TV writer Chris Dolan

as part of

Tidelines Book Festival

As part of this year’s Tidelines Book Festival (21^st to 24^th Sept), Fullarton Connexions will present two events.

First up, family entertainers The McDougalls perform their hour-long brand new musical, Fairytale Fun!, on Saturday 23^rd September at 2pm. Why not come dressed as your favourite fairy tale character? Be prepared for lots of singing and laughter.  Tickets are great value at £8 in total for a family group (2 adults plus 2 children), or per person.

On Sunday 24^th September at 2pm, there’s Wee Screen, Big Stories, where you can come along for an entertaining chat with Chris Dolan, writer for page, stage and screen, talking about what goes on behind the scenes creating stories for long-running TV series like River City, High Road, Taggart and Machair, and how important TV is in our lives. Tickets are £5 per person.

Tickets for both these events are available by phone or in person from the Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine tel: 01294 274059 (no booking fee) or online at www.tidelinesbookfest.com  (booking fee applies)

This is the biggest Tidelines Festival with 18 events at four venues (the Harbour Arts Centre, Fullarton Connexions, Puffers Café, and the Scottish Maritime Museum) around Irvine’s Harbourside area. Tidelines Book Festival 2017 will run from 21-24 September (Thursday-Sunday). A schools programme runs alongside the 18 programme events.

There is surely something for everyone in this year’s programme, whether your taste is for TV drama or soul music, murder mysteries or fairy stories, history or fiction, activities with the kids or stories of perseverance.

Record-breaking cyclist and author, Graeme Obree, starts the Festival wheel turning on Thursday 21^st September, and it stops with a play in the style of a radio thriller (Carry on Sleuthing) on the evening of Sunday 24^th September.   Full details are available in programmes at the venues or online at www.tidelinesbookfest.com

During the Festival, West Kilbride’s Timber Books will run a pop-up bookshop at the Harbour Arts Centre.

Melanie Nolan, Tidelines’ chair, said, “This is the biggest and best Tidelines based at Irvine Harbourside. We’ve got a really eclectic mix this year – there’s something here for everyone. Join us and bring your friends – you may even make some new ones along the way!”

Cultural and Creative Officer Marie Blackwood from the Harbour Arts Centre added, “It’s about having a great time in the company of books and authors and enjoying all that the Harbour Arts Centre and its surroundings have to offer, including food and drink. Plus we have a pop up book shop for the duration of the Festival.

If you’ve never been to a book festival before, this is the one to start with. There’s none of the mud of music festivals and you don’t need a tent!”

Andrew O’Hagan, award-winning author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and patron of Tidelines Book Festival, comments in his foreword to the programme: “Tidelines will serve you a feast of exciting authors, ready to enrich your love of reading and your passion for ideas. Get involved. Book your places. And see you there at Tidelines 2017, your very own festival of writing talent on your very own doorstep.”