James Hogg Exhibition: Ettrick Primary School

Daphne Jackson and a small team of organizers have set up and now operate the James Hogg Exhibition in Ettrick Primary School. The Scottish Borders Council has kindly permitted the exhibition to be housed for a two-year period in the school. Efforts to move the exhibition from Bowhill House to Ettrick Primary School began in May of this year. Of the new exhibition, Mrs. Jackson writes, "It was professionally designed by Iain Black who designed the original exhibition at Aikwood Tower and we are very pleased with the result." The inaugural celebration, which took place on June 2, 2013, was aptly described in the June 7, 2013 issue of the Selkirk Weekend Advertiser:  

A crowd of more than 100 had gathered for the opening, which was also addressed by Judy Steel on behalf of the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. She spoke on the history of the exhibition and brought a message from Scottish author and Inspector Rebus creator, Ian Rankin, one of the current crop of contemporary Scottish writers greatly influenced by Hogg. Also in attendance was local Scottish Borders councillor Vicky Davidson, who spoke about the forthcoming James Hogg creative residency at the school and thanked all those who had made this possible.

The admired Scottish actor Donald Douglas appeared as James Hogg at the event:
  

"Donald Douglas as James Hogg at the Exhibition Opening 02.06.2013

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Rab Wilson has been appointed the first James Hogg Writer in Residence and will also serve as the exhibition's curator. He and Stewart Sanderson will be hosting a creative writing workshop on Saturday, September 7, 2013 at Boston Hall in the Ettrick Valley.

--Holly Faith Nelson

James Hogg Creative Writing Day

Adapting The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner for the Twenty-First Century Screen

Odilon Redon (1840-1916), Les Fleurs du Mal (1890 Drawing).©ARTstor Slide Gallery.  

The Scottish producer David Murdoch, of Sinner Films in Glasgow, Scotland, is currently working on a film based on James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.  The project, envisioned as a “psychological feature thriller,” according to Murdoch, will be directed by the Danish director Adam Neutzsky-Wulff. Neutzsky-Wulff recently directed The Stranger Inside (2013), which was well received by critics and will be distributed across the globe by Sony. The Cambridge-born actress Rosie Day, well known for her work in The Seasoning House (2012), may play the lead in the adaption of Confessions by Sinner Films.  Sinner Films is currently in talks with Kaleidoscope to distribute the adaptation of Hogg's Private Memoirs and Confessions in the U.K. 

Murdoch is undertaking this project, in which Hogg’s novel is reworked for a (post)modern audience, with an experienced Irish producer, giving it Celtic roots. However, Murdoch is also interested in making it a transatlantic venture, and is still looking for private investors on both sides of the Atlantic.  If you wish to support the project, please contact David Murdoch at david@sinnerfilms.com.

--Holly Faith Nelson