7 and 8 November 2026
Venue: The Robertson Room at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum Alloway.
Tickets: £10.98 full price and £8.88 for concessions are now available on Eventbrite
The third edition of A Blether O Books Book Festival is being held on the 7th and 8th of this November at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. The blethers or talks will be held in the Robertson Room at the Museum. Tickets, £10.98 full price and £8.88 for concessions, are now available to purchase on the Eventbrite Booking platform. Full details of the speakers and topics for discussion can also be found on Eventbrite. There will be book sales and signings at this event.
Saturday, November 7 · 10:30 – 11:30am GMT. Doors open at 10.15am
Chris Brookmyre and Marissa Haetzman discuss Chris’ career in ‘Thirty Years of Crime’, plus their collaborative writing as Ambrose Parry.
Chris Brookmyre marks three decades of Jack Parlabane as he discusses Quite Ugly One Evening with his wife, Marisa Haetzman. The couple will also talk about their collaborations together as Ambrose Parry.
Chris Brookmyre’s first novel, Quite Ugly One Morning, was published in 1996 and won the First Blood Award for the Best First Crime Novel of the Year. He has followed that with thirty further novels, including All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses An Eye, which won the Wodehouse Prize; Black Widow, winner of both the McIlvanney Prize and the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year; and The Cracked Mirror, winner of the 2024 McIlvanney Prize. His work has been adapted for television, the stage, radio, and in the case of Bedlam, a videogame, for which he also wrote the script. His latest novel is Quite Ugly One Evening.
Dr Marisa Haetzman was a consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience before completing a Masters degree in the History of Medicine. Her dissertation research into the life of James Young Simpson and his discovery of the anaesthetic effects of chloroform led to her collaborating with her husband Chris Brookmyre in writing the historical novel The Way of All Flesh, under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry. The Way of All Flesh, The Art of Dying and A Corruption of Blood were all shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, with A Corruption of Blood also shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger, as was their fourth novel, Voices of the Dead. Ambrose Parry’s latest novel is The Death of Shame.
Saturday, November 7 · 12:30 – 1:30pm GMT. Doors open at 12.15pm.
Join Philip Paris in ‘A Fire in Their Hearts’, considering Scotland’s forgotten civil war.
A Fire in Their Hearts was inspired by the extraordinary story of the 17th century Scottish Covenanters, who were involved for decades in a brutal conflict with various monarchs over who controlled the Church of Scotland. Philip’s talk will shine a light on this largely forgotten but hugely important part of Scotland’s past, when captured Covenanters were often banished…sent as forced indentured servants to plantations in America or the West Indies and never seen again.
Highland-based Philip Paris is the bestselling author of The Last Witch of Scotland, Waterstones ‘Scottish Book of the Year’ in 2024. His work is varied, ranging from Men Cry Alone, an award-winning novel about domestic abuse against men, to Casting Off, an hilarious story about residents in a Highland care home. His debut novel, The Italian Chapel, was published in 2009 and tells the story of the creation of Orkney’s famous building, built by Italian POWs during WW2. His non-fiction book, Orkney’s Italian Chapel: The True Story of an Icon, is recognised as the leading authoritative work on the history of the building.
Saturday, November 7 · 2:30 – 3:30pm GMT. Doors open at 2.15pm
’10 Scotland Street’ tells the story of an Edinburgh home, with its cast of inhabitants and connections across the globe.
10 Scotland Street is the story of an Edinburgh home and its cast of booksellers, silk merchants, sailors, preachers, politicians, cholera and coincidence and its widespread connections over two centuries across the globe to the Caribbean, Irkutsk, Calcutta, Sydney…and an unexpected, if tenuous, connection with Robert Burns.
Leslie Hills is a film producer and occasional writer. Her film and television work has ranged across drama, politics, current affairs and the arts. She now concentrates on production, with her German partners, of award-winning cinema documentaries, financed and filmed across five continents and distributed internationally. She has given seminars from Toronto to St Petersburg and consulted on and edited scripts for international film commissions, festivals and training programmes. She is a member of BAFTA and the German Film Academy and is a past chair of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 10 Scotland Street is her first book.
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Sunday, November 8 · 10:30 – 11:30am GMT. Doors open at 10.15am
Tom Bowser, author, farmer, and journalist explores the natural world in ‘Waters of Life’ .
In 2021 a family of beavers was spared a death sentence and relocated to Tom Bowser‘s Central Scotland farm. The move paved the way for a new era in human-beaver relations. Against a stunning visual backdrop, Tom tells of his journey to becoming the first landowner in Britain to legally release beavers into the wild – the support gained, the opposition that had to be overcome, and the unimaginable gains that beavers ultimately brought to his farm.
Tom Bowser is a nature writer, journalist and wildlife guide. From his family farm near Dunblane he runs the award-winning Argaty Red Kite project. His first book, A Sky Full of Kites, A Rewilding Story (Birlinn Ltd 2021) tells the story of the project and of the history of red kites in Scotland. It also details his attempts to rewild his farm, making it a home for red squirrels, pine martens, otters and many more incredible animals. Bowser has also authored Waters of Life: Fighting for Scotland’s Beavers, which chronicles the beaver reintroduction efforts in Scotland and the broader themes of rewilding and nature conservation. His work has been recognised with the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award. As a freelance journalist he has written for The Scotsman, The Herald, The Times and for the rewilding charity Scotland: The Big Picture. He is an experienced public speaker and has been a panellist at several national wildlife events including The Big Picture Conference and Scotland: The World’s First Rewilding Nation.
Sunday, November 8 · 12:30 – 1:30pm GMT. Doors open at 12.15pm
Ajay Close explores the real people and events behind her novel ‘What Doesn’t Kill Us’.
A killer stalks the streets. Every man is a suspect, every woman is at risk. But in a house on Cleopatra Street, women are fighting back. Join Ajay Close to hear about the real people and events behind her award-winning novel, What Doesn’t Kill Us. Based on the Yorkshire Ripper murders, this gripping tale of murder, resistance, unexpected friendships and divided loyalties asks how much has really changed since the dark days of the 1970s?
Ajay Close is a novelist and dramatist. Her first novel, Official and Doubtful, was longlisted for the Orange Prize. It was followed by Forspoken; Trust; A Petrol Scented Spring (longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction and about the Scottish suffragettes); The Daughter of Lady Macbethand What We Did in the Dark, the story of Catherine Carswell, whose biography of Robert Burns aroused controversy. Her latest novel, What Doesn’t Kill Us – a fictional reworking of real events in the 1970s – was named Fiction Book of the Year in Scotland’s National Book Awards.
The Keekin Gless, a play about Scots poet William Soutar, premiered at Perth Theatre. The Sma Room Seance, a musical play based on Soutar’s life and work, toured Scotland and was revived at the Edinburgh Fringe. Cat and Mouse, about the Scottish suffragettes, premiered at Goodlyburn Theatre, Perth. Ajay’s first career was in journalism, where she won many awards.
Sunday, November 8 · 2:30 – 3:30pm GMT. Doors open at 2.15pm
An interview with Professor Emeritus Sir Tom Devine, historian of Scotland.
Tom Devine has written or edited around 45 books and over 100 academic articles on Scottish history and related subjects in the period since c.1600.
He has held professorial chairs at Strathclyde (where he was also Deputy Principal), Aberdeen and Edinburgh, where he is currently Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography Emeritus, the oldest and most prestigious professorship in the field.
Throughout his career he has won many prizes and honours, including the only historian knighted ‘for services to the study of Scottish history’ and the sole university humanities scholar awarded the Royal Medal, Scotland’s top academic accolade, which was inaugurated in 2000 by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Several of Tom Devine’s books have become international best sellers as he has long tried to combine thorough historical research on key issues with reader accessibility. He also contributes regularly to the media both at home and abroad on historical, political and ethical topics.
Melvyn Gibson
Melvyn Gibson is a Volunteer at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Coordinator of the Highlight Talks. he is also one of the main organisers of this event.
Friends of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum 