Bookshops are an essential component of Celtic culture, and book towns have become an equally vital and vibrant fixture.

There is nothing quite like walking into a bookshop: the scent…the atmosphere…and (if you’re lucky) a four-legged creature napping in the corner. It is a feeling unlike any other – one that whispers, “You are home.”

Readers and writers are intimately familiar with this feeling. They seek it out, be it through book shopping, signings, or other literary events. For some, bookshops are a time machine, a door to a parallel universe, or a pool of self-reflection.

Imagine, then, stepping into an entire town of tomes, a village of volumes, a burgh of books…

In its most basic of terms, a book town is a small, usually rural area, filled with new, used, and antiquarian book shops of myriad styles and themes. Historically, there was a set criterion denoting what is or isn’t considered a book shop, how many book shops may exist in the town, what kind of book shops those might be, and so forth. Today, however, the regulations are looser, and more locales harboring a love of the written word now identify themselves as book towns.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given their penchant for storytelling, several of these prominent “book towns” can be found across the Celtic nations.

One such town is Wigtown, a small community in the south of Scotland within the Galloway region.

Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown Book Festival, says that – compared to the rest of Scotland – the area is a bit of an anomaly.

“When you think about this part of the world, you usually think about Edinburgh or Glasgow,” he shares via email. “Or maybe the Highlands and the Highland islands. That is how Scotland is presented in the world.”

Turpin notes that Wigtown – and all of Galloway – has a rich and diverse past that weaves together threads of Scottish, Irish, and Northern Irish culture into a unique cultural tapestry.

Historically, Wigtown existed as mostly forgotten farming community. The idea to create a book town originally came from a very practical place.

“That was always one of the key motives for book towns,” explains Turpin. “They were deliberately placed in rural regions to encourage tourism.”

There is, he admits, another – perhaps more romantic reason – for their existence.

“I believe that books have the power to make a difference in our lives…”

As such, Turpin and his peers work diligently each year to operate and oversee the Wigtown Book Festival.

Founded in 1999, the Wigtown Book Festival is a ten-day gathering that includes music, ceilidhs, cinema, food, and – of course – literary events such as author signings and discussions.

“It is a little like the circus coming to town,” smirks Turpin. “The population here is less than one thousand, so during the festival it is not unusual to find more people at events than living there – it just sort of takes over.”

The happening hosts anywhere from 250-300 events each year, with four or five occurring concurrently, and features local, national, and international writers and creators. Over the years, the festivities have featured talent from across the U.K., Germany, France, South Korea, Taiwan, and beyond.

This year’s festival will be held from September 27 to October 6.

Turpin is quick to acknowledge the debt that Wigtown, and other book towns, owe to a gentleman named Richard Booth and a little Welsh town known as Hay-on-Wye.

“There is something really magical about this place,” says Julie Finch, CEO of the Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye’s annual book festival. “Before arriving in Hay, visitors are treated to a wonderful trek across a bridge amidst the stunning backdrop of the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) National Park. And the, quite suddenly, they are pulled into a bookshop at every turn. These are all independent bookshops, so they are quirky, have unique offers, and employ incredibly helpful and knowledgeable staff. It is a living, breathing, book town place.

“And it is all about the books you’ve browsed, bought or discovered – the books you didn’t know that you wanted, but somehow go away with.”

Hay-on-Wye began its book town journey when Oxford graduate Richard Booth opened his first book shop, The Old Fire Station, in 1962. Booth, a renowned eccentric, began trading books internationally, many of which he bought second-hand out of the United States. Inspired by Booth, more book shops opened over time and, by the 1970s, Hay-on-Wye had become widely known as “The Town of Books.”

Today, the area is home to over 20 second-hand and antiquarian bookshops.

In 1987, Booth and his literary cohorts created the Hay Festival. Since then, hundreds of thousands of visitors, and up to 700 artists and creators, gather for 11 days of books, art, culture, and celebration each spring.

Finch was a lover of the event long before she took over as CEO in 2022.

“I have been a long-time audience member. I don’t recall what first propelled me here because it was far from where I lived, but I came back year after year and really began to become imbibed in it. So, I became a part of it.”

Along with daily book readings and signings, guests are encouraged to visit art galleries, take in the cinema, or simply relax and chat at a local restaurant, cafe, or pub.

“And then you’ll find yourself on a bench somewhere talking to absolute strangers about something you’ve just been to,” laughs Finch. “There is a real sense of community.”

While Finch and her team recently wrapped the 2024 Hay Festival, the spirit of the event carries on through the Hay Festival Global, which sees similar festivals take place internationally throughout the year. Hay-on-Wye also hosts a literary Winter Weekend in November.

“Books are very much the fabric of our existence,” notes Finch. “Ideally, everyone would be a reader. We do know, in the U.K., one in five children don’t have any books at home. And on the other end, if you could buy as many books as you wanted, you could never read them all.

“The quirkiness, or the serendipitous nature of independent bookshops, is that you are going to leave with something that you never imagined you would read.

“That art of discovery is important in terms of opening our minds and broadening our thinking in a very complex world…”

Wigtown and Hay-on-Wye are not the only book towns within the Celtic nations. There are others, including the increasingly popular Irish book town of Graiguenamangh in Kilkenny – and there are likely to be more in the future.

Turpin says that the preservation, promotion, and evolution of book towns is vital.

“It is the bringing together and defining of communities…we connect with one another through the sharing of our stories…”

~Story by Caitlyn Elizabeth Mearns

wigtownbookfestival.com
hayfestival.com