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Oban-based author was joined by a group of refugee children at Wigtown Book Festival recently for a reading of his picture book One Button Benny, which has been translated into Arabic.
Alan read to the children in English, which was translated by an interpreter, with images from the Arabic translation of the book shown on screen.
The children and their mothers – who were visiting the festival from their new homes in Glasgow – are from all over the world including Syria, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, India, Ghana, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Cameroon and Egypt.
They were brought to the festival by the Open Book charity as part of its work to use literature as a way of helping new Scots discover more about the country and its culture.
Alan said: ‘It was such a privilege to be able to take part in the event with a translator and to share my book One Button Benny with children and parents from so many Arab speaking countries.
‘Wigtown Book Festival and Open Book Reading are doing an amazing job bringing books and literature to so many diverse groups and people of different cultures.’
