We are an island community with limited access to libraries and books, and with very few resources. For ten years now, the Islay Book Festival has brought authors and storytellers to the island to help plug that gap, to bring the community together through reading and writing, and bring additional business to the island. Through volunteering, the festival also offers the community a number of opportunities in terms of career development, training, and networking.

However, in order to help the festival develop and to meet growing needs, we need to consider fresh ways of making the festival accessible and engaging, and to offer new kinds of events.

In order to do this, we are looking to spread events across the island, and we are expanding the number and type of events on offer (for example, we are looking to offer more interactive and performance-based events, and writing and craft workshops that will instill a love of books).

We are also rebranding, tidying up our website and building our presence on social media, and in the local press, in order to increase awareness and ultimately support of the festival. And we are increasing our use of volunteers and expanding the types of roles they can get involved with, for their own personal benefit as well as that of the festival.

But all of these new ideas and fresh initiatives will mean an increase in our costs too.

Donations will help support the following:
- author travel, accommodation & expenses
- venue hire & catering
- supplementary events (workshops, walks, poetry slams)
- volunteer expenses
- festival publicity (ads, posters, flyers, online promotions)
- festival rebranding & merchandise
- book purchases
- other associated costs (admin & general running costs)

Please help us to build a new foundation for the festival this year, so that it can continue to grow and offer our community the opportunities it deserves.

Islay Book Festival is a registered Scottish charity (No. SC037096).