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A new leaf Back for its 14th year, Wigtown Book Festival is more exciting than ever
The reel deal The Edinburgh International Film Festival launches its programme Words: Anna Millar
T he List has long had a soft spot for Wigtown Book Festival, the pretty surrounding landscape and cosy community feel belying a large-scale, ten-day programme of book, music, jazz and theatre events. And this year’s line-up, with over 175 events, arguably boasts their most diverse line-up yet. Using the Borders’ sky as inspiration, highlights include a Dark Skies strand complete with stargazing suppers, talks from astronomers Marek Kukula and John Brown, as well as a drive-in movie event showing Ian Cheney’s documentary, The City Dark, in Galloway Park. Must- see talks include Lee Graham, who will be talking
about his work at NASA’s Johnson Space centre.
Audience participation is to the fore, with an array of workshops and special events offering everything from sculpting to a drop-in ‘drawing gym’. As part of the book strand, look out for former foreign secretary Douglas Hurd, sex blogger Brooke Magnanti, poet John Hegley, writer Janice Galloway and author and filmmaker Jon Ronson. (Anna Millar)
Wigtown Book Festival runs from 28 Sep–7 Oct, see wigtown-booktown.co.uk and Books, page 48 for more.
LIST.CO.UK Visit us daily for arts & entertainment news 5 Things . . . MIND-BENDING MOVIES MIND-BENDING MMOOOVVVVIIIIIEEEEEESSSSSS Some film tropes that bend your brain
1 Amnesia Chris Nolan’s Memento leads you through a short-term memory-loss murder mystery, five minutes at a time.
2 Doppelgangers Sam Rockwell plays Moon
technician Sam, who toils on alone in space. Until he’s joined by Sam (Sam Rockwell).
3 Schizophrenia Unhappy with your job? Start a Fight Club and re-imagine yourself as Brad Pitt. It worked for us.
4 Identity loss Dressing in featureless disguises and taking psychotropic drugs can seriously mess with your mind. Just ask Keanu in A Scanner Darkly.
5 False realities What if it’s all just a CGI illusion, a la
Matrix? Or a TV show, a la Truman Show? Or a crap film, a la Last Action Hero?
20 Sep–18 Oct 2012 THE LIST 7