Sep. 27th, 2023 at 5:53 PM
Islay Book Festival 2023
Big thanks to Islay Book Festival for the Reeve & McIntyre invitation to visit the island this year! I've been to Islay and the festival several times: first when I was twelve, then signing books in 2018, events with Philip for the festival in 2019, virtually during Lockdown with Kevin, a Grumpycorn party at The Celtic House in 2022. I love going to Islay, and it's always wonderful staying on to explore and see family.
Photo on Kintra beach by Philip Reeve
Every time I get invited to Islay, my parents come over from Seattle to stay, too, and Islay becomes a hub as all the relatives visit from this side of the pond. (My dad grew up on Islay, in Bridgend, before he emigrated to the States.) The owner of the place we stay encourages me to draw on anything I like while I'm there, so this time I tackled one of the walls in the lounge! (I hope he likes it.)
And I drew on some pebbles I left at the house:
My Adventuremice co-author Philip Reeve and I visited three different schools with Islay Book Festival. Here we are, doing an assembly at Bowmore Primary School. The children had read Adventuremice books and were really buzzing!
And here's Martyn Chandler, who volunteered to look after us - thank you, Martyn!
At Islay High School in Bowmore, Philip and I did some world-building, character development and plotting for an island-themed story.
The children were also a-buzz at Port Ellen Primary School, and if you can access Twitter, they posted this fabulous video round-up - within hours! - of our visit! Here are a couple stills from the video:
And they gave us gorgeous cake in the staff room, sourced from the Copper Stills Coffee van on the pier in Port Ellen. (We visited it later with my family, it's truly fabulous.) Here we are with Lori Jones, who went above and beyond that day, driving us nearly the full length of the island!
And everything always came back to our home base, The Celtic House bookshop in Bowmore. Here we are with the lovely owner Colin Roy (aka Pat), who always keeps us well-fed with great coffee and cake. The Celtic House do still have some signed Adventuremice and Utterly Dark books in stock, so do order online if you fancy supporting a great independent Hebridean bookshop! And check Adventuremice.com for lots of free book-related activities.
Huge thanks to bookseller, book reviewer and English-French literary translator Charlène Busalli who, despite doing all those things, also amazingly still found time to head the festival in her first year as director with a new team of volunteers. Great job, Charlène!!! We hope you get some time to rest and recover! If you're on Islay, check out her festival write-up in the local newspaper where she reviews books, The Ileach. Here she is with Stuart, having meal with us at Peatzeria in Bowmore:
While Philip and I were doing Adventuremice events at the festival, Philip was also featuring the third book in his Utterly Dark series for older readers, Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time:
It was very much inspired by our last visit to Islay in 2019, and when you read it, you'll recognise elements of the island setting.
We don't usually do joint Utterly Dark events (the covers and chapter head illustrations in the books were drawing by Irish artist Paddy Donnelly). But since I was there, I helped out with a flipchart map drawing of the island of Wildsea for his event:
Oh look, it's a Man O' Weed from the book, right there on the beach!
And if you've read the book, you'll also understand the appropriateness of this bookmark. Do read the Utterly Dark series, it's utterly marvelous.
Now, my blog is often how I best go back and remember a trip! So I'll post a few more photos.
Here's my husband Stuart, on the way back from family lunch at Ardnahoe Distillery, with a view toward Jura. (Someone said that the school in Jura was disappointed that Philip and I didn't visit... Hint: invite us over next time we're on Islay, we'd love to visit Jura!)
A beautiful visit to Portnahaven, where a seal on the rocks was singing lustily.
Obligatory Stuart-Sarah beach photo! I'm hoping this is the one that appears in the annual family calender, not the one where I'm hunched over the kitchen counter like a troll.
Sarah Reeve was able to come out, too! Here she is with Philip and my parents on the beach at Saligo (or was it Sannaig)?
Stuart and I got to go on a gorgeous walk with Sarah and Philip Reeve on the Oa from Kintra Beach to Soldier's Rock. Check out the dramatic rock arch here!
The path inland from Kintra beach to the ruins is wonderful (and very accessible). Philip took this nice shot there:
But the coastal way from Soldier's Rock back to the beach is terrible, not recommended; lots of wobbly tussocks and no visible path. We spent a lot of time caught up in bushes, and we would have retraced our steps inland back through the ruins if we'd known. That said, if we hadn't walked the whole loop, we'd have missed this whisky waterfall right before Kintra.
Just as Philip and Sarah headed off, my sister Mary McIntyre and her partner Mike Lewis arrived! They were supposed to fly in, but the plane had problems and Loganair sent them on a much longer ferry route. Here's Mary's photo of Mike at breakfast on the ferry, after their VERY early start.
Stuart and I picked the up at Port Askaig, and it's a magnificent sight when the CalMac ferry pulls up.
My parents, looking adorable, on a walk on the Oa to the American Monument.
Mary's good at making flower crowns.
Some striking beach rocks. (A lot of the beach rocks on Islay look super-dramatic.)
On Nelly's Path in Bridgend: my sister looking over Ceannloch, the house where my grandpa (Duncan McIntyre) worked as a doctor and where my dad and his sister grew up. (You can stay there now as a guest house, but it's pretty pricey.)
And one last drawing, of my lovely Mama...
Thanks so much to Charlène and everyone on the Islay Book Festival team for all your hard work and for hosting us!! And to my parents, for giving us a wonderful home with them on Islay during our stay, it was wonderful to see them, in such a beautiful place.
You can follow Islay Book festival on Twitter - @islaybookfest - and on Instagram - also @islaybookfest - and on Facebook here. And The Celtic House on Twitter - @TheCelticHouse - Instagram - @theceltichouseislay and on Facebook here.
Photo on Kintra beach by Philip Reeve
Every time I get invited to Islay, my parents come over from Seattle to stay, too, and Islay becomes a hub as all the relatives visit from this side of the pond. (My dad grew up on Islay, in Bridgend, before he emigrated to the States.) The owner of the place we stay encourages me to draw on anything I like while I'm there, so this time I tackled one of the walls in the lounge! (I hope he likes it.)
And I drew on some pebbles I left at the house:
My Adventuremice co-author Philip Reeve and I visited three different schools with Islay Book Festival. Here we are, doing an assembly at Bowmore Primary School. The children had read Adventuremice books and were really buzzing!
And here's Martyn Chandler, who volunteered to look after us - thank you, Martyn!
At Islay High School in Bowmore, Philip and I did some world-building, character development and plotting for an island-themed story.
The children were also a-buzz at Port Ellen Primary School, and if you can access Twitter, they posted this fabulous video round-up - within hours! - of our visit! Here are a couple stills from the video:
And they gave us gorgeous cake in the staff room, sourced from the Copper Stills Coffee van on the pier in Port Ellen. (We visited it later with my family, it's truly fabulous.) Here we are with Lori Jones, who went above and beyond that day, driving us nearly the full length of the island!
And everything always came back to our home base, The Celtic House bookshop in Bowmore. Here we are with the lovely owner Colin Roy (aka Pat), who always keeps us well-fed with great coffee and cake. The Celtic House do still have some signed Adventuremice and Utterly Dark books in stock, so do order online if you fancy supporting a great independent Hebridean bookshop! And check Adventuremice.com for lots of free book-related activities.
Huge thanks to bookseller, book reviewer and English-French literary translator Charlène Busalli who, despite doing all those things, also amazingly still found time to head the festival in her first year as director with a new team of volunteers. Great job, Charlène!!! We hope you get some time to rest and recover! If you're on Islay, check out her festival write-up in the local newspaper where she reviews books, The Ileach. Here she is with Stuart, having meal with us at Peatzeria in Bowmore:
While Philip and I were doing Adventuremice events at the festival, Philip was also featuring the third book in his Utterly Dark series for older readers, Utterly Dark and the Tides of Time:
It was very much inspired by our last visit to Islay in 2019, and when you read it, you'll recognise elements of the island setting.
We don't usually do joint Utterly Dark events (the covers and chapter head illustrations in the books were drawing by Irish artist Paddy Donnelly). But since I was there, I helped out with a flipchart map drawing of the island of Wildsea for his event:
Oh look, it's a Man O' Weed from the book, right there on the beach!
And if you've read the book, you'll also understand the appropriateness of this bookmark. Do read the Utterly Dark series, it's utterly marvelous.
Now, my blog is often how I best go back and remember a trip! So I'll post a few more photos.
Here's my husband Stuart, on the way back from family lunch at Ardnahoe Distillery, with a view toward Jura. (Someone said that the school in Jura was disappointed that Philip and I didn't visit... Hint: invite us over next time we're on Islay, we'd love to visit Jura!)
A beautiful visit to Portnahaven, where a seal on the rocks was singing lustily.
Obligatory Stuart-Sarah beach photo! I'm hoping this is the one that appears in the annual family calender, not the one where I'm hunched over the kitchen counter like a troll.
Sarah Reeve was able to come out, too! Here she is with Philip and my parents on the beach at Saligo (or was it Sannaig)?
Stuart and I got to go on a gorgeous walk with Sarah and Philip Reeve on the Oa from Kintra Beach to Soldier's Rock. Check out the dramatic rock arch here!
The path inland from Kintra beach to the ruins is wonderful (and very accessible). Philip took this nice shot there:
But the coastal way from Soldier's Rock back to the beach is terrible, not recommended; lots of wobbly tussocks and no visible path. We spent a lot of time caught up in bushes, and we would have retraced our steps inland back through the ruins if we'd known. That said, if we hadn't walked the whole loop, we'd have missed this whisky waterfall right before Kintra.
Just as Philip and Sarah headed off, my sister Mary McIntyre and her partner Mike Lewis arrived! They were supposed to fly in, but the plane had problems and Loganair sent them on a much longer ferry route. Here's Mary's photo of Mike at breakfast on the ferry, after their VERY early start.
Stuart and I picked the up at Port Askaig, and it's a magnificent sight when the CalMac ferry pulls up.
My parents, looking adorable, on a walk on the Oa to the American Monument.
Mary's good at making flower crowns.
Some striking beach rocks. (A lot of the beach rocks on Islay look super-dramatic.)
On Nelly's Path in Bridgend: my sister looking over Ceannloch, the house where my grandpa (Duncan McIntyre) worked as a doctor and where my dad and his sister grew up. (You can stay there now as a guest house, but it's pretty pricey.)
And one last drawing, of my lovely Mama...
Thanks so much to Charlène and everyone on the Islay Book Festival team for all your hard work and for hosting us!! And to my parents, for giving us a wonderful home with them on Islay during our stay, it was wonderful to see them, in such a beautiful place.
You can follow Islay Book festival on Twitter - @islaybookfest - and on Instagram - also @islaybookfest - and on Facebook here. And The Celtic House on Twitter - @TheCelticHouse - Instagram - @theceltichouseislay and on Facebook here.