Preparations for the seventh Fiddle Frenzy, from 8th to 15th August, are under way and the line-up of acts and contributors has been released.

Bright Pebbles, edited by Mary Blance and Laureen Johnson. Hardback published by Shetland Islands Council in partnership with Shetland ForWirds at £14.99.

Fair Isle Through the Seasons by Malachy Tallack and Roger Riddington. Published by ZE Press at £15.

Dir are twa wirds dat immediately spring to my mind when I read or listen tae da late Rhoda Bulter’s poetry – da first een is “unique” and da second een is “irreplaceable”.

A petition with over 6,000 signatures opposing charging for music tuition in schools was handed over to SIC services committee chairman Gussie Angus at Lerwick Town Hall on Wednesday morning in a final bid to stop the proposals going ahead.

Legendary American singer-songwriter Steve Earle – who had to cancel a scheduled show in December last year due to an untimely bout of freezing fog – is to return to the isles for a solo date at the end of the summer.

A Kist of Emigrants, J Laughton Johnston. Published by The Shetland Times Ltd, £29.

Did you know that novelist John Steinbeck name-checks a Shetland man in his classic Cannery Row or that the fashion event World of Wearable Art in Nelson, New Zealand, has its roots in the Shetland knitting tradition? Were you aware that Captain Sharp of the ill-fated Lancastria, which saw the biggest loss of life in British maritime history, was a Shetlander?

The summer issue of The New Shetlander appears as the 2010 Hamefarin begins, and celebrates the fact with Ian Tait’s preview of the new Shetland Museum and Archives exhibition From Old Rock to New Life.

The Islands Book Trust has just published Destination St Kilda: From Oban to Skye and the Outer Hebrides, edited by Mark Butterworth.

A collection of Rhoda Bulter recordings made in 1976 are set for release for the first time on Saturday by Croft Records.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SHETLAND

Thursday, 29 July 2010 at 11:25

HEADLINES

TODAY: PATCHY DRIZZLE, BRIGHTER SPELLS
TONIGHT: CLOUDY, SOME DRIZZLE
TOMORROW: SOME BRIGHTNESS, RAIN LATER
DAYS 2-5: RAIN THEN SCATTERED SHOWERS
DAYS 6-10: CHANGEABLE

What’s on in Shetland in July 2010

What’s on in Shetland in August 2010 and on