From a knitted piano to the Wigtown Wiggle – new trails have been unveiled to celebrate Scottish writer and poet Alastair Reid’s joyous sense of silliness.
The initiatives are part of Wigtown Book Festival’s commemorations for the centenary of a Galloway man who was recognised as one of Scotland’s greatest writers of the 20th century.
The Ounce Dice Trice Trail is inspired by his children’s book Ounce, Dice, Trice, which is a delightful exploration of sense and nonsense, sounds, meanings and quirks that’s a joy from start to finish.
Artists from across the region were invited to take words from the book, such as “mugwump”, “wiggle” and “gongoozler”, and turn them into artworks which can be found all around Scotland’s National Book Town from now until the end of the festival on 4 October.
Louisa Ruthven and The Wigtown Knitters got together to create a fabulous woollen piano, inspired by the words “jiggery pokery”, while musician and artist Ken Humphreys turned “wiggle” into a brand new dance, The Wigtown Wiggle.
Ness Patterson created a collection of cheerfully laughing heads – from the phrase “A giggle of girls”.
Karen Pierce took the word Dimerty, which describes a type of textile and also the dimming of the day, and made a cushion rich with images of stars and books which is displayed in The Bookshop.
Jenny Toms has a series of artworks in The Open Book (Wigtown’s Airbnb bookshop – the proceeds from which go to the festival and to youth literacy projects).
The front window and ceiling of The Book End Studio have also been transformed as part of the trail by artist and owner Julie Houston.
Town storyteller and artist Renita Boyle has added her own Whimsical Worlds a separate trail that can be followed using a printed guide available from the box office.
Other quirky attractions round town are a bench carved with a quotation from Alastair Reid’s poetry, which is outside the Wigtown Festival Company HQ at 26, South Main Street. Right beside it is the big blue Poetry Jukebox (on loan from the Linen Hall Library) – where you can wind the handle and hear a poem.
There is also a creative installation of Alastair Reid’s famous poem, Weathering, which can be found in the Martyrs’ Cell in the County Buildings.
Isla Rosser-Owen, Wigtown Festival Company CEO, said: “A visit to the festival offers even more than the 250 events we are running – the trails are a superb way to get out and discover Scotland’s National Book Town and the people who helped develop it – like Alastair Reid.
“A hundred years after his birth we wanted to honour a truly great writer, a great Scot and a man who gave a great deal of time and energy to help in our quest to use the power of literature to help with the regeneration of one of Scotland’s most economically challenged rural areas.
“As ever, the creation of the trails has been driven by the local community and they are there for everyone to enjoy.”
Other new trails
- The Wigtown Booksellers Trail takes you around the bookshops and book-related businesses of Wigtown and shines the spotlight on the people behind the shop fronts. The trail can be followed using an app that can be downloaded from the Scotland Starts Here website at https://scotlandstartshere.com/.
- Writers’ Walks – a series of walks are being added to the WBF website. Modern-day writers talk about their favourite walk in D&G alongside some of their works it has inspired. There are also some walks connected to our historical writers.
- Our Literary Landscape – an illustrated map of literary D&G has been put together by the Festival Company to illustrate some of the region’s vast literary heritage, from John Buchan to Bram Stoker, Dorothy L Sayers to Lawrence of Arabia. Maps can be found in the ‘Trails and Tales’ leaflets available at the box office.
The trails have been supported by the Best of Britain Fund, with more to be announced soon.
- The Ounce Dice Trice Trail can be followed using a guide available from the box office. The artists who contributed are Julie Houston, Rosanna Dobson, Rose Howie, Jenny Toms, Mavi Hamali, Ness Patterson, Renita Boyle, Louisa Ruthven, Ken Humphreys, Karen Pierce and the Wigtown Knitters.
-Ends-
Notes
- For more about Wigtown Book Festival see www.wigtownbookfestival.com
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For media information: Matthew Shelley at Matthew@ScottishfestivalsPR.org or 07786 704299.
Wigtown Festival Company, 26 South Main Street, Wigtown, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, UK, DG8 9EH. Wigtown Festival Company is a company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Scottish Charity No. SC037984
