Press Release
For immediate release
19 September 2024
Val McDermid, Douglas Stuart, Andrew O’Hagan, Liz Lochhead and Kirsty Wark to feature in exciting lineup for Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Winter Words Festival 2025
Pitlochry Festival Theatre is thrilled to reveal the exciting lineup for its twenty first Winter Words Festival, featuring authors, poets, broadcasters and chefs from around Scotland for a celebration of the country’s rich artistic, literary, and cultural life.
Running from 21 to 23 February and curated by the Theatre’s new Artistic Director Alan Cumming, Pitlochry Festival Theatre will host an extraordinary three-day programme of interesting events, entertaining performances, delicious literary lunches with award-winning chefs, and stimulating conversations, throughout the weekend.
The Winter Words Festival 2025 programme of authors includes Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart, celebrated crime writer Val McDermid, Mayflies and Caledonian Road author Andrew O’Hagan and broadcaster and journalist Kirsty Wark, who will all be in conversation about their work with Alan Cumming, whose own career is the subject of a Q&A on the opening morning of the Festival.
The Festival also includes conversations with the former Scots Makar Liz Lochhead, in conversation with Andrew O’Hagan, as well as the current Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen; Scottish Indian writer, musician, and academic Arun Sood; Scotland’s Geographer Royal Jo Sharp; author James Jauncey in conversation with First Minister of Scotland John Swinney; and broadcaster and author, the Highland Hutter Peter MacQueen. The Festival also features Fierce Salvage: Contemporary Scottish Publishing, with the award-winning independent publishing house 404 Ink and author Titilayo Farukuoye chaired by Heather Parry.
Along with this impressive programme of writers, Winter Words Festival 2025 includes several special events. For food lovers, there are opportunities to enjoy a literary lunch with cuisine writer, restaurateur and food ambassador Carina Contini, MasterChef 2022 finalist and food writer Sarah Rankin and chef, author, and Café Canna owner Gareth Cole. Writer, broadcaster, and Food Tourism Ambassador Ghillie Bașan will talk about food, whisky and life accompanied by whisky tastings.
For an energetic start to each day, there is the opportunity to join Finlay Wilson, the author of Kilted Yoga, for a morning yoga session, or to join the runner and author Chris Carse Wilson on a 5km run with readings from his book Fray.
For theatre lovers, there is a rehearsed reading and a performance from our Associate Company, the Borders based Firebrand Theatre; A Room of One’s Own, dramatised by the company from the writings of Virginia Woolf and performed by Ellie Zeegen. The rehearsed reading The Race to 1984 by Richard Baron celebrates author George Orwell’s momentous novel, the women in his life, and the battle to complete his masterpiece in a Scottish hospital.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director Alan Cumming said:
“It’s a happy surprise that my first bit of programming as Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s new Artistic Director is not plays but another of my passions- writers! And in the same way that I want to celebrate and nurture the best of Scottish talent in the work we produce onstage, I also want to make Winter Words Festival a literary celebration of our hugely rich Scottish heritage. So, I am delighted that we will be welcoming Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart, Mayflies and Caledonian Road author Andrew O’Hagan, the Quine of Crime Val McDermid, former Makar Liz Lochhead, and current Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen. We’ll also have a play, a play reading, cooking, yoga and running (yes, running!) events, the Geographer Royal and to top it all, Kirsty Wark!”
The Winter Words Festival 2025 runs from 21- 23 February 2025. Members priority booking is currently on sale until Thursday 28 November and on general sale from 10am on Friday 29 November. For tickets and further information call the Box Office team on 01796 484626 or visit www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/winter-words-festival/
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For all press interviews, images and tickets please contact:
Duncan Clarke PR on 07880893750 or email duncanclarkepr@gmail.com
NOTES TO EDITORS
Winter Words Festival 2025 Listings
FRIDAY 21 FEBRUARY
9.30-10.30am – River Room
Breakfast with Alan Cumming (Members Event)
Join us for a breakfast buffet in the River Room. This Members event gives you exclusive access to our incoming Artistic Director and celebrates the difference that your support makes to our charity.
10.30-11.30am – Studio
Q&A with Alan Cumming
Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Executive Director Kris Bryce chairs questions for our new Artistic Director, Alan Cumming.
12-1pm – Studio
Fierce Salvage: Contemporary Scottish publishing
With Titilayo Farukuoye, Heather Parry and 404 Ink
Join the co-founders of the award-winning independent publisher 404 Ink, Heather McDaid and Laura Jones-Rivera, as they discuss running the British Book Awards’ reigning Small Press of the Year in Scotland. They will be joined by Edwin Morgan Prize-winning author Titilayo Farukuoye and chaired by Polari Prize-listed author Heather Parry, both contributors to 404 Ink’s new Queer Words Anthology Fierce Salvage and 404 ‘inkling’ authors, to discuss the contemporary book world, from both the writer and publisher perspectives.
1.15-2.45pm – River Room
Carina Contini
Literary Lunch: The Contini Cookbook
Italian – Scot restaurateur Carina Contini, shares her love of good food and some of her recipes. Carina has a passion for fresh, artisan ingredients and authentic Italian cooking. She is a mainstay of the Scottish hospitality industry running three restaurants in Edinburgh while also acting as food ambassador, food broadcaster and cookbook writer.
Join Carina as she talks about ‘Love happy food’, her life, cooking and career highlights whilst enjoying two dishes from her cookbook, The Contini Cookbook.
3-4pm- Studio
A Room of One’s Own
A play adapted from the writings of Virginia Woolf
Following the recent sold-out success of its play about the ‘Scottish Virginia Woolf’ Nan Shepherd, award-winning Firebrand Theatre Company’s engaging and inventive new one-woman show; A Room of One’s Own, is performed in the round by Ellie Zeegen and directed by Richard Baron.
Employing a host of historical characters from Jane Austen to Shakespeare’s sister, the play showcases why the real Virginia Woolf’s brilliant, funny and richly entertaining essay about freedom and identity, written almost a hundred years ago, has become one of the most powerful and significant feminist manifestos of this time, and any time.
4.30-5.30pm – Studio
Michael Pedersen
Edinburgh Makar
In conversation with Alan Cumming
Edinburgh’s new Poet Laureate in conversation with Alan Cumming with a world-exclusive reading from his new novel, Muckle Flugga.
Prize-winning Scottish poet and author, Michael Pedersen is the Writer in Residence at The University of Edinburgh. His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published by Faber & Faber in 2022 to rave reviews and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice.
7-8.30pm – Studio
Andrew O’Hagan
In conversation with Alan Cumming
The multi-award-winning literary legend discusses his gripping new state-of-the-nation book Caledonian Road and his previous novels including The Guardian, Sunday Times and Financial Times Book of the Year Mayflies.
Born in Glasgow, Andrew O’Hagan has been nominated for the Booker Prize three times, was voted one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003 and won the E. M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is Editor-at-Large of the London Review of Books and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His latest novel, Caledonian Road was nominated for the Orwell Prize, a Saltire Award, and the Blackwell’s Book of the Year 2024.
SATURDAY 22 FEBRUARY
10-11am – River Room
Finlay Wilson
Yoga session with ‘The Kilted Yogi’
Join Finlay Wilson, bestselling author of Kilted Yoga and Wild Kilted Yoga for a morning yoga session.
Renowned for his iconic Kilted Yoga sessions in the Scottish wilderness and tailoring yoga practices for real people. With personal triumphs over injury, back problems, and mobility constraints, he leverages his expertise in anatomy and sports therapy to create transformative class experiences.
Finlay passionately bridges the gap connecting individuals to this ancient practice and reaching those who may never have considered yoga for themselves.
For mixed abilities. Bring your mat and join the clan.
10.30-11.30am – Studio
Arun Sood
Winner of the Kavya Prize for Scottish Writers of Colour
Chaired by Amina Shah
Arun Sood joins us to discuss his debut novel, New Skin for the Old Ceremony: A Kirtan which won the 2024 Kavya Prize. Published by award-winning publisher 404 Ink, it is a postcolonial road novel touching on youth, memory, music and the ghosts of friendship, illustrating how colonial legacies can pervade personal histories. The form of the novel alludes to the Kirtan, a Hindu genre of storytelling focusing on music, shared narration, and spiritual ideas, but here structured in relation to the music of Leonard Cohen.
11am-12pm – FREE – Meet in the Foyer
A Running and Reading Event with Chris Carse Wilson
Fray: a novel about grief, hope and running
Join us for a gentle morning 5K run and reading with Chris Carse Wilson, author of Fray, a debut novel set in the Scottish Highlands about a father trying to rescue his lost wife and a dark, looming voice who threatens to destroy everything…
Runners of all ages and abilities welcome.
12-1pm – Studio
James Jauncey
Don Roberto: The Adventure of Being Cunninghame Graham
In conversation with First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney
Best known as the co-founder of the Scottish Labour Party and founding the Scottish National Party, Don Roberto (RB Cunninghame Graham, 1852-1936), led an extraordinary life.
In his first biography, Don Roberto, Perthshire-based author James Jauncey explores the life of his great-great-uncle, the prolific writer, visionary, horseman, adventurer, and humanitarian.
1.15-2.45pm – River Room
Sarah Rankin
Literary Lunch: Kith: Scottish Seasonal Food for Family and Friends
MasterChef finalist and self-confessed all-around glutton, Sarah Rankin, cooks you a Scottish seasonal lunch.
Sarah is a former MasterChef finalist, food writer and lover of Scottish flavours and produce, who has just produced her first cookbook. ‘Kith’ celebrates Scottish flavours, seasonality, local producers, and the joy of cooking for those you love.
Sarah celebrates Scotland’s Larder, local suppliers and artisan producers in her food writing, broadcasting, chef demonstrations, private dining, supper club, pop up collaborations, and food festival appearances.
A native Highlander, Sarah is the host at the Golden Spurtle World Porridge Championships, held every October in the village of Carrbridge in the Cairngorms National Park, which attracts competitors from across the globe doing incredible things with our national grain.
You’ll find her food stories in various print and digital publications, including across DC Thomson and Highland News & Media titles. You can also hear her regular contributions on BBC Radio Scotland and book festivals around the country. Her monthly Supper Clubs and Cookery Classes are sellout events which focus on wonderful ingredients, cooked simply and enjoyed in good company.
3-4pm – Studio
Liz Lochhead
In conversation with Andrew O’Hagan
Poet and playwright Liz Lochhead’s 50-year writing career began with the poetry collection Memo for Spring, includes time as Scotland’s first female Makar and her latest collection, A Handsel. Her original plays and adaptations dramatically reflect the shifting times like Mary Queen of Scots Got her Head Chopped Off, Good Things, Perfect Days, Educating Agnes, and critically acclaimed Euripides’s Medea.
Joining her on stage is her old friend, Andrew O’Hagan. From the Booker-shortlisted Our Fathers to a novel on lifelong friendship, Mayflies, and his latest novel, Caledonian Road, nominated for the Orwell Prize, a Saltire Award, and the Blackwell’s Book of the Year 2024.
Spend an afternoon with one of Scotland’s greatest poets, in conversation with one of Scotland’s most accomplished novelists.
4.30-5.30pm – Studio
The Race to 1984
A rehearsed play reading by Richard Baron
A ‘script in hand’ reading about George Orwell, the women in his life, and the battle to complete his masterpiece in a Scottish hospital.
With 2025 marking the 75th Anniversary of author George Orwell’s death, this is a timely ‘script in hand’ reading of a moving and highly entertaining new play by writer and director Richard Baron, whose previous Pitlochry productions include Nan Shepherd: Naked and Unashamed and Chicago. On Christmas Eve 1947, recently widowed George Orwell leaves his remote Hebridean writer’s retreat and is admitted to a hospital near Glasgow with advanced tuberculosis. But despite his rapidly failing health and fear of assassination, he has a vitally important work to finish: perhaps the most significant novel of the twentieth century, Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Based on real events, The Race to 1984 uses Orwell’s gift for humour and plain speaking to uncover fascinating new details about his extraordinary life and the complex relationship with the unsung women who inspired his work, including his first wife Eileen who died tragically young, and the untold romantic story of the Scottish doctor’s wife who against her husband’s orders, smuggled Orwell writing materials to help him complete his never-more-relevant masterpiece. There will be a post-performance Q&A with the writer and cast.
7-8.30pm – Studio
Kirsty Wark
The Queen of Newsnight and Scottish novelist is now the one who answers the questions put to her by old friend Alan Cumming
Kirsty Wark has built a reputation as one of the UK’s most formidable and versatile television journalists. She is best known as an anchor on the BBC’s flagship News and Current Affairs show Newsnight.
In addition to political reporting, Kirsty presents many arts and cultural programmes; career highlights have included interviews with Madonna, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter, Damien Hirst, and George Clooney, to name just a few.
She has fronted many documentaries for BBC Television including the critically acclaimed Blurred Lines: The New Battle of the Sexes and more recently The Insiders’ Guide to the Menopause which was nominated for a BAFTA.
Away from the studio lights, food is her passion. She reached the final in Celebrity MasterChef in 2011 and was crowned top celebrity baker on The Great British Bake Off for Comic Relief.
Kirsty has written two novels – The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle and The House by the Loch – both published by Two Roads. She is currently writing her third novel.
SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY
10-11am – River Room
Finlay Wilson
Yoga session with ‘The Kilted Yogi’
Join Finlay Wilson, bestselling author of Kilted Yoga and Wild Kilted Yoga for a morning yoga session.
Renowned for his iconic Kilted Yoga sessions in the Scottish wilderness and tailoring yoga practices for real people. With personal triumphs over injury, back problems, and mobility constraints, he leverages his expertise in anatomy and sports therapy to create transformative class experiences.
Finlay passionately bridges the gap connecting individuals to this ancient practice and reaching those who may never have considered yoga for themselves.
For mixed abilities. Bring your mat and join the clan.
10.30-11.30am – Studio
Peter MacQueen
The Art of Hutting
Peter MacQueen talks about sustainable living off the grid and his book, The Art of Hutting.
Also known as ‘The Highland Hutter’, join Peter MacQueen as he enlightens us on all things hutting. From foraging, fire making and solar panels, to building a cabin, slowing down and enjoying the little things in life.
Born and raised in Oban, Peter MacQueen has always had a passion for living off-grid, resulting in presenting his BBC Alba TV show, Garradh Phadruig, from his own hut on the beautiful Argyllshire coast.
11am-12pm – FREE – Meet in the Foyer
A Running and Reading Event with Chris Carse Wilson
Fray: a novel about grief, hope and running
Join us for a gentle morning 5K run and reading with Chris Carse Wilson, author of Fray, a debut novel set in the Scottish Highlands about a father trying to rescue his lost wife and a dark, looming voice who threatens to destroy everything…
Runners of all ages and abilities welcome.
12-1pm – Studio
Jo Sharp
Geographer Royal
What is the Geographer Royal and what does she do? Jo Sharp reveals all and takes us on a worldwide tour of her adventures.
Only the sixth person to hold the title of Geographer Royal for Scotland, Jo Sharp has led a distinguished career as a geographer and professor authoring and editing over 120 works.
Professor Sharp will talk about the fascinating history of the role of promoting geography in Scotland, championing Scottish geography internationally and better establishing ‘geographical thinking’ within public life as well as the work she has been doing and how she sees a modern Geographer Royal evolving in the future.
1.15-2.45pm – River Room
Gareth Cole
Literary Lunch: Café Canna: Recipes from a Hebridean island
Listen to Gareth Cole as you enjoy one of his recipes originating from his café on the Hebridean island of Canna.
Gareth Cole runs Café Canna – one of the UK’s most remote restaurants, sitting on the bay of the beautiful Isle of Canna, an island in the Hebrides that is only two miles across and home to just 18 residents. Despite this, it’s one of Condé Nast Traveller’s top beach shack restaurants and one of The Herald’s best places to eat al fresco.
By necessity, and also out of love, Cole and his team make the most of local ingredients from the island and its shores. The café is justly famous for its seafood, landed from the sparkling Hebridean waters. Foraged seaweed is also a mainstay of the menu. Meat comes from the fields next door, vegetables from the garden plot, fruit from the orchard, fresh bread is baked daily and beer brewed on the premises. The range of starters, main courses, puddings, accompaniments, and baking is rich and varied, from dulse seaweed croquettes, crab bisque, Full crust Canna beef, Skye Black ale and Blue Murder Pie to Wild gorse crème brûlée, Nettle and spinach spanakopita and Singapore chilli Canna crab.
Gareth’s book is a magnificent celebration of Café Canna and the close-knit island which is its lifeblood. Over 70 recipes showcase the enormous range of dishes produced locally, all of which can be replicated by enthusiasts at home.
3-4pm – Studio
Ghillie Başan
Food, Whisky, Life
Award-winning writer, broadcaster and Scotland’s Food Tourism Ambassador, Ghillie Başan ventures out from her existence as a ‘hospitable hermit’ to delight us with tales of her life in the Cairngorms creating nature, well-being, and food experiences that money cannot buy.
Note: Bring your nose along for a wee dram tasting guided by Ghillie.
4.30-5.30pm – Studio
Val McDermid
in conversation with Alan Cumming
One of crime fiction’s most formidable voices, Val McDermid, has been crafting masterful thrillers for over 30 years, selling over 19 million copies worldwide. Her unflinching examination of human nature and evil has earned her numerous awards, including the CWA Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement and The Theakston Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution Award. Her novels have been translated into more than 40 languages and adapted for television, most recently Karen Pirie.
From her groundbreaking Lindsay Gordon series to the beloved Tony Hill and Carol Jordan books, McDermid has consistently pushed the boundaries of crime fiction. The Quine of Crime and Tartan Noir doyenne talks to Alan Cumming about her incredible and prolific career along with her most recent books, Past Lying and Queen Macbeth.
7-8.30pm – Studio
Douglas Stuart
In conversation with Alan Cumming
Douglas Stuart is a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into over 40 languages.
His debut novel, Shuggie Bain, won the 2020 Booker Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. It was named both the British Book of the Year and Debut of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards, as well as being a finalist for over 20 other literary awards.
Born in Glasgow, Stuart has a Masters from the Royal College of Art and since 2000 he has lived and worked in New York City.
His second novel, Young Mungo, was a Sunday Times #1 bestseller and a finalist for the Carnegie Medal. His essays on gender, class and conformity have featured on Lit Hub and his short stories are published in The New Yorker. He is currently working on adapting both of his novels for A24 pictures.
Ticket and box office details
Ticket prices: From £15 per event (10% off everything for members except for Members’ events)
Buy four events and get 20% off.
Tickets are now on sale to priority members and on general sale on Friday 29 November.
Box Office and group bookings: 01796 484626
Email: boxoffice@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Website: www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Address: Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port-Na-Craig, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5DR
Pitlochry Festival Theatre. A Theatre for Everyone. A Theatre for a Lifetime.
Since 1951, Pitlochry Festival Theatre has been the artistic heart and soul of Highland Perthshire. Attracting over 100,000 visitors every year, we’re more than simply a place to come and see a show – we’re Scotland’s leading producer of musical theatre, a champion of ensemble practice and the country’s only rurally-located, major arts organisation. Our vision is to improve lives by sharing Pitlochry with the world and the world with Pitlochry. Our aim is to create life-enhancing experiences in our Theatre and its glorious eleven-acre campus that encompasses the magical Explorers Garden. In everything we do, we are committed to nurturing an exciting creative and cultural future for Scotland.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a charity supported by funding from Creative Scotland and Perth & Kinross Council. It is also grateful to the many individual donors, trusts and foundations who continue to support the Theatre in its vision.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Address: Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Port Na Craig, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5DR
Box Office and group bookings: boxoffice@pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Website: pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a registered Scottish Charity. No SC013055
Pitlochry Festival Theatre gratefully acknowledges support from:
