AFTER AN INCREDIBLE DAY ONE –DAY TWO OF THE DUNOON BOOK FESTIVAL

After a fantastic first day It’s day two of the Dunoon Book Festival. So many great events to choose from today including a writing workshop with the ladies favourite Scottish Historical Romance Writer MARAGUERITE KAYE , she will be at the West End Hotel this morning.         Marguerite writes hot historical romances from her home in cold and usually rainy Scotland. Featuring Regency Rakes, Highlanders and Sheikhs, she has published almost thirty books and novellas. When she’s not writing she enjoys walking, cycling (but only on the level), gardening (but only what she can eat) and cooking. She also likes to knit and occasionally drink martinis (though not at the same time).

SIR CHARLES MACLEAN at will be at Purdies at 1.30pm His latest of three novels, Home Before Dark, was praised by the New York Times for its “supple prose” and has been greenlighted by Channel 4 as a 4 part series. His colourful life has included co-founding Ecologist magazine, working as a merchant seaman, a rancher, and singing in rodeo bars in California and lives just down the road. His famous non-fiction work St Kilda: Island on the Edge of the World, has never been out of print.

BRIAN PATTON is a prolific scholar and author, specialising in the history
of steamships and other forms of transport. His last book, Mauerfall 25, honoured the anniversary of the fall of the German Democratic Republic as viewed from its transport. His talk on Dresden’s recovery after its tumultuous history echoes these themes. Brian will be in the Seasons Coffee House at 2.00pm

Something for all nursery and primary school age children is JAYNE BALDWIN – Galloway Storytellers at 2.00pm at the Burgh Hall Pop Up Shop when you can meet the team behind South Scotland’s indie children’s publisher Curly Tale Books. Shalla and Jayne have a host of fun characters including Big Bill the Beltie Bull, the Galloway Chilli, Charlotte the sheep and Maxwell the woodmouse. Storytelling and fun activities, a must for all nursery and primary school age children and Mums and Dads

ROY PEDERSEN – is an author, publisher, illustrator and consultant who lives in Inverness. His writing includes works of fiction and non-fiction, including the controversial Who Pays the Ferryman? – The Great Scottish Ferry Swindle. Roy currently serves on the Scottish Government’s Expert Ferries Group. He will be talking on his personal evolution as a writer, and the issues close to his heart at the Seasons Coffee House at 3.15pm

Another children’s favourite and no stranger to Dunoon will be  SCOULAR ANDERSON – A tour of Castle MacPelican, a journey from inspiration to completed book – for kids age 5-8 to be held at 3.30pm at the Burgh Hall Pop Up Shop
Scoular Anderson is one of Scotland’s foremost illustrators. He studied graphic design at the Glasgow School of Art before moving to London to work for London University. During this time, he also worked as
an illustrator and writer for various children’s publishers. As well as illustrating other authors’ works, he has written over seventy books himself, including Space Pirates and the Treasure of Salmagundy (Frances Lincoln, 2004), which was short-listed for the 2005 Scottish Arts Council Children’s Book of the Year award.
Billed as a  talk from 5 star thriller writer who has recently published his second book, The Samaritan MASON CROSS will be at Bookpoint at 6.00pm
Mason has worked variously as a tax officer, events coordinator, project manager and pizza delivery boy. His short stories have been published in Ellery Queen, Scribble and First Edition. His story ‘A Living’, was shortlisted for the Quick Reads ‘Get Britain Reading’ Award. He is the author of the popular Carter Blake thriller series. The first book, The Killing Season was published by Orion in 2014, and the sequel, The Samaritan, was published in the UK on July 16 2015.

Bringing to a close the second day of the Dunoon Book Festival we have two Scottish Novelists & Playwrights CHRIS DOLAN & ALAN CAMERON .They shall both be at The Braes in the Function Suite at 7.30pm
Chris Dolan has published four novels, (Ascension Day, Redlegs, Potter’s Field and Aliyyah), two collections of short stories and two non-fiction books. He has had three full-length stage plays produced internationally, with five shorter pieces and four collaborations with Spanish dramatists. He has written over fifty hours of television, and more of radio drama. He has worked in collaboration with visual artists on several pieces of public art, has published poems, broadcasts regularly and writes for Scottish and London newspapers. Chris is currently working on a sequel to Potter’s End, two stage plays and a doctorate on the relationship between historical chronicle and narrative fiction.

ALAN CAMERON He has published two novels, The Golden Menagerie (a modern reworking of Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, that challenges the ideas and morality of that Latin author, partly his ideas have returned: a cult of success, a lack of compassion, and an obsession with the projection of the self on society), and The Berlusconi Bonus (a political satire of the ideas of the neocons in general and Fukuyama in particular). The second novel has been published in Italian.

He has published a book on language, In Praise of the Garrulous (2008), a collection of poetry, Presbyopia (2009), and a collection of short stories, Can the Gods Cry? (2011).

He is also the translator of more than twenty books from Italian into English, including such writers as Norberto Bobbio, Romano Prodi, Eric Hobsbawm and Alessandro Barbero, and he has published articles in Italian newspapers and political magazines.