Wigtown Book Town

Situated in the southwest of Scotland, with the Central Belt & Ayrshire to the north, Cumbria & the Lake District to the south, the Scottish Borders & Northumberland to the east, and Ireland to the west, this kaleidoscope of beautiful pastoral landscape, rugged coastline, woodland and forest, moorland and mountain is a rich cultural melting pot.

Wigtown was officially designated as Scotland's National Book Town in 1998 and is now home to over 20 book-related business. A book lovers haven - and with over quarter of a million books to choose from, old and new... it is impossible to escape empty-handed. On top of that, Wigtown was the winner of a prestigious Thistle Award for tourism in 2009, and has nowadays become what The Times calls a 'must-see event in Scotland's cultural calendar'.

This autumn will again see many of the best writers in the UK descending on Scotland's National Book Town for 170 events over 10 days. Authors appearing include Diana Athill, Iain Banks, John Boyne, Christopher Brookmyre, William Dalrymple, Julia Donaldson, Roddy Doyle, Quintin Jardine, Irma Kurtz, Kenny Logan, Chris Mullin, Nick Nairn & David Owen. In addition, there is theatre, music, art exhibitions and a full children's programme.

As part of the Homecoming 2009 celebrations, this year's events will also include a unique festival-within-a-festival celebrating whisky's relationship to writing. With music, tastings and some of the world's top whisky experts, including Charlie MacLean, Gavin Smith, Ian Buxton, Hans Offringa, Robin Laing and Dave Broom - it will appeal to anyone who has ever curled up with a book and a dram.

This year the festival runs from 25 September to 4 October... hurry up if you want to enjoy this truly unique Scottish gem!