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!