You can read the annual report from our 2025 AGM below. If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to get in touch!
The Islay Book Festival 2025 AGM took place on December 7th, and we are pleased to announce exciting changes in our committee.
I stepped down as Chair and Carolyn Ferguson as Vice-Chair, passing the baton to Richard Mansbridge and Jean Chlebowska. I am immensely grateful to my fellow committee members for the support they have shown me over the past three years, enabling our festival to go from strength to strength, and to Richard and Jean for offering to steer our charity going forward. Both have a wealth of experience in charity work, and I am convinced that their combined organisational skills and background in community outreach promise exciting prospects for the future.
Both Carolyn and myself will remain part of the committee, retaining for my part my role as Content Director. Published poet, Emily Arnold-Fernández, remains our super Secretary, while Angus Ferguson has announced his intention to retire from his position as Treasurer in the near future, staying on until we find his replacement. So if you think this could be you, please do not hesitate to get in touch!
Heather Harvey, Amy Hannett, Lori Jones, Fiona McDerment and David Brooks are staying on as fellow committee members.
We are also delighted to welcome two new committee members, Lucy Schwind – who already volunteered for the festival –, and Jolyon Thurgood, as well as a couple of new volunteers, Hillary Scott and Chinh Nguyen.
Finally, we are over the moon to be able to renew for another year our wonderful freelance festival coordinator, Dawn Geddes, who has proved such an asset to our annual event.
Our sincere thanks go to all our funders and sponsors for their essential financial support, to the talented authors who have made the journey to our wonderful island, to our volunteers for their incredible work, and to you, our audiences, for your enthusiasm and heartwarming support of our festival. Seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces, from nursery pupils to residents of Gortanvogie, makes all the hard work more than worth it.
2026 will mark the 20th anniversary of the Islay Book Festival, so we aim to make it extra special. We are already making fantastic progress on our lineup, and we are hoping to announce our full cast of author guests before Spring, but here are a few names to whet your appetite.
Writer and broadcaster, Damian Barr, will talk about his acclaimed latest novel, The Two Roberts. Award-winning novelist, poet and screenwriter, Jenni Fagan, will present her forthcoming novel, The Delusions, described by her publisher, Hutchinson Heinemann, as a ‘story of profound human connection, on an extraordinary scale’. And we are thrilled to be joined by prize-winning historian and Cambridge professor, Clare Jackson, to celebrate the publication in paperback of her fascinating biography of James VI & I, The Mirror of Great Britain.
Stay tuned for more exciting announcements in the New Year, and expect a 2026 book festival that will involve the local community more than ever.
But for now, Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!