Scotland's longest-serving First Minister set to speak 'Frankly' about political career at Borders Book Festival
Last updated 2nd Jun 2026
Nicola Sturgeon's appearance at this year's Borders Book Festival has sold out.
Scotland's longest-serving First Minister is due to reflect on her political journey, and her book 'Frankly', on the final day of this year's event in Melrose - a week on Sunday (June 14th).
It comes amid the ongoing fallout from her ex-husband's ongoing court case.
The former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell has admitted embezzling more than £400,000 from the party's bank account.
The High Court in Edinburgh today (Tuesday) heard he bought a motorhome and robotic lawnmower with some of the cash. He is due to be sentenced on June 23rd.
Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also sold all tickets for his talk on the opening day of the event on June 11th, along with the likes of Outlander star Sam Heughan and Bake Off's Prue Leith.
However, at the time of writing, there were still tickets to see the likes of former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, tennis ace Judy Murray and broadcaster Lorraine Kelly.
READ MORE: TV comedian's show sells out Galashiels venue in less than two minutes
Festival Director Alistair Moffat - who has helped attract some of the biggest names in TV, sport and politics to the Scottish Borders over the past two decades - revealed this year will be his last.
But the author - a former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - revealed it's not all bad news.
"I'll get to celebrate my birthday," he told Greatest Hits Radio. "It used to always occur during the festival, so I couldn't have a drink or anything - so that means I'm really only 53, 'cause I missed 23 birthdays."
As well as reflecting on his time in charge, Alistair is also teaming up with nine-year-old grand-daughter Grace to celebrate the release of their first novel at next weekend's event - Molly Mason: The Pet Detective.
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