Book Festivals abound but one of the quirkiest and most delightful is the annual Wigtown Book Festival held this year from 25th September to 4th October in remote ,dreamy Galloway. Wigtown is a bit of a trek to get to but so worth it. And this year to celebrate Scotland’s Year of Homecoming there will be a special festival-within-a-festival called “Whisky & Words” with a programme featuring events about the relationship between whisky and writing.

It takes place at Bladnoch Distillery – Scotland’s southernmost distillery – between 30th September and Saturday 3 October. Amongst the events lined up are Roger Hutchinson on the real Whisky Galore, Tom Morton’s ‘Drinking For Scotland’, Ian Buxton on the wonderful Aeneas MacDonald (who wrote probably the greatest book ever written about Scotch), the poetry of drink and a whisky-themed creative writing course.

Scotland’s top whisky writers such as Charles MacLean, Dave Broom and Gavin Smith will also host events. There will be nips and tastings with most events to combine the “practical” whisky information with the more literary angles.   And, on Saturday 3rd October there will be a special event to celebrate the launch of the Bladnoch 8 year-old malt, the first since the distillery re-opened. Not to be missed.