Listen to the This Is Islay podcast

Some new media from Islay to write about. Back in August the This is Islay podcast was launched. Its goal is to bring you voices from Islay, news and events with interviews from the community. It is intended for both locals and listeners further afield to give an insight into what is happening on Islay and how the community experienced events. The intention is to complement other news sources (e.g. The Ileach), not to compete with them.

As of writing this two episodes have been published, Welcome to This Is Islay Fàilte a chàirdean and Islay Resilience and A Trip To India. The below embedded player should list and allow you to play the most recent episodes (as of writing this the two mentioned ones):

2026 Islay Book Festival – This Is Islay

Discover what makes the Islay Book Festival unique.  In this episode, This Is Islay's Jolyon Thurgood chats with Charlène Busali, Creative Director of the 2026 Islay Book Festival, We learn about the book creators and special guests who make up the festival and how its events engage the Islay community and visitors alike. The 2026 Islay Book Festival takes place 27-30 August.We also feature introductions from three book creators who join the Festival this year:- Polly Pullar, author of In Company of Sheep- Louise Welsh, author of The Cut Up- Eilidh Muldoon, illustratorFor more information visit islaybookfestival.co.uk or find "Islay Book Festival" on Facebook.Acknowledgements:Guests: Charlene Busali, Islay Book FestivalMany thanks to Eilidh Muldoon, Polly Pullar and Louise WelshHost: Jolyon ThurgoodProduction: Gordon Bermingham and Jolyon ThurgoodMusic : Pixabay 323343 – Ikoliks (Jingle by IslayStudio for This Is Islay)

1. 2026 Islay Book Festival 39:26
2. Young Minds & Big Topics at Islay High School 13:22
3. Caring for Older People – Part 1: Policies, People & Partnerships 24:54
4. Argyll College on Islay – part of UHI 28:41
5. The Museum of Islay Life 35:58

I hope you’ll enjoy the podcasts as much as I did and will subscribe to them (I’m using Google Podcasts, which works really well for me, but various other services including Spotify are available). With the latest developments around Covid-19 I found the information about the Islay Resilience Group very interesting and how it will help with possible future developments. But of course there are plenty of other interesting topics as well.

Author: Armin Grewe

I blog about Islay. View all posts by Armin Grewe