Interview: St Magnus director Alasdair Nicolson on this year’s festival

“I like the slightly odd mix – it’s a reflection of something inside my own head, all the various strands of interests…” Alasdair Nicolson is talking about the rich and – yes, pretty eclectic – programme he’s devised for this year’s St Magnus Festival in Orkney. “Odd” is probably going too far, but with events ranging from the perhaps more expected concerts and recitals to street parades, lectures, masterclasses, poetry readings and even knitting workshops from Norwegian yarn superstars Arne and Carlos, all taking place right across the islands of Orkney’s archipelago, it’s nothing if not wide-ranging.