• Wigtown Book Festival director to swap south-west Scotland for south-west England

 


Bridport Literary Festival (“BridLit”) has announced the appointment of its new Festival Director. 

 

Adrian Turpin OBE, currently the creative and strategic director of the Wigtown Book Festival in south-west Scotland, will formally take up the post on 1 January 2026 after this year’s BridLit which runs from Sunday 2 to Saturday 8 November. 

 

He will succeed the late Tanya Bruce-Lockhart, who co-founded the Dorset-based festival and played the leading role over two decades in turning it into one of the UK’s best-loved and most respected literary gatherings. 

 

Turpin joined Wigtown Book Festival in 2006, having previously worked as a writer and editor on national newspapers, including The Independent and Sunday Times. Under his leadership, the event moved from three to ten days and has increased its audience to 27,000 visitors a year. In 2024, it was named Best Festival or Cultural Event in The Thistles, Scotland’s national event awards.

A passionate advocate for the role that festivals play in the social and economic regeneration of communities, in 2017 he was awarded an OBE for services to literature and the economy. 

 

Adrian Turpin said: 

 

“Tanya’s passion, enthusiasm and commitment to excellence made BridLit into a mainstay of the region’s cultural calendar and a nationally respected literary festival.

 

“Hers are big shoes for me to fill. I’m honoured to have that trust placed in me and I’m excited at the prospect of building on such a strong legacy. 

 

“Literary festivals currently face many challenges. As it enters its third decade, my priority is to make sure that BridLit is ready to meet those challenges and to continue to grow in stature.”

 

Stuart Rock, chair of the Bridport Literary Festival’s board of trustees, said:

 

“We are delighted that Adrian is joining us as our new Festival Director. He has an exceptional track record at Wigtown of running and growing a world-class literary festival. The fact that BridLit can attract somebody of such proven talent and experience is testament to Tanya Bruce-Lockhart’s legacy to Bridport. 

 

“The trustees were excited about Adrian’s thinking and vision for BridlLit. With him as its Festival Director, BridLit – and with it, the wider community of Bridport – has a very exciting future.”