Faclan began in 2006, and this will be its twentieth edition. The first five were held in late August until it migrated from summer to Samhain in 2011, when the nights draw in and the clocks go back. For that reason, there is a sense of perspective and a strain of nostalgia running through this year’s programme. Of longing and belonging. Of life in the rear-view mirror albeit with an eye on the road ahead. Times past are vividly and movingly evoked – in fact and in fiction – through three events that transport us to Uist and Barra in 1978 – World Cup Year – to Lemreway in South Lochs in the 50s, and wider Lewis from the late 60s to the present day. Accounts that scratch deep beneath the local historical record.
Further back still, we enter the global phenomenon that is Outlander. An inside account from Gillebrìde Macmillan, originally cast as a bard in the show, and who subsequently worked as the Gaelic consultant on the series, singer and songwriter, eventually having a special part written for him. In advance, to offset this version of Scotland, whether as an introduction or a corrective, you decide, we will also be screening Peter Watkins astonishing 1963 film Culloden. The last battle on British soil and arguably the defining event in modern Highland history
Christmas comes early with the Hebridean Baker launching his new festive cookbook. But we are back on schedule later that evening with a live music presentation of the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera for Halloween.
Other events include film, a Saturday morning breakfast event and an acclaimed and utterly spellbinding evocation of Louisiana in the 1920s.
2026 is also the 25th anniversary of the Island Books Trust, who along with Acair are a pillar of publishing in the Islands. Congratulations and Happy Birthday! They have joined with us and the Library to create a new and exciting fringe programme. All of which will be revealed in the forthcoming Faclan brochure