Boswell Book Festival shortlisted for award!

We are honoured to join the Helping It Happen Awards 2025 shortlist as one of Scotland’s rural champions.

Organised by Scottish Land & Estates the #HiH2025 awards recognise the people and projects driving positive change in rural Scotland.

First @bozzybookfest.bsky.social interview of the year done ... Rupert Everett!

The brilliant Rupert Everett at the Boswell Book Festival. His new collection of short stories are inspired by film pitches that never got made. @bozzybookfest.bsky.social #booksky

Ingrained is an inspirational homecoming story of Callum Robinson leaving the world of commercial design to return to his workshop in the Scottish hills

There he handcrafts bespoke furniture for people who will pass it on in a refreshing antidote to a culture of disposability

bit.ly/Bozzfest

New event alert! 📢📢📢

The Inside Scoop: Magnus Linklater, Allan Little & Sally Magnusson

For a one-off festival event, we are assembling three influential commentators who have all reported on the revolving door at No. 10

This scintillating trio will gather at 18:30, Sun 11 May
bit.ly/Bozzfest

Linda Porter and @huntingrebels.bsky.social combine to discuss two Queens

The Thistle and the Rose is the story of the misunderstood and underestimated monarch, Margaret Tudor

Captive Queen vividly describes the long incarceration of Mary Queen of Scots

Join us in-person or online
bit.ly/Bozzfest

Adam Nicolson is an award-winning nature writer with a deep knowledge of the Scottish landscape.

He joins us to discuss his new book, Bird School, a lyrical and philosophical exploration of (seemingly) ordinary birds and our relationship with the wild.

Book for in-person or online
bit.ly/Bozzfest

How do we sustain feelings of happiness and contentment?

Best-selling author and Buddhist Monk Gelong Thubten joins us to discuss his 'Handbook for Hard Times', an invaluable guide to sustaining happiness by transforming our perceptions of suffering and freeing ourselves from fear: bit.ly/Bozzfest

Legendary DJ and journalist Billy Sloan has lived his life for music, championing emerging artists who would soon define their era

Billy will be joined by Heather Suttie, to talk about his storied career and his many enduring friendships with the stars

Join us in person or online: bit.ly/Bozzfest

Cant make it on the day? All events will be live-streamed and available to view on our website with our online rover pass.

Just one week to go!

We look forward to welcoming you all to the gorgeous grounds of Dumfries House for the only festival dedicated to biography & memoir anywhere in the world.

We hope you will join us for this rich celebration of stories, ideas, lives, and people!

www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk

In his moving memoir Slum Boy, celebrated visual artist Juano Diaz shares his experiences of growing up between bouts of poverty and adoption and the role that public museums played in nurturing his imagination

You can join us for this inspirational story both in-person and online: bit.ly/Bozzfest

Just one week to go!

We look forward to welcoming you all to the gorgeous grounds of Dumfries House for the only festival dedicated to biography & memoir anywhere in the world.

We hope you will join us for this rich celebration of stories, ideas, lives, and people!

www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk

Hitlers People by renowned historian Robert J Evans is an examination of the people whose complicity enabled atrocities.

Just how different are attitudes towards dehumanisation today?

You can join him for this fascinating topic in-person or online
www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk/2025/events/429

Witch hunts ripped through the country for over 150 years, with at least 4,000 accused, and with many women’s fates sealed by a grizzly execution.

Claire Mitchell, KC and Zoe Venditozzi tell the stories of these terrible injustices.

Join us in person or online:
bit.ly/Bozzfest

What do you know about the "Forgotten War"?

Acclaimed historian Robert Lyman tells the story of war in Burma, a catastrophic defeat for the allies that was transformed into a crucial victory whose consequences have shaped the geopolitical situation of modern Asia

Book your ticket:
bit.ly/Bozzfest

If you love the skirl of the Bagpipes, then Richard McLauchlan will transport you musically and anecdotally through the storied history of Scotland’s iconic instrument.

You can join Richard in person or online:
www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk/2025/events/434

Delighted I'm returning to @bozzybookfest.bsky.social next weekend. Chairing several events @sarasheridan.bsky.social Juano Diaz & Charlie English, I'm also discussing my book Joshua in the Sky with @msmeghanbean.bsky.social ↘️↘️↘️. Whose life gets to be remembered, when we record real lives? And how?

The traditional biography details a full life of achievements.

Joshua in the Sky from @rodgeglass.bsky.social instead memorialises the author's nephew, Joshua, who lived for just 3 hours.

This is is a journey through loss and an exploration of the nature of biography itself. bit.ly/Bozzfest

Just two weeks until I'll be at Dumfries House for @bozzybookfest.bsky.social, talking with @huntingrebels.bsky.social about Margaret Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots, in a session chaired by @agroundwater.bsky.social . Cannot wait!

New event Alert! 📢

One of the outstanding scholars of the Golden Age of Dutch painting, Tico Seifert, will be joining the Pullitzer prize-winning Benjamin Moser, to discuss the Dutch masters who have shaped their lives and work

Join in-person or online
www.boswellbookfestival.co.uk/2025/events/453

Firestorm is John Valliant’s account of the terrifying inferno that enveloped the city of Fort McMurray

Recipient of the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction, he joins us remotely to be interviewed by Cal Flyn on the subject of our ever-hotter world

Join us online or in person: bit.ly/Bozzfest

Want to hone your foraging skills?

Mo Wilde is a forager & herbalist who joins us to talk about her book, Free Food, a gorgeously illustrated guide to the edible plants and medicinal species that can be found in Scotland’s natural larders.

Book for in person or online attendance: bit.ly/Bozzfest