Join us for the launch of what will become an annual creative exchange between Wigtown and fellow international Book Towns.

For the first year of this exciting project, we commissioned two exceptional writers, representing Scotland’s National Book Town in Wigtown and the Irish Book Town of Granard in County Longford.

Patrick Laurie (Native) and John Connell (The Cow Book) are both farmers and their brief was to write about the challenges faced by each other’s remote rural communities to remain sustainable at a time of great change.

They’ll talk about what they learnt when they crossed the water, and John will read from the piece of writing created. A parallel event will take place at the Granard Booktown Festival in April 2026.

About the writers

John Connell is a writer, farmer and co-director of the Granard Booktown Festival in County Longford, Ireland. He is author of the bestselling The Cow Book: A Story of Life on a Family Farm and Twelve Sheep: Life Lessons from a Lambing Season.

Patrick Laurie is a hill farmer and writer from Dalbeattie. His 2020 book Native was a Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Saltire Prize and the Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing.