We are delighted to announce that cycling legend and multi-gold medal-winning Olympic champion, Sir Chris Hoy, will be joining us on Thurs 29th November to talk about his new book, How to Ride a Bike.

Former Scotland fly-half and legendary BBC radio commentator, Ian Robertson, will be with us at Mainstreet on Wed 28th November talking about his autobiography, Rugby: Talking a Good Game.

Do join us on Wed 21st Nov for an Autumnal treat – Kate Humble, talking about her new book, Thinking on My Feet.

One of our bestselling books last year was The Thirty-One Kings by Robert J Harris which Allan Massie described as ‘A loving tribute to Buchan…. and thoroughly good fun.’  So, we are delighted to announce that Harris will be with us at Mainstreet on Thurs 8th Nov to talk about his next ‘Richard Hannay’ novel, Castle Macnab, a sequel to John Macnab.

As the nights draw in, do join us at Mainstreet to hear all about our local literary star, Thomas the Rhymer. Singer Poppy Holden will explore the medieval account of Thomas and how the seemingly inexplicable events of the story can be linked to the real-world geography and history of the Scottish Borders.

We are very proud to announce that our next author event celebrates a landmark publication – Scotland: Her Story by Rosemary Goring.

We are delighted to announce that the Queen of Crime herself, Val McDermid, will be with us on Fri 12th Oct to talk about her new novel, Broken Ground.

After the success of our first pop-up dining event last Autumn with Olia Hercules, we’re delighted to announce that this October we welcome another of our favourite chefs, Gill Meller, to ‘pop-up’ at Mainstreet. He will be cooking for us from his beautiful new book, Time.

2018 marks 20 years since the first No.1 Ladies Detective Agency was published, so we are truly delighted to announce that Alexander McCall Smith will be at Mainstreet on 4thOctober to talk about his most recent work.

We are delighted to announce that globe-trotting national treasure, Michael Palin will be joining us at Mainstreet to talk about his new book, Erebus on Tues 25th September.

This Autumn we are delighted to welcome back a Mainstreet favourite… Clare Balding will be with us on Mon 24th Sept talking about her bestselling children’s books.

We’re delighted to announce that Ann Cleeves will be at Mainstreet on Tues 18th September to celebrate publication of Wild Fire, the eighth and final book in her hugely popular Shetland series. 

It is with great excitement that we announce Kate Atkinson will be with us on Wed 12th September to talk about her magnificent new novel, Transcription. Her many fans will be delighted to hear the book is once again set in wartime London, this time exploring the murky world of British espionage.

We are delighted to announce that novelist, Claire Askew, will be joining us on Thurs 30th August to talk about her new thriller, All the Hidden Truths. Brought up in the Scottish Borders, Claire’s first novel won the Lucy Cavandish Prize for Fiction and, among several other accolades, she also received a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award.

We are delighted to announce that Elspeth Turner and Donald Smith will be with us at Mainstreet on Wed 25thJuly talking about their new book, Tweed Dales.

Itamar Srulovich & Sarit Packer went down a storm when they visited Mainstreet back in 2015 and their delicious food has often informed our menu. So we are thrilled they are back on Wed 11th July, to mark publication of their beautiful new book, Honey & Co: At Home.

Our very first event at Mainstreet back in 2008 was with the wonderful Michael Morpurgo, so it is with very great pleasure that we welcome him back during the week of our 10th birthday on 20th June 2018.

Many of you will be familiar with Emma Healey’s debut novel, Elizabeth is Missing, which won the Costa First Novel Award in 2014. We are delighted to welcome her to Mainstreet on Tues 5th June to talk about her new book, Whistle in the Dark.

Regulars at Mainstreet will know that we were a touch evangelical about Maggie O’Farrell’s extraordinary memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am which came out in hardback last year. We are therefore delighted to announce that Maggie, our very own Mainstreet Makar, will be joining us on Thurs 31st May to celebrate publication of the paperback edition.

This May sees the release of a major three part TV series on the landscape of Scotland, telling the story of our nation from a completely different angle. Viewers will be guided through a century of aerial photographs, charting the ever-changing face of Scotland’s rural and urban landscapes.

ALLIANCE WINES LAUNCHING OUR SPRING LIST

Many of you may be familiar with Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, published to huge acclaim a few years ago…

We are often asked to recommend books to cheer up friends and family – the response, quite often, is to reach for Nancy Mitford, but now we have another contender, Dear Mrs Bird. Better still, its author, A J Pearce, is coming to Mainstreet on Wed 25th April.

We’re very excited to announce that Tara Westover will be joining us at Mainstreet on Thurs 19th April to talk about her remarkable memoir, Educated. It’s a book we first heard about back in September and is, without doubt, going to be one of the biggest books of 2018.

Join us on Thurs 5th April to hear award winning, much loved food writer, Diana Henry, in conversation with Stuart Kelly.

We are delighted to announce that historian, Graham Robb will be with us on Thurs 29th March to talk about his new book, The Debatable Land – a subject very close to home…

We were fortunate to host Sally Magnusson at Mainstreet to launch her very moving memoir, Where Memories Go, so it is with great pleasure that we welcome her back to talk about her first novel, The Sealwoman’s Gift.

What better prospect in the depths of winter, than the wonderful Celia Imrie? We’re delighted to announce that she’s coming to Mainstreet on Wed 28th February.

Regulars at our events will be familiar with Stuart Kelly for his elegant author interviews from Rick Stein to Maggie O’Farrell, so it is with great pleasure that we welcome him back, this time as the star of the show, talking about his new book, The Minister and the Murderer. Stuart will be ‘in conversation’ with the director of the Edinburgh Book Festival, Nick Barley.

Join us at Mainstreet on 31st January to meet a woman who managed to give up drink and keep her sense of humour, oh, and beat cancer and lose two stone at the same time.