Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Soutar Festival of Words returns to Perth with impressive literary line-up

Big names such as Sally Magnusson and Makar Hannah Lavery will appear next weekend.

Sally Magnusson will appear at this year's Soutar Festival. Image: BBC Scotland.
Sally Magnusson will appear at this year's Soutar Festival. Image: BBC Scotland.

The Soutar Festival of Words is returning to Perth next weekend for its 2023 incarnation.

The literary festival, named in honour of Perth poet William Soutar, began in 2019 and has hosted Scottish stars of the book world such as Douglas Stuart (Shuggie Bain) and former Makar Kathleen Jamie.

And this year, the exciting line-up includes broadcaster and prize-winning journalist Sally Magnusson, as she discusses her new historical fiction work, Music In The Dark.

Other highlights will include the keynote Soutar Lecture, which will this year be delivered by Angus-based author and Walter Scott Prize-winner James Robertson, and current Makar Hannah Lavery’s unveiling of this year’s original Soutar Poem.

The festival will have activities for all ages, with young people and families encouraged to attend.

Plaid Song, a band that will perform at the Soutar Festival 2023.
Plaid Song will perform at the Soutar Festival 2023.

For wee ones, James Robertson will also be performing a Scots reading of Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo.

And a panel of young LGBTQIA+ people will be interviewing Renfrewshire writer Ely Percy about their novel Duck feet, which is written entirely in Scots dialect and was named Scottish Book of the Year 2021.

As well as talks from a wealth of literary talent, the festival will offer interactive writing workshops, and live music from the likes of Perthshire duo Plaid Song and Glasgow-based guitarist Alasdair Roberts.


The Soutar Festival of Words will run across various venues in Perth from April 29-30. For more information and to book tickets, see the festival’s website.

Conversation