The Wigtown Book Festival is a ten-day

literary festival A literary festival, also known as a book festival or writers' festival, is a regular gathering of writers and readers, typically on an annual basis in a particular city. A literary festival usually features a variety of presentations and readings ...

held each autumn in

Wigtown Wigtown ( (both used locally); gd, Baile na h-Ùige) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. ...

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkc ...

, south-west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The festival was first held in 1999 and has grown to be the second biggest book festival in Scotland. In 2007 the Wigtown Festival Company became a registered charity. In 2013, there were 7500 visitors to the festival, more than half of which were from outside Dumfries and Galloway. A report commissioned by the Wigtown Festival Company in 2013 estimated that the festival contributed £2 million to the regional economy each year. This was three times higher than that estimated by a similar study in 2008.

Future Festival

In 2023, the festival is scheduled 22 September through 1 October 2023.

Poetry competition

The festival runs an annual poetry competition and awards three separate prizes for compositions in English,

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

and Scots.

References

* * {{Cite journal, title = Book towns as tourism developments in peripheral areas, last = Seaton, first = A. V., date = 1999, journal = International Journal of Tourism Research, doi =10.1002/(SICI)1522-1970(199909/10)1:5<389::AID-JTR204>3.0.CO;2-0 , pages = 389–399, volume = 1, issue = 5

External links

Official website
* Programmes
20042005200620072011
https://web.archive.org/web/20150810170935/http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/uploads/2012WigtownBookFestivalprogramme.pdf 2012
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Literary festivals in Scotland Wigtown Arts organisations based in Scotland