National Year Of Reading 2026

A Write Highland Hoolie is proud to be supporting the National Year of Reading 2026, a fantastic UK Government initiative that aims to promote the benefits of reading for pleasure. It celebrates reading in all its many forms, from novels to comics, audio books, song lyrics and more, and encourages people to read about their passions and interests.

Reading for pleasure is consistently linked to positive educational, social and economic outcomes, yet in Scotland, only one in three children and young people say they enjoy reading in their free time. Just one in six read daily, and the decline is sharpest among boys, teenagers and low-income families.

This matters, because adults with the lowest literacy levels are five times more likely to be unemployed, and 43% of adults are lacking the literacy skills to understand everyday health information. Getting into the habit of reading for pleasure can improve life chances and reduce inequalities. It also helps people of all ages feel socially connected, build empathy and improve mental wellbeing.

The Go All In campaign from the National Literacy Trust is determined to make reading relevant again, and it’s an aim that everyone at A Write Highland Hoolie fully supports.

In 2026, our tenth anniversary year, we’ll Go All In to ensure that children and young people in Mallaig and the surrounding area have more opportunities than ever to discover the joys of reading. We’re preparing a packed programme of competitions and author-led events and workshops in local schools in the days leading up to the Hoolie, culminating in our Grand Finale prize-giving tea party which will close the festival weekend in style.

Our children’s events are free to attend and participate in, and we are very grateful to all the generous donors and benefactors who make this possible. We couldn’t do any of it without them.

We’re not forgetting the adults, either! Over the weekend of November 6-8, our fabulous authors and musicians will Go All In to entertain our audiences in the West Highland Hotel, Mallaig, as we all gather together once more to share our love of books, music and Scottish culture with friends old and new.

Tickets will go on sale this summer, so follow us on Facebook or sign up to our mailing list at www.a-write-highland-hoolie.com to keep up to date with all the latest news.

Ten Amazing Years!

It’s our birthday!

This year’s A Write Highland Hoolie will take place from November 6-8, 2026, and it’s one that you won’t want to miss! This year marks the Hoolie’s tenth anniversary, and we intend to celebrate in style.

That means an exciting programme of events featuring a hand-picked selection of the most creative and brilliant authors writing in and about Scotland today, plus some of the country’s acclaimed traditional musicians.

Every single artist who appears on our programme has been chosen by Team Hoolie, who read an enormous and eclectic range of books every year in the search for the perfect mix of authors, genres and topics.

We pride ourselves on supporting Scottish literature in all its many guises, whether that means books written by Scottish authors, authors based in Scotland, or authors from other parts writing about Scotland.

We believe the literature inspired by our small but fabulous country deserves its place in the spotlight and we’re determined to continue to champion Scottish writing, Scottish writers and our wonderful history, heritage and culture.

We’d love you to join us this year to experience a warm Highland welcome! Our venue once again will be the cosy, comfortable West Highland Hotel in Mallaig, where authors and guests alike will gather to enjoy the unique atmosphere of a weekend house party with traditional music, friends old and new, and lots of books!

Right now, we’re still at the planning stage, but we aim to unveil our programme and open for hotel bookings in early summer. Keep an eye on our Facebook and Bluesky pages for more information or sign up to our email newsletter to stay in touch with all our news.

The Hoolie Hoolets

Photograph by Steve Rawson.

The Hoolie Hoolets programme, which runs special events for the younger members of the Mallaig community in the days leading up to the festival weekend, is an integral part of every A Write Highland Hoolie.

Each year, the Hoolie’s organising committee secures funding to bring children’s authors, illustrators and performers to work with the children from Mallaig primary school and the other primaries in the local cluster. These include the schools on the islands of Rum and Muck and in the small Knoydart community of Inverie, as well as the other local primaries, Arisaig and Lady Lovat in Morar.

We also organise special events for senior pupils at Mallaig High School, which have included workshops, poetry and Gaelic sessions, and author visits and talks. The aim of all these events is to foster a love of the arts in the younger members of the community.

In 2025, children’s authors Barbara Henderson and Michelle Sloan each had two sessions in the primary school, where all the local children from the school cluster gathered. Each session was specially tailored for different age groups, and in addition Barbara ran a wonderfully entertaining workshop in the high school for first-year pupils.

Artist and illustrator Clare Mackie also visited the high school, where she led a workshop for senior art students hoping to pursue a career in art. Two of the students who were present for the art workshop said that Clare was inspirational and had promised to keep in touch with them as they embarked on their journey towards following careers in the subject. They said this had given them more confidence, which was wonderful to hear.

Alongside the Hoolie Hoolets programme of events, we run art and writing competitions for all the pupils to enter. The winners are announced at the celebration prize-giving tea party in the West Highland Hotel which forms the grand finale of every A Write Highland Hoolie. The prizes are chosen in collaboration with the independent Highland Bookshop of Fort William, thus ensuring that they are age-appropriate for all the winners.

On the afternoon of Sunday November 9, 2025, the festival welcomed pupils and parents from local schools to this fabulous free event, which featured wonderful Gaelic singing from the Mallaig Primary School choir, and an all-singing, all-dancing performance from children’s author Alan Windram, before the talented youngsters were rewarded with prizes for their winning stories and artwork.

Photograph by Steve Rawson.

Authors, artists and speakers who have visited the schools in the years since the Hoolie’s launch in 2016 include Alan Windram, Alastair Chisholm, Debi Gliori, Mairi Hedderwick, Donald S. Murray, Chris Brookmyre, Jackie Kay, Keggie Carew, Romain Pizzi, Barbara Henderson, Michelle Sloan, Barry Hutchison, Chae Strathie, Mick Kitson, Jenny Brown, Lee Randall, Hugh MacMillan, Breege Smyth, Clare Mackie, Kate Leiper and Molly Arbuthnott.

As Mallaig has a very strong reputation for producing fine traditional musicians, we also on occasion run the Hoolie School of Music Sessions, where revered traditional musicians such as Duncan Chisholm, Hamish Napier, Ross Ainslie and Tim Edey lead special workshops for senior music students at Mallaig High School. 

The activities and events organised for the pupils are greatly valued by the children, parents and teachers.

Kate MacLennan, Head of English at Mallaig High School, said after the recent visit from Barbara Henderson: “The pupils really enjoyed the visit – particularly the use of drama activities to engage them. As a teacher, I liked the use of celebrity photos with their books to promote love of reading. This would be a great activity for World Book Day, too. Thank you again for coming – we are a tiny school in the middle of nowhere so author visits mean a lot to us.”

Valerie Campbell, Head of Art at Mallaig High School, was equally complimentary about Clare Mackie’s visit: “As we are such a small and remote school, it is difficult for us to engage with any outreach or extracurricular projects outside of Lochaber. Opportunities to work closely with artists and designers to inspire and educate our young people do not arise often. Remote schools are often overlooked by organisations doing any sort of outreach and as such it is difficult to provide pupils with the same creative learning opportunities as their inner-city peers. A Write Highland Hoolie book festival in Mallaig provides opportunities for pupils to engage with people working in the creative industries. This year we had Clare Mackie, an illustrator, come and speak to our senior pupils. She told them of her journey from school to professional illustrator and provided them with insightful knowledge about her lengthy and productive career. Furthermore, we seldom have people come in to advise our young artists and designers with their work. This is very meaningful for the pupils as people with artistic backgrounds have a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be passed on to them. Clare was extremely encouraging which has no doubt spurred them on with their folios to be submitted to the exam board. It is an invaluable experience having this opportunity brought to our doorstep and we are very grateful to the book festival for organising this for our young people.”

As we look ahead to the tenth anniversary of a Write Highland Hoolie in 2026, the festival organisers are fully committed to continuing to inspire, educate and celebrate the talented young people of Mallaig and the surrounding area. We’ve already started planning our next Hoolets programme, so keep an eye out for announcements in the months to come!