WayWORD Festival 2025 hits full speed in Sir Duncan Rice Library from tomorrow, 1st October. Here are the events you can join in Old Aberdeen.
Wednesday 1st October
Spotlighting North East Magazines: Pushing Out the Boat & Causeway/Cabhsair(12 noon)
Celebrating new writing with performers reading their work from two magazines from North East Scotland – Pushing Out the Boat and Causeway/Cabhsair.
Lesley Benzie and Alessandra Thom: She’s Some Woman! (1.30)
At WayWORD, we support women’s rights… and women’s wrongs! Our first book event kicks off with two writers hailing from the North East who explore the lives of women in their work. Award-winning poet Lesley Benzie will read and discuss her contributions to She’s Some Woman: Testaments which celebrates leaders, mavericks, and trailblazers, while debut author Alessandra Thom’s novel, Summer Hours, explores the questionable choices of young queer women during one hot summer in Edinburgh.
Curating Aberdeen(s): Ica Headlam, Abeer Eladany, Charley Buchan (3.30)
What makes a city’s past, and how do you represent it? How do you engage with a controversial heritage without rewriting history? And what is the place for museums going forward?
Film Premiere: Saliqmiut: People along the coast, at the edge (5pm)
the premiere of award-winning filmmaker Professor Alan Marcus’s latest work. Saliqmiut: People along the coast, at the edge (2025), explores the impact of climate change on two communities in sharply different urban and natural settings.
Thursday 2nd October
Performing the Self: Aiden Cowie & Fiona Robertson (1pm)
How do we bring our selves to the stage? Writing and performing identity, power and disability, Aiden Cowie and Fiona Robertson are two of Aberdeen’s most striking voices. Bringing forth their lived experience with passion, clarity, and good comedic timing, Aiden and Fiona share their love for performance.
Novel Takes on ADHD: Natalie Jayne Clark and Tom Newlands (3pm)
In their debut novels, award-winning authors Natalie Jayne Clark and Tom Newlands feature protagonists navigating life with ADHD, inspired by their own experiences of neurodivergence.
A Tribute to ABBA with Lisa Brunzell and Shane Strachan (5pm)
In Let the World Adore You (shortlisted for the international Rencontres d’Arles Photo-Text Book Award), Swedish photographer Lisa Brunzell captures the lives of Britain’s ABBA tribute artists, exploring the tension between their impersonations and their individual identities. Lisa will discuss the development of the project alongside Aberdeen-based collaborator Shane Strachan, who will perform short poetic texts from the book inspired by melancholy and joy of both ABBA lyrics and of Lisa’s images.
Friday 3rd October
Toulmin Prize with Sheena Blackhall (1pm)
In honour of Aberdeenshire writer David Toulmin (John Reid, 1913–1998), the Toulmin Prize writing competition is held annually by the Elphinstone Institute and sponsored by the Reid family. Join us for this celebration of North-East writing with this year’s prizewinning story read aloud by Doric poet, Sheena Blackhall.
Gothic Aberdeen Prizegiving with Heather Parry (2pm)
Discover who has won our Gothic Aberdeen Short Story Competition before it is read aloud for the first time by judge Heather Parry, author of Carrion Crow. The event will also feature a short talk from Christina Mackenzie, lead curator of the ‘Fear and Fascination’ Gothic Exhibition currently on display the Sir Duncan Rice Library.
Feminist Futures in Reactionary Times: Nat Raha and Lois Shearing (3.30)
Poet and activist-scholar Nat Raha (Trans Femme Futures, co-authored with Mijke van der Drift) and journalist-author Lois Shearing (Pink-Pilled: Women and the Far Right) explore feminist politics in a world where far-right forces pose growing challenges.
Between Science and Seeing: Artist talk with Stuart Whipps (5pm)
Artist Stuart Whipps has been working with Grampian Hospitals Art Trust (GHAT) to explore the Foresterhill Health Campus and its links to the development of MRI technology. Stuart has also worked closely with the University of Aberdeen Biomedical Physics department, looking at research, artefacts, and the new technology to create a series of photographs on display in The Suttie Arts Space from 6 September to 14 December. Stuart will talk about this new work in discussion with the GHAT team and guest speakers.
And the fun doesn’t stop there….
WayWORD continues into the weekend with events at Aberdeen Central Library and The Cowdray Hall. Browse the full programme and book your tickets at www.waywordfestival.com
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