Getting Close to Nature: In Life and on the Page

Publishing Scotland are hosting a Scottish Christmas Book Fair alongside Waterstones booksellers on Fri 20 and Sat 21 November 2026 between 10am – 4pm. Scotland’s publishers will be there to help you browse and buy from a massive selection of wonderful books. It's free entry to the Scottish Christmas Book Fair, but as part of the fair, we are programming a series of paid, ticketed author events on Saturday 21 November.

Getting Close to Nature: In Life and on the Page
With Linda Cracknell and Beth McDonough
Saturday 21 November, 11am – 12pm

Getting outside and into nature boosts our wellbeing and is great for our physical and mental health, and as a source for imagination and creativity.

Authors Linda Cracknell and Beth McDonough get together with Publishing Scotland’s Abigail McDougall to talk about their books that celebrate the restorative powers of the natural world and its place as inspiration for their – and your – artistic life.

Ticket Price
£5

More about Linda Cracknell

Linda Cracknell is a writer of narrative nonfiction on the natural world, as well as of fiction and radio scripts. Her first story collection was nominated for Scotland’s National Book Awards and the Robin Jenkins Literary Award for environmental writing, and her essay collection Doubling Back: Ten Paths Trodden in Memory, about journeys she took on foot in Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, and Kenya, was serialised for BBC Radio as a Book of the Week. All of Linda’s writing is inspired first and foremost by place, and she teaches nature and place writing. Writing Landscape inspires attentiveness and observation.

More about Beth McDonough

Beth McDonough is a published poet appearing in several collections as well as her own Lamping for Pickled Fish. She was Writer in Residence at Dundee Contemporary Arts and is a regular contributor to Dundee University Review of the Arts, Imagined Spaces and other places. She lives in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.

Her poetry is strongly connected to place, particularly the Tay where she swims every day if she can. A Year in Water combines memoir, humour, observations, inspirational advice as well as poetry.

More about Abigail McDougall

Abigail McDougall is Publishing Scotland’s Head of Policy and Communications. Sustainability and storytelling are twin threads that run through her work to date, from her early days as a journalist at Marie Claire to her current work helping publishers reduce their environmental impacts. She is an experienced facilitator and chair and enjoys convening crunchy conversations.

Abigail is most likely to be found hiking up a windy hillside or lost deep in a book.

You can buy tickets for our other Scottish Christmas Book Fair author events by clicking on their respective links:

• Scotland's Rebel Women, with Rosemary Goring, Jean Findlay, Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi. Chaired by Sara Sheridan
• Scotland's Poetry Showcase, with Alan Spence, Andres N. Ordorica, Ceitidh Chaimbeul, Nadine Aisha Jassat and Sarah Stewart

You can also purchase tickets to these events through the current page.

Have questions about the event? Contact enquiries@publishingscotland.org