The Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival

The Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival is the host of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, and takes place in June every year at Harmony House Gardens, Melrose, in the Scottish Borders.  This year’s festival is from 14th – 17th June – you can find out all about it here

The Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival is one of the UK’s most prestigious book festivals, with four days of talks, readings and performances by a host of world-class speakers and entertainers. The festival features a Family Book Festival, a bookshop and café, street market and artisan food vendors, as well as an all-day-long programme of events all set in beautiful Georgian gardens and adjoining meadows, in the shadow of Melrose Abbey.

The Walter Scott Prize is celebrated at two events at the Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival:  a panel discussion event with shortlisted authors, and the main Walter Scott Prize ceremony, at which shortlisted authors are honoured and each of the shortlisted novels brought alive with readings, before the thrilling announcement of the winner concludes the event.  The winners of the Young Walter Scott creative writing prize are also honoured at the event.

The panel event on Friday 15th June will feature shortlisted authors Jane Harris, Paul Lynch, Patrick McGrath, Rachel Malik and Benjamin Myers in what promises to be an unmissable discussion about their work.   Tickets are available here.

You can buy tickets for the Walter Scott Prize main event on Saturday 16th June, at which the winner is announced, here.