A PHOTOGRAPHIC artist is raising funding to print 250 hardback copies of a book which combines Celtic and Arabian stories.

Laura Hudson Mackay, a photographic artist from New Abbey in Dumfries and Galloway, is behind the book, Confluence: Celtic and Arabian Visions and Stories

Contributors include Clare Melinsky – known for her Harry Potter book covers and Penguin Shakespeare series.

Other supporters include BBC Africa Correspondent Richard Hamilton, who wrote the introduction, and writer, journalist and documentary filmmaker Tahir Shah who provided the foreword.

It includes stories by Celtic storyteller Anne Errington and Mehdi El Ghaly from Marrakech.

These sit beside photographs by Ms Mackay and her Moroccan counterpart, Houssain Belabbes.

A crowdfunding campaign was launched on 13 March.

It has received backing from Adrian Turpin, director of the Wigtown Book Festival.

www.laurahudsonmackay.co.uk

SHETLAND Arts has announced a new programme of showcases at the Bonhoga gallery, celebrating craft.

This programme is part of a "new initiative to re-focus the space at Bonhoga towards Applied Art and Craft, while taking the established Visual Art programme out to new and exciting locations throughout Shetland."

The first showcase opens on 31 March and will feature new work as well as current ranges from six of Shetland’s finest makers.

It will include wooden furniture, glasswork, silver jewellery and textiles.

In the Lower Gallery, there will be an exhibition of landscapes by Shetland artist Julie Willmore.

www.shetlandarts.org

ASSEMBLY Festival has announced the winner of the Assembly Roxy Theatre Award (ART Award) as Edinburgh-based playwright Jen McGregor for her play Heaven Burns.

Heaven Burns is set in Morayshire in 1662 and tells the story of Christian Caddell a woman who falsifies her identity and pretends to be John Dixon, a notorious witchhunter.

The ART Award is for emerging Scottish based performance companies looking to create new work to debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Ms McGregor will work alongside Movement Director Flavia D’Avila once the play goes into production.

www.assemblyfestival.com