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Paisley Book Festival is set to return next year bringing the cream of the literary crop to the town for the re-imagined event. The festival, which is delivered by OneRen, is set to run over four days from 25 – 28 April 2024 and will be the first time events are hosted in the newly renovated Paisley Town Hall overlooking Paisley Abbey, and the incredible new Paisley Central Library, creating a literary hub in the town’s High Street. The event will bring some of Scotland’s best writers to Paisley for discussions and events.
Jess Orr has been named programmer for next year’s event. She said: “It’s exciting to be back programming for Paisley Book Festival in 2024, especially now that we have the Paisley Town Hall and Paisley Central Library to stage our events. These re-imagined spaces are a perfect setting to celebrate the power of stories and narrative to transport us beyond reality to imagine different worlds, different perspectives, and most importantly, different possibilities.”
Jess is no newcomer to Paisley, having programmed the festival’s first three editions, and elsewhere she has built a strong reputation working with literary organisations including the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Glasgow Women’s Library. She holds a PhD in Scottish literature from the University of St Andrews, and in addition to working with festivals she is also Operations Manager for the literature charity Open Book.
Now entering its 5th year, the festival still has Paisley Radicals at heart, with its trademark thread of edge and progressiveness continuing to run through the programme. The theme for Paisley Book Festival 2024 is Imagine Something Different and will incorporate two ‘new’ cultural venues which have been opened in recent months. The iconic Paisley Town Hall re-opened in September 2023, creating a new big stage for the town and one of Scotland’s premier performance spaces. The new Paisley Central Library is opening this month, creating a incredible library facility across four floors of what was a vacant retail space on the High Street.
Christine Martin, Arts Team Co-ordinator at OneRen, welcomed Jess to the team. She added: “Paisley Book Festival is fast becoming a mainstay of the festival circuit, attracting the most exciting writers and literary voices to Paisley. It’s great to have Jess on board and we’re looking forward to revealing the programme in the months ahead.
“We’re excited to welcome authors and audiences to our re-imagined spaces.”
Paisley Book Festival is seeking creative and inclusive contributions and ideas for events to be part of the programme for the 2024 Festival, with an Open Call for event proposals. The Festival seeks to showcase local writers, groups, and other contributors, and provide opportunities to develop local talent.
Here are some ways you could get involved:
BE A GROUP HOST / CONTRIBUTOR – are you a Renfrewshire based community and /or cultural organisation, project, or initiative that has an idea for an event to be part of the Paisley Book Festival programme?
BE A PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTOR – are you a Scottish writer / artist / creative / organisation with an idea or current strand of activity that fits the remit of the Paisley Book Festival? We welcome submissions from creatives working in a variety of
disciplines.
Proposals can be made until 8 December 2023. More details can be found at www.paisleybookfest.com
