Exhibitions

As ever, art is a key part of the festival and we will be running a number of exhibitions that celebrate our ongoing links with Scotland’s largest arts and crafts open studios event Spring Fling.

We’re delighted that former artist-in-residence Astrid Jaekel will be providing a retrospective of her work, which has included wall-papering many of the buildings of Wigtown to mark the festival’s 20th anniversary.

Poet Ken Cockburn will be teaming up with artist and printmaker Lisa Hooper for an exhibition celebrating birds and words, which builds on Ken’s writing residency during the 2018 festival.

Photographer Colin Tennant will be showing his hugely evocative portraits of the Solway’s remaining fishing fleets at work, as part of our Scotland’s Year of Coasts and Waters celebrations. And we will also be showcasing work by some of the students from Edinburgh College of Art, who have been working on an illustration inspired by Wigtown Book Festival.

Finally, for the first time, the festival will have a sound artist. The brains behind the cult Dark Outside music festival, Stuart McLean (aka French Bloke) will be recording sounds of Scotland’s National Book Town in an attempt to bring it alive in your living room. You will be able to hear them on our nightly podcast during the festival, and via social media.