Astronomer Royal for Scotland, John C Brown OBE and Rab Wilson, renowned Scots poet and NTS Scriver in Residence at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, come to Skye to launch their new book Oor Big Braw Cosmos in a fascinating illustrated talk with readings.

This fascinating guide to our skies and beyond brings together science and art to convey the beauty of our vast cosmos and its scientific workings. Combining an accessible introduction to astronomy with original space-inspired poetry and haiku, and featuring hundreds of stunning images, Oor Big Braw Cosmos shows you space as you’ve never seen it before.

Broadford-based John, was made 10th Astronomer Royal for Scotland (ARFS) in 1995. In astronomy research he has published around 300 papers, winning the 2012 Royal Astronomical Society Gold Medal. He is also a keen teacher and semi-pro artist and magician, so a wizard at lucid explanation and illustration of amazing science ideas.

Rab Wilson is one of Scotland’s most accomplished poets. He was born in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, in 1960. After an engineering apprenticeship with the National Coal Board he left the pits following the miner’s strike of 1984–5 to become a psychiatric nurse. As a Scots poet, his work appears regularly in The Herald, Chapman, Lallans and Markings magazines and he is the author of a number of highly praised volumes of poetry and a Burns scholar.

Tickets are £10 adult / £8 member / £8 student / £5 young person / FREE under 11 & season.
Available from the Skye Festival booking page here.