The Mallaig Book Festival
                    A Write Highland Hoolie!
               7 - 9  November 2025 

David is the author of the highly acclaimed Cesare Aldo historical thrillers set in Renaissance Florence. The first, City of Vengeance, won the Pitch Perfect contest at Bloody Scotland in Stirling, while his second, The Darkest Sin, won the Crime Writers’ Association Historical Dagger Award. The third Aldo novel, Ritual of Fire, won the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel, and the fourth, A Divine Fury, was a finalist for the 2024 McIlvanney Prize. Fans are in for a real treat with his latest novel, Carnival of Lies, which has been described as ‘the best Aldo book yet’. The Times said his novels are ‘full of dash and atmosphere’, while bestselling thriller writer David Baldacci called Bishop’s work ‘a tour de force’. In his copious spare time David teaches creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University, leading postgraduate programmes in person and online.

Galloway-based Karen is the author of nine novels. Before turning to writing, she was a police officer in Glasgow, then a press officer with Glasgow City Council. She graduated with distinction from Glasgow University’s Creative Writing Masters and has won an SAC New Writers Award and a Creative Scotland Bursary. She also tutors and mentors in creative writing and was Writer in Residence at Dumfries & Galloway Council during the COVID pandemic.

Karen’s novel Paper Cup was a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month. Her latest book, This Bright Life, was published in March 2025 and tells the story of twelve-year-old Gerard, a bright kid who doesn’t always make good decisions. Heartbreaking, yet brim-full of humour and hope, This Bright Life is a novel about messy lives, second chances and the many hands it takes to build a boy.

Born in Johnstone in 1963, Jim grew up on his parents’ dairy farm and is widely recognised as Scotland’s leading rural poet. He was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2009 and has been the winner of the James McCash poetry competition, the McLellan Poetry Prize and the Callum Macdonald prize. He is the current Poet Laureate of Glasgow. His first pamphlet, Bovine Pastoral, came out in 2004 and was followed by four further chapbooks as part of the Haltered Chronicles sequence. Killochries, a verse novella tracking the relationship of two very different men working a remote sheep farm, was published in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year, the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Prize and the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize for first collection. His latest collection, Far Field, published in 2023, is the final part of the Auchensale Trilogy which explores the changing rural landscape.

A great deal has been written about St Kilda and the loss of its permanent population, but in his new book The Gravity of Feathers, Andrew Fleming overturns the traditional view of the circumstances that led to the last islanders being evacuated in 1930. Drawing on previously untapped sources and fresh insights, he tells the story of St Kilda from earliest times up to the evacuation and its aftermath, bringing to life the characters and culture of the islanders themselves as well as the numerous outsiders who engaged with them. 

Andrew specialises in prehistory and landscape archaeology. He taught at Sheffield University for 27 years and then at the University of Wales Trinity St David. His previous books include The Dartmoor Reaves, Swaledale: Valley of the Wild River and St Kilda and the Wider World: Tales of an Iconic Island.

International bestselling author Coinneach was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis, the most northerly of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. In 2020, inspired by traditional family recipes and homegrown produce, he shot to fame as the Hebridean Baker. His aim is to bring the best of the Scottish islands to a worldwide audience, and his cookbooks are a beguiling blend of homely recipes and warm-hearted tales of Hebridean life.

In his fourth book, Coinneach shares his skills for Scottish cooking and baking with tempting recipes and more fascinating stories from the islands. Mastering the art of Scottish baking is about more than just perfecting shortbread, scones and clootie dumpling. It's about capturing the heart and soul of Scotland in every dish. This cookbook is a celebration of Scotland's timeless culinary traditions and an introduction to new recipes sure to become future family favourites.

Peter MacQueen’s new book is based on the popular TV show Cu Leis Thu? A Puppy for Padruig which he presents on BBC Alba. In it, Peter explores Scotland's most celebrated canine breeds, guided by some of the most spirited and lovable dogs ever to leave their pawprints on history. From the sheep-covered hills of the Borders to the windswept Isle of Skye, Tails of Scotland: The Story of Scottish Dogs will take you on a journey of dog-filled delight. Peter MacQueen is a professional hutter and instructor specialising in off-the-grid sustainability. Born and raised in Oban, he fell in love with outdoor skills and living when his family built a hut on the Argyllshire coast. Peter has produced several documentaries and educational series on BBC Alba, Channel 4 and CBBC. We’re hoping his Highland Terrier, Floraidh, will accompany him to this year’s Hoolie!

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Michelle trained and worked as a primary school teacher before returning to university to study Drama and Theatre Arts, specialising in Arts Journalism. She has written several books for children, from picture books to young adult fiction, and has visited schools across Scotland delivering workshops. More recently, she has turned to writing historical fiction; her first novel, The Edinburgh Skating Club, was published in 2022.  

In her new novel, Mrs Burke and Mrs Hare, Michelle returns once again to Edinburgh. This time, she focuses on the dark tale of the wives of the infamous Burke and Hare, and their involvement in the murders of sixteen people to supply anatomist Dr Robert Knox’s insatiable need for cadavers. It’s a chilling story inspired by real-life events that will keep readers gripped to the end. Michelle lives in Broughty Ferry, Dundee with her family.

Alexander McCall Smith (universally known as Sandy) is one of the world’s most prolific and best-loved authors. A professor of Medical Law, he worked in universities in the UK and overseas before turning to writing fiction. To date, he’s written over 100 books, and his The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has sold over 20 million copies in the English language alone. His much-loved fiction series include the 44 Scotland Street novels, the Isabel Dalhousie books and the von Igelfeld adventures. His newest series is set in Edinburgh and focuses on the Perfect Passion Company, a matchmaking service. He has also written a number of stand-alone novels, non-fiction titles, short story collections and children’s books. Alexander has won numerous awards for his writing and in 2011 was honoured by the President of Botswana for services through literature to the country. In 2024 he was made Knight Bachelor by King Charles III.

After gaining a degree in Zoology, Jane Smith became a wildlife film maker for the BBC Natural History Unit and National Geographic. She now creates wildlife art from her home on the west coast of Scotland to communicate her passion for the natural world. In her gloriously illustrated book, she sets out from her own garden in Argyll and travels to ten locations in the west of Scotland. From the towering cliffs of St Kilda and the peatlands of Lewis to the Solway estuary and the urban sprawl of Glasgow, she explores the interaction of people and wildlife in a variety of diverse settings. On her journey she discovers communities who are regenerating their own landscapes and meets a host of fascinating people whose lives are inextricably bound up with questions of sustainability, conservation and land ownership. Jane is also the author of Wild Island: A Year in the Hebrides, which is about Colonsay.

Malachy Tallack is an award-winning author and singer-songwriter, whose latest novel, That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz, is accompanied by an album containing songs performed by the author and some of Scotland’s most talented musicians. Uniquely, it’s a novel with a soundtrack and an album with a story. His book Illuminated by Water was shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies award for nature writing in 2022. His novel The Valley at the Centre of the World was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize and longlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize in 2018. His first book, Sixty Degrees North, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and his second, The Un-Discovered Islands, was named Illustrated Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. Malachy is managing editor of Gutter, Scotland's leading literary magazine. Originally from Shetland, he currently lives in Fife.