.
Leviathan: 2012, Lucien Castaing Taylor and Véréna Paravel (87m)
5pm, Thursday 3 November
An extraordinary, experimental documentary shot aboard a North American fishing trawler. For Leviathan, the filmmakers worked 20-hour shifts using tiny GoPro underwater cameras that could be attached to people, fish or objects to capture the film’s raw images, natural sounds and to create an effect that is almost hallucinatory.
North Atlantic Cabaret #1
7 pm – 10pm, Thursday 3 November
This is a one-ticket event. An evening of words and music: Three exceptional writers from Scotland’s Northernmost and Westernmost Islands are presented in triptych, where their voices and views can resound and resonate; separately, distinctly and together. We open with the Royal Literary Fund talk with Kevin Macneil, followed by Ian Stephen and finishing with Malachy Tallack
The Old Man and the Sea 1999, Alexander Petrov (20m)
4pm, Thursday 3 November
A paint-on-glass animated short film based on the novella by Ernest Hemingway. Two and half years in the making, the film won many awards, including the Oscar for Animated Short Film. It was the first animated film to be released in IMAX.
Deep Water: 2006, Jerry Rothwell and Louise Ormond (92m)
2pm, Thursday 3 November
Acclaimed documentary based on the true story of Donald Crowhurst and the 1969 Sunday Times Golden Globe Race solo round-the-world in a yacht. The Daily Telegraph said it was “a movie which will reduce the hardest of hearts to a shipwreck”. It won the Best Documentary award at the 2006 Rome International Film Festival.