Isla RO

Gorgeous Boxing Day beach walk today. I do miss this place! #Islay

📚🌟 ONE WEEK TO GO until Wigtown Book Festival 2025! 🌟📚
Book your tickets here 👇
www.wigtownbookfestival.com/whats-on

After the exciting whirlwind that was @islaybookfest.bsky.social ‘25, I’m now busy preparing for the four events I’ll be chairing at Wigtown Book Fest! Very excited as it will be my first time going to Scotland’s National booktown. Thanks so much @islaro.bsky.social for inviting me to take part!

I hope you’re all limbering up and getting ready for this year’s WIGTOWN'S GOT TALENT! 😆🥳

Entries are open to locals, authors and visitors.

Enter by 5 September via email: mail@wigtownbookfestival.com

WGT show night is 27 September at 7:30pm in The Merse.

Five things to see in Scotland this week: from Ali Smith to Hamza Yassin Plus: catch Afrique en Cirque; Strictly Come Dancing winner Hamza Yassin at Islay Book Festival; Ali Smith and Louise Welsh at Nairn Book and Arts Festival and more

Gutted I won’t make this year’s @islaybookfest.bsky.social. A huge well done to @charlenebusalli.bsky.social and team for such a great lineup. It’s so exciting to see the festival go from strength to strength Everyone should have this festival on their must-see list. www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...

Isla Rosser-Owen returns to Wigtown Book Festival as CEO

Wigtown Festival Company has announced that Isla Rosser-Owen will be returning as its new CEO, overseeing the annual book festival and the rest of the year-round programme 👇 #BookSky

Thank you @islaybookfest.bsky.social for being always awesome and excellent! 😘

New Wigtown Book Festival chief has 'ambitious plans' Isla Rosser-Owen will take up the post in Wigtown - Scotland's national book town - next month.

So in between Covid, a bird mite infestation (don’t ask), and various other casualties, this happened…

I’m sad to be leaving the island again so soon, but excited to be returning to Wigtown in a couple of weeks to take up this new role.

See you soon, Wigtown! 🥳 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Currently reading this beautifully spooky book! 📚 👻

Scottish 'party island' named in list of UK's coolest postcodes to move to in 2025 It perhaps comes as no surprise that the island is a well-known spot for whisky.

Apparently I live in Scotland’s ‘party island’. I’ve never been classed as ‘cool’ before! 🏝️
#Islay

www.scotsman.com/news/scottis...

It’s taken me all of two weeks of working at @theceltichouse.bsky.social before relenting and buying another book! 😬 Looking forward to this one by @cjcookebooks.bsky.social.

Not a bad lunchtime view! #Islay

A large orange tabby cat lounging like the laziest guy you ever saw.

This guy is up for adoption at my local animal shelter, in case anyone is looking for a guy like this.

What an amazing aurora display this evening! #Islay #NorthernLights

Only on Islay when you visit someone are you sent away with freshly-baked scones and some poems! 😘

In personal news, I will be moving on from Bradford Literature Festival at the end of this year. I will be so sad to leave Bradford and all the wonderful new friends I have made here, but it’s time to go and I am looking forward to returning to Islay for some fresh sea air 🙂

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!

Day 1
#Books #BookSky #BookChallenge

It’s nearly time for Christmas on the island (and I may just stay there!) 🏝️ Looking forward to the clear skies and the sea breeze and blowing away those cobwebs. #Islay

It absolutely is!

Well worth a listen! We had the most wonderful time at this year’s festival listening to @chitgrrl.bsky.social chat about her book Homelands with @islaro.bsky.social

First and Foremost I Am: Sigga Ella’s Thought Provoking Photography Sigga Ella is a photographer from Reykjavík, Iceland whose recent photo series looks to shed light on the ethical questions of where we are headed as a society with today’s ability to choose who is

A gorgeous series of photos, ‘First and Foremost I Am’, by Sigga Ella featuring 21 people with Down’s Syndrome. fstoppers.com/opinion/firs...

Sleepy kitty.

The humble Kunafa Tea in Bradford is absolutely wonderful! I would very much recommend it for all your Levantine delicacies.

Anger in Hornsea after Lincoln the 'Tesco Cat' is banned from store Lincoln the cat has delighted shoppers by visiting the store daily for the past three years.

“Since achieving celebrity status, Mrs Clarke said Lincoln had become somewhat of a ‘diva at home’ and even stars in his own charity fundraising calendar.” This story brings me so much joy! #cheekycats

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-engl...

Weirdly confusing! I got 18/24, most of which were guesses!

We invite you to join us at the 2023 Islay Book Festival AGM on 4th December, 6pm at The Celtic House in Bowmore.

All welcome! Please come along if you would like to join our enthusiastic committee and/ or volunteer with us! 📚

So here I am, now even more definitely in my late forties! #NewProfilePic

It’s possible aliens have landed in City Park! #Bradford

Love this bit of Bradford street art by Ruth Fettis. It brightens up my walk up the hill to work every morning!