Big Bang Week is heading to Dumfries with an exciting day of in-person events for children and young people that will feature the much-loved authors Annaliese Avery and Vashti Hardy.
Vashti will take the audience to the land of Inventia to meet her intrepid young heroine as she sets out on a fresh adventure in Harley Hitch and the Missing Moon.
Annaliese, acclaimed author of The Nightsilver Promise, will be sharing her love of astronomy, and showing how to create your own astro-journal full of all the wonders of the galaxy.
TV science communicator Marty Jopson will also be at Moat Brae for this very special day, on Saturday 12 March, which has been organised by Wigtown Festival Company which runs the annual Big Bang Week young people’s festival of science and astronomy.
Annaliese said: “Astro-journals are great, I use mine to record things I’ve learned that really interested me – so I’ve got pages on star formation and how to build a planet. Something I love about it is that the journal I use is all black paper, so it’s great for things about the night sky.”
She will also talk about how her own love of the stars – which eventually led her to set up an astronomy club – began.
Annaliese said: “I must have been about six or seven, we were on holiday in Cornwall, I was walking along with my grandad, holding his hand, and it was the first time I had ever seen a really dark sky full of stars.
“I remember feeling how ridiculously insignificant and tiny I was beneath all that, and how privileged I was to be there at that moment and see it all.”
Her grandad Buster taught her the names of the constellations and her love of them continued to grow – so much so she has Orion tattooed on her arm.
Vashti is looking forward to introducing children to her character Harley, a science-loving girl full of confidence and curiosity who lives in a wonderful world where you can’t only see the stars, but can meet them, have a chat and even find out what clothes they like to wear.
As a teenager Vashti had a real aptitude for science and maths, and an inspirational physics teacher encouraged her to take science subjects at A Level.
However, the teacher left and when she walked into the first physics class Vashti discovered she was the only female in the room.
She said: “I just lost my nerve. I changed all my A levels to arts subjects and took an entirely different route. Life’s worked out well – I love writing and I get to write about science. But sometimes I look back and wish I’d held my nerve, but I just didn’t have the confidence then that I have now.”
And that’s where Harley comes in, as a character and a role model who helps gives the girls of today that bit more confidence.
Vashti said: “I want to be an advocate for girls in STEM subjects, so I’ve created a world where it’s very balanced between the number of boys and girls doing science – and that’s the world I’d like to see.
“And as for Harley, I love her attitude, she’s never daunted and will always have a go. She’s not frightened to get things wrong. If she does, she’ll just try again. She’s the sort of girl I would have loved to have as my best friend at school.”
This year’s festival particularly celebrates women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and will welcome Catherine Heymans, Scotland’s Astronomer Royal.
Anne Barclay, Operations Director of WFC, said: “This year’s festival has a whole variety of digital and in-person events, so you can take part wherever you are.
“But we are particularly excited to be holding this special day with Vashti, Annaliese and Marty at Moat Brae – which is a wonderful place for children and young people to come together with authors to explore all sorts of other worlds.”
Dr Simon Davidson, Centre Director of Moat Brae, added: “We are thrilled to be working together with Wigtown Book Festival during Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022, welcoming old and new audiences to Moat Brae.”
Other Big Bang Week events
- International Space Station astronautNicole Stott talks about coming back to Earth and her passion to preserve the planet. Folklorist Chris Pinard considers how our Celtic forebears understood the heavens, Sky at Night presenter Chris Lintott asks: “Are we alone?” and Emily Levesque of the University of Washington explores the life of the professional star-gazers.
- PhilosopherDavid Chalmers offers the theory that our reality is simply a simulation created by a superior intelligence, and explains why many thinkers believe this Matrix-like speculation more likely than not. Almost as mind-bending is the fact that much of our universe is invisible: Matthew Bothwell will be telling us where he thinks it went.
- Plus we will travel to the Red Planet, Mars, with writer Simon Morden and to the birth of the universe, the subject of Emma Chapman’s bookFirst Light. Closer to home, Matt Gaw discusses his adventures walking under the light of the Moon.
- This year’s programme particularly celebrates women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and we’re particularly excited to welcomeCatherine Heymans, Scotland’s Astronomer Royal who, with Martin Hendry, will be discussing the life of “Scotland’s Einstein” and Galloway’s greatest scientist, James Clerk Maxwell.
Next up is Big DoG
Big DoG bounds back to Dumfries in 2022 from 1-3rd of April. After two years of online festivals, the annual Big DoG Festival (named in honour of Nana, the big dog who looks after the Darling children in Peter Pan) comes back to Dumfries. Join some of the nation’s much-loved children’s authors and illustrators for a weekend of barking fun where everyone has a tale.
