By Tessa Nolan
Val McDermid and Douglas Stuart were among many writers expressing outrage after Creative Scotland rejected a funding application for the literary festival.
Val McDermid, Douglas Stuart, and Andrew O’Hagan are among the Scottish authors criticizing the cancellation of the Aye Write literary festival in Glasgow after its funding application was turned down by Creative Scotland.
McDermid said it was “deeply disappointing” that Glasgow “cannot support a book festival,” while Stuart called it “unacceptable.” O’Hagan stated that the cancellation was “wild, and it should not have happened.”
On Thursday, the charity organization Glasgow Life, funded by the council, announced that its funding application for Aye Write and Wee Write – a festival for children and young people – was unsuccessful. “Both events rely on external funding, which is not guaranteed from year to year,” the charity organization said.
Scottish-American author Stuart, who won the Booker Prize in 2020 for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, said there is “righteous outrage” over the festival’s cancellation in a post on X. “I have watched in horror as Scotland barters for arts funding, closed its libraries, and now allowed a major literary festival in its largest city to be canceled.”
Stuart added that last year he “watched many interviews” about the “surge” in Irish writing, and that Ireland “understands that culture, people, and literature are its strength, and they fund it as if they mean it.”
Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the cancellation was “very bad news.” “I know money is tight but really hope a way can be found to bring [Aye Write] back into being,” she wrote on X. “Books, culture overall, are so important for our well-being – never more so than in the unsettled times we live in today. Book festivals are a chance to celebrate the wonder of literature and those who create it. We must not lose that.”
Crime writer McDermid described the cancellation as “impoverishing our future” and “burning the seed corn” of cultural futures, reports the Sunday Post. “It’s a really sad day that a city like Glasgow cannot have a book festival when it has such a proud history of producing some of the most amazing writers.”
The cancellation of Aye Write comes as many cultural festivals face financial pressures. In 2022, Ways With Words, which held literary festivals in Lake County, Suffolk, and Devon, canceled its festival, stating it was “currently not viable” due to cost-of-living issues. In 2023, cultural organization Bristol Ideas announced its closure in May after 30 years of operation. The statement said the organization “was not immune to the difficulties facing the cultural sector.”
Scottish writer Damian Barr said the cancellation of Aye Write is “so wrong.” The festival “is one of Scotland’s biggest and best-loved book festivals – it is vital for readers and writers across Scotland and beyond.”
Glasgow Life, which has funded Aye Write since its inception in 2005, applied for funding from Creative Scotland for £77,500. At last year’s festival, around 175 authors participated in over 120 events over 10 days.