Be Prepared – Wigtown Explores how Clean Underpants Help You Survive Armageddon

Robert is perfect for the job having crossed remote parts of Canada in a canoe made of bark, searched for real-life zombies in Haiti, studied martial arts with the Tokyo riot police, crossed the Western Desert pulling a hand-made trolley and helped capture the world’s largest snake.

His own expertise and research will be supplemented by a different special guest each day – each of them an author who has written about issues of annihilation.

We Know it's Coming Soon...

Robert said: “It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but we know it’s coming soon. And you have to be ready for anything and everything.

“If it’s not another pandemic, a nuclear war or world-wide flooding due to climate change then it may be that the machines take over, we all descend into madness or there’s a good old-fashioned plague of zombies.

“But that’s no reason to get dispirited, I’ve spoken to survivalists and many others about how to get through it all and have lots of handy hints.

“I’ll also be asking a series of special guests to shed light on the big questions like what they would take into the bunker to keep them feeling chipper.”

The Doomsday Clock is Ticking

With some it might well be books – and even ones whose authors are appearing at the festival, like Iain MacGregor (author of The Hiroshima Men) or Louise Minchin (Isolation Island).

Indeed, it appears the timing is perfect for Robert Twigger’s End of the World Survival Guide events as the Doomsday Clock, which measures the likelihood of human-made global catastrophe, was this year set at just 89 seconds to midnight.

And Robert isn’t afraid to address the tough decisions you will have to make in the dog-eat-radioactive-dog aftermath of The End.

These are some top tips he has gleaned from his own expeditions and from other experts:

• Always keep a pair of clean underpants – vital to filter contaminated water
• Have two exits to your bunker – rabbits do this to foil predators, you can do it to confuse zombies.
• Get rice and keep it in airtight bags – it can last 100 years like that, by which time your descendants will have mutated into something suited to the new conditions.
• Unfriend big eaters – they’ll gobble up your precious supplies in no time.

Full of Facts and Learning Points

Robert Twigger’s End of the World Survival Guide has been meticulously researched and is full of facts and learning points.

He said: “A little known fact is that the Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing had her own nuclear bunker built. A group of them tried it out but everything fell apart within an hour because they couldn’t decide who should be in charge. My advice is to decide on the chain of command before anyone heads for the shelter.”

And There’s So Much More at the Festival

Wigtown Book Festival offers a rich combination of events and activities – inspirational, thought provoking, informative, fun and quirky. Here’s some of what you can enjoy beyond the huge array of book talks by authors.

Fireworks – The spectacular free opening event that brings together our community and visitors with impressive pyrotechnics.

Wild Swimming with Vicky Allen – Author and wild swimming enthusiast Vicky invites you to join her and take the plunge.

Wigtown Women’s Walk – Join author Kriss Nichol on a heritage walk celebrating the lives of women of the town through selected readings from an anthology of creative writing from women writers of the region.

Sauna by the Square – Steam away your worries in our mobile sauna, which will also host the Hot Takes series of events.

Wigtown’s Got Talent – Back for one last time (again), the talent contest for visitors, authors and anyone else, all vying to win the coveted Golden Pencil.

One-Man Poe – Gothic horror on stage at The Swallow Theatre.

Things found in Books – Boo Hewerdine and Yvonne Lyon sing songs from their new album inspired by items found in second-hand books.

The Morning Show – Daily chat and music to inspire your mornings.

Book at Bedtime – Calming stories and hot chocolate to round off each eventful day

Stuart Kelly’s Literary Pub Quiz – Literary critic Stuart tests the knowledge of festivalgoers and authors.

Banned Books – Wigtown’s one and only The Bookshop Band, ban exploration of banned literature inspired by the Oz magazine.

Choir in a Day – Singer, songwriter and musician Beth Porter starts a brand-new choir in the morning, ready to perform in public the same evening.

Wild Words: Wee Wings – Enjoy stories, poems and soothing songs, all in a bird hide.

Overnight Live – Discover what happens in the wilder surroundings of Wigtown after dark with ranger Elizabeth Tindal and author Dan Richards.

Spaghetti Western Supper – A relaxed evening of Sicilian cooking and chat, inspired by a female-led movie project retelling the tale of how the West was won.

The Silence of Snow – More theatre at The Swallow, the riveting story of playwright Patrick Hamilton who gave us the concept of gaslighting.

Ceilidh – Let your hair down with an evening of traditional music and dancing.

Diary of a Bookseller at the Festival – Wigtown bookseller-turned-author Shaun Bythell has the last word on this festival and festivals gone by.

The full 2025 programme can be found on our website.