Events

Local historian and writer, Mhairi has been instrumental in setting up and managing the Oban Heritage Group and developing a heritage trail around the town. She puts her comprehensive knowledge of the town and surrounding area into her latest book An t-Òban – The People and The Place which tells the story of this West Highland town from the beginning of time to the present day; from the earliest prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers to modern day inhabitants.  She discusses how Oban succeeded as a settlement when other similar towns failed and explores the evolution of the burgh in a national as well as a local context.

Mhairi was born in Oban and her family has connections to the town dating back to 1830.

This event will help promote my latest book An t' Oban, The People and The Place, which has just been published. It attempts to tell the story of our west highland town from the beginning of time until the present day;-from the earliest prehistoric hunter-gatherer-fishers to modern day inhabitants. It will inform local people as to how Oban succeeded as a settlement when other similar towns failed and describe to visitors the evolution of the burgh in a national as well as local context.

Most people associate deer management with Queen Victoria and Landseer’s Monarch of the Glen and assume that is the way it has always been and always will be. However, in the absence of natural predators the way we manage deer in Scotland is a choice. A choice currently made by private landowners but increasingly being driven by public objectives for biodiversity and climate change. Mike argues we must challenge current assumptions and explore a new more sustainable future.

Mike Daniels has spent nearly 40 years working on the deer issue in Scotland, including with the Deer Commission for Scotland (since absorbed into Nature Scot) as Research and Data Manager; the landowning NGO, the John Muir Trust as Head of Land Management and Director of Policy; and the University Highlands and Islands (Centre for Mountain Studies) researching and lecturing in deer management.

Most people associate deer management with Queen Victoria and the Monarch of the Glen picture, and assume that is the way it has always been and always will be. In fact, in the absence of natural predators the way we manage deer in Scotland is a choice. A choice currently made by private landowners but increasingly being driven by public objectives for biodiversity and climate change. Through conversation this event will challenge current assumptions and explore a new more sustainable future

From his bedroom window in the bank house, Tobermory, Lorn Macintyre could see the site of the sunken Spanish Armada galleon with its supposed cargo of gold coins, worth many millions. The stories of obsessed salvors he heard about in Tobermory, and new findings from his extensive research, form the factual basis of his new novel, notably Colonel Kenneth Foss stricken with gold fever, and his attractive secretary, 'the girl in iron pyjamas' walking the bottom of Tobermory Bay.

Lorn Macintyre spent his formative years in Tobermory where his father Angus was the well-known Gaelic speaking bank manager and poet. Lorn is the author of two acclaimed short story collections, Tobermory Days and Tobermory Tales, based on his memories. He is also a novelist and poet and has written fiction based on his fascination with, and knowledge of the paranormal, since his family continue to have experiences. He was a senior researcher and scriptwriter on cultural and historical programmes for BBC Scotland Gaelic and English television. His animated poems are used to bring to the attention of young people the consequences of global warming for humans and animals. He is married to Mary and they live in St Andrews, though Mull is never far away in his fond thoughts.

Happy to do a Words & Music event if that appeals: presenting my new Mull Mysteries Crime novel, the second in the series feat. Sgt Punch, 'An Island Burning'; as well as feat. my new MHS album, 'In My Mind There's A Photograph', made on Mull, the second in my collaborative series with leading authors: Alexander McCall Smith, Ali Smith, Len Pennie, Irenosen Okojie, Irvine Welsh, Yiyun Li, Colum McCann, Jehan Bseiso, Paul Lynch, Dan Richards, Alan Johnson & Louise Welsh. Perhaps Sandy could join?

Colin MacIntyre is a multi-award-winning songwriter, musician, producer, author, playwright, broadcaster & educator, also known as the Mull Historical Society. Born into a family of storytellers on the isle of Mull – where his poet-bank manager grandfather, Angus Macintyre, was the island’s ‘Bard of Mull’ – he has released ten acclaimed albums to date achieving three UK Top 20 albums & six Top 40 singles to date. His debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, won the 2015 Edinburgh Book Festival First Book Award, and he adapted it for the stage.
Join him as he introduces his latest novel, An Island Burning, the second in his Mull Mysteries crime series featuring policeman Ivor Punch.

Happy to do a Words & Music event if that appeals: presenting my new Mull Mysteries Crime novel, the second in the series feat. Sgt Punch, 'An Island Burning'; as well as feat. my new MHS album, 'In My Mind There's A Photograph', made on Mull, the second in my collaborative series with leading authors: Alexander McCall Smith, Ali Smith, Len Pennie, Irenosen Okojie, Irvine Welsh, Yiyun Li, Colum McCann, Jehan Bseiso, Paul Lynch, Dan Richards, Alan Johnson & Louise Welsh. Perhaps Sandy could join?

Alistair Moffat tells the extraordinary story of the Highlands in the most detailed book ever written about this remarkable part of Scotland.
The chronicle begins millions of years ago, with the dramatic geological events that formed the awe-inspiring yet beloved landscapes, followed by the arrival of hunter gatherers and the monumental achievements of prehistoric peoples in places like Skara Brae in Orkney. The story continues with the mysterious Picts; the arrival of the Romans as they expanded the boundaries of their huge empire; the coming of Christianity and the Gaelic language from Ireland; the Viking invasion and the establishment of the great Lordship of the Isles that lasted for three hundred years.
The Highlands are perhaps best known as the key battleground in Charles Stuart’s doomed attempt to restore the Stuart monarchy and its dreadful aftermath, which saw the suppression of the clans and the whole of Highland culture. This situation was exacerbated by the terrible Clearances of the nineteenth century which saw tens of thousands evicted from their native lands and forced to emigrate. But, after centuries of decline, the Highlands are being renewed, the land is coming alive once more, and the story ends on an upbeat note as the Highlands look forward to a future full of possibilities.
While this is an epic history of a fascinating subject, Moffat also features the stories of individuals, the telling moments and the crucial details which enrich the human story and add context and colour to the saga of Scotland.

Throughout wartime Britain, all day, every day and in the dead of night, the secret listeners went about their solitary work. Alistair Moffat tells the half-forgotten stories of immense bravery by thousands of ordinary men and women. Sworn to secrecy, their heroic work has long been overlooked, yet it played a crucial part in the Allied victory in 1945. This book finally pays them their due.

Join us for an entertaining evening in the company of writer, librettist, musician (he is the founder and a member of the Really Terrible Orchestra), prolific novelist and Patron of the Tobermory Book Festival, Sir Alexander McCall Smith. After a delicious three course Western Isles dinner, Sandy will tell tall tales and regale us with his exciting escapades, including a recent musical collaboration with our own Mull Historical Society, as we bring the 2026 Festival to a close.

Join worldwide best-selling author, Sir Alexander McCall Smith for an evening of sheer delight. The master storyteller will entertain you with tales from his many books, including the new 44 Scotland Street novel, The Prime of Bertie Pollock, and the latest installment in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Big Cats Dance Party. He will also be celebrating the publication of a new stand alone novel, The Island of Good Karma.

From his bedroom window in the bank house, Tobermory, Lorn Macintyre could see the site of the sunken Spanish Armada galleon with its supposed cargo of gold coins, worth many millions. The stories of obsessed salvors he heard about in Tobermory, and new findings from his extensive research, form the factual basis of his new novel, notably Colonel Kenneth Foss stricken with gold fever, and his attractive secretary, 'the girl in iron pyjamas' walking the bottom of Tobermory Bay.

Lorn Macintyre spent his formative years in Tobermory where his father Angus was the well-known Gaelic speaking bank manager and poet. Lorn is the author of two acclaimed short story collections, Tobermory Days and Tobermory Tales, based on his memories. He is also a novelist and poet and has written fiction based on his fascination with, and knowledge of the paranormal, since his family continue to have experiences. He was a senior researcher and scriptwriter on cultural and historical programmes for BBC Scotland Gaelic and English television. His animated poems are used to bring to the attention of young people the consequences of global warming for humans and animals. He is married to Mary and they live in St Andrews, though Mull is never far away in his fond thoughts.

From his bedroom window in the bank house, Tobermory, Lorn Macintyre could see the site of the sunken Spanish Armada galleon with its supposed cargo of gold coins, worth many millions. The stories of obsessed salvors he heard about in Tobermory, and new findings from his extensive research, form the factual basis of his new novel, including Colonel Kenneth Foss stricken with gold fever, and his attractive secretary, 'the girl in iron pajamas,' walking the bottom of Tobermory Bay.

Colin MacIntyre is a multi-award-winning songwriter, musician, producer, author, playwright, broadcaster & educator, also known as the Mull Historical Society. Born into a family of storytellers on the isle of Mull – where his poet-bank manager grandfather, Angus Macintyre, was the island’s ‘Bard of Mull’ – he has released ten acclaimed albums to date achieving three UK Top 20 albums & six Top 40 singles to date. His debut novel, The Letters of Ivor Punch, won the 2015 Edinburgh Book Festival First Book Award, and he adapted it for the stage.
Join him as he introduces his latest novel, An Island Burning, the second in his Mull Mysteries crime series featuring policeman Ivor Punch.

From his bedroom window in the bank house, Tobermory, Lorn Macintyre could see the site of the sunken Spanish Armada galleon with its supposed cargo of gold coins, worth many millions. The stories of obsessed salvors he heard about in Tobermory, and new findings from his extensive research, form the factual basis of his new novel, including Colonel Kenneth Foss stricken with gold fever, and his attractive secretary, 'the girl in iron pajamas,' walking the bottom of Tobermory Bay.

What is it like to live on an island of one's own? Set on an inaccessible land encircled by high cliffs, one dangerous footpath that leads down to a rocky shoreline, and no boat, Eva and the Island is journalist and author Tim Ecott's meticulous observation of the brutal reality of farming and a vanishing, but remarkable, way of life.

Eva is the eighth generation of her family to run the single farm on Stóra Dímun, within the Faroe Islands, and one of two permanent residents, the other being her husband. Covering six hundred and fifty windswept acres, there are five hundred sheep, one milking cow, six bullocks, and some elderly geese and chickens, alongside a rich variety of birdlife. As the only inhabitants and with no harbour or beach, the couple believe in preserving traditional methods of farming and rely on the sheep meat for their main income.

Based on a longstanding friendship and frequent and lengthy visits, Ecott involved himself in everything from herding sheep on the slopes, shearing animals, dosing them, to slaughtering and butchering them come autumn. Eva and the Island is an astounding true story of bravery, self-reliance, and sustainability in the face of isolation. Through evocative illustrations, powerfully lyricism, and the author's passion for the natural world, you'll envy the island yet be astounded at the perseverance needed to maintain it.

Tim Ecott is a non-fiction author and former BBC World Service correspondent specialising in Africa and the Indian Ocean. As a freelance contributor he has written for the Economist, The Times, Telegraph, and Guardian. He continues to contribute to BBC Radio output on the World Service and Radio 4. For many years he has been a regular visitor to the Faroe Islands.

An illustrated talk and reading from Eva and the Island - stills and short video excerpts - Powerpoint presentation. Will supply on portable memory stick.

The eldest son of a Master Woodworker, Callum Robinson spent his childhood surrounded by wood and trees, absorbing craft lessons in his father’s workshop, playing amongst the sycamore, oak and Scots pine that bordered his home. In time he became his father’s apprentice, helping to create exquisite bespoke objects. But eventually the need to find his own path led him to establish his own workshop; to chase ever bigger and more commercial projects, to business meetings, bright lights and bureaucracy, to lose touch with his roots. Until the devastating loss of one major job threatened to bring it all crashing down. Faced with the end of his business, his team and everything he had worked so hard to build, he was forced to question what mattered most.

In beautifully wrought prose, Callum tells the story of returning to the workshop, and to the wood; to handcrafting furniture for people who will love it, and then pass it on to the next generation – antidotes to a culture where everything seems so easily disposable. As he does so, he brings us closer to nature, and to the physical act of creation. Close enough to smell the sawdust, to see the wood’s grain and character and to feel the magic of furniture coming to life. At the same time, we begin to understand how he has been shaped, as both a craftsman and a son.

Blending memoir and nature writing at its finest, Ingrained is an uplifting meditation on the challenges of working with your hands in our modern age, on community, consumerism, and the beauty of the natural world – one that asks us to see our local trees, and our own wooden objects, in a new and revelatory light.

TBC

Lunch with Alex Gray- Blood on Old Stones

Enjoy a delicious Western Isles lunch with Alex Gray, an award-winning Scottish crime writer, and author of 23 novels. Born and raised in Glasgow, she taught English for ten years after a brief spell as a folk singer and a visiting officer for the DSS. Retiring from teaching in 1992, she became a full-time novelist and her first novel, Never Somewhere Else, published in 2003 introduced her character of William Lorimer.
Alex is passionate about the island of Mull, her late mother having been born in Tobermory and she has visited regularly all through her life. When not writing, Alex enjoys reading and spending time in her garden. She joins us today to introduce her latest instalment in the career of DSI Lorimer – Blood on Old Stones - which brings her protagonist to the Isle of Mull where, following the funeral of an old friend, he finds himself investigating a double murder. As Alex says, Mull is a place of spectacular beauty and characterful towns, but Lorimer knows that even here old secrets can resurface, resentments can run deep, and evil can lurk undetected.

Alex will talk about her latest book, Blood on Old Stones, a mystery set on Mull and featuring several real locations.

In a powerful combination of contemporary neuroscience, psychoanalysis and brilliant storytelling The Well Gardened Mind investigates the magic that many gardeners have known for years – working with nature can radically transform our health, wellbeing and confidence.

Sue Stuart-Smith tells brilliant, illuminating stories of people struggling with stress, depression, trauma and addiction, from asylum seekers to veterans, inner-city young people to the retired. This is a glorious book of science, insight and anecdote that shows how our understanding of nature and its restorative powers is only just beginning to flower.

Dr Sue Stuart-Smith, a prominent psychiatrist and psychotherapist, worked in the National Health Service for many years, becoming the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. Her bestselling book, The Well Gardened Mind, published in 2020 was a Times and Sunday Times book of the year. It has since been translated into eighteen languages. Along with her husband, Tom Stuart-Smith, she has founded a not-for-profit initiative called The Serge Hill Project for Gardening, Creativity and Health which incorporates a unique living Plant Library and is based in an old orchard near their home in Hertfordshire. The project provides resources for local schools and mental health charities, offering opportunities to connect with nature for those who have least access.

In Conversation

Blurb can be supplied once I’m connected with my discussant. Best if we do this together

With Claire Mitchell

As a woman, if you lived in Scotland in the 1500s, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch. Witch hunts ripped through the country for over 150 years, with at least 4,000 accused, and with many women's fates sealed by a grizzly execution of strangulation, followed by burning. Inspired to correct this historic injustice, campaigners and writers Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell KC have delved deeply into just why the trials exploded in Scotland to such a degree.

With characteristically sharp wit and a sense of outrage, they attempt to inhabit the minds of the persecutors, often men, revealing the inner workings of exactly why the Patriarchy went to such extraordinary lengths to silence women, and how this legally sanctioned victimisation proliferated in Scotland and around the world. With testimony from a small army of experts, pen portraits of the women accused, trial transcripts, witness accounts and the documents that set the legal grounds for the hunts, How to Kill A Witch builds to form a rich patchwork of tragic stories, helping us comprehend the underlying reasons for this terrible injustice, and raises the serious question - could it ever happen again?
Claire Mitchell KC is a Scottish advocate specialising in Public Inquiries and Fatal Accident Inquiries. She has been involved in significant cases before the Privy Council and Supreme Court, shaping key aspects of Scottish law.

Zoe Venditozzi is a writer and educator. Raised in North-East Fife, she studied at the University of Glasgow. Her debut novel, Anywhere’s Better Than Here, was shortlisted for The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize.

Join Claire and Zoe as they detail the Witches of Scotland campaign where they have fought to shine a light on the Scottish Witch Trials and seek legal redress for those accused.

The Shepherd, her Dogs, the Mist and the Mountain

In her compelling follow-up to Skirly Crag, Helen Percy invites you back into the enchanting yet challenging world of rugged moorland life in Whistlebare. This captivating memoir offers an unflinching portrayal of the daily hardships and triumphs faced by those who embrace the wild beauty of the countryside, in her case the Scottish Highlands.

Join Helen as she navigates the ups and downs of rural existence as she cares for an eclectic menagerie of animals. Through heartfelt anecdotes and moments of unexpected humour, Helen weaves a rich tapestry of solitude, resilience and the profound connections that can be found in the most challenging circumstances.

A former Church of Scotland minister, Helen decided to change her life and become a shepherd. Since leaving the Church in 1997, she has worked with victims of child rape in South Africa and donkeys in the Kalahari Desert. Back home in the Highlands, she has contracted for a number of eccentric farmers throughout Scotland, often travelling in a small van with her sheepdogs, a tame duck and an epileptic hare. Part of ‘Skirly Crag’ (2025) and some scenes in the sequel, ‘Whistlebare’ (2026) take place on Mull.

Reflecting on the similarities and the differences between her previous career as a pastor to people and the past 30 years as a shepherd (a handful of dust used to send the deceased on their way but is now pattedonto a lamb’s bottom to prevent its tail from sticking to its testicles with toffee-textured poo) Helen will share some top tips for dealing with stubborn animals and equally cussed farmers. Her books are a combination of nature writing and humour.

Gordon Buchanan is probably the best-known natural history cameraman the BBC has ever produced. From wild snow wolf packs in Ellesmere and polar bears in Svalbard to leopards in Mumbai and equine therapy in Mongolia, he has filmed in the world's most far-reaching places for over 30 years. His dedication to his craft means he often spends weeks inside a cramped camera hide, tolerating extreme sleep deprivation and poor living conditions, all in search of that one extraordinary shot.

But dangerous animals were not the only thing he was hiding from.

In the Hide is Gordon's emotionally honest and raw account of a challenging childhood in Dumbarton and on Mull, and the escape and solace he found – and continues to find – in the natural world around him. An intimate and inspiring account of resilience in the face of hardship, In the Hide marks the arrival of a bold new voice in nature writing.

Gordon Buchanan is probably the best-known natural history cameraman the BBC has ever produced. From wild snow wolf packs in Ellesmere and polar bears in Svalbard to leopards in Mumbai and equine therapy in Mongolia, he has filmed in the world's most far-reaching places for over 30 years. His dedication to his craft means he often spends weeks inside a cramped camera hide, tolerating extreme sleep deprivation and poor living conditions, all in search of that one extraordinary shot.