I was delighted to be part of Edinburgh International Book Festival’s ‘Stories and Scran’ event on Tuesday evening.
The event was a celebration of the book festival’s Citizen programme.
Over the last 12 months, Citizen Writer in Residence Eleanor Thom and poet Leyla Josephine have been working with local groups to discuss and respond creatively to themes such as home, identity and belonging.
The evening – a lively mix of live readings, stories and short films – showcased impressive work by participants from Spartans Alternative School, the Citizen Collective (some brilliant young writers aged 16-18) (above), the Citizen adult writing group, the Saheliya Champions and more. And all in front of a live audience, too!
The event was preceded by a delicious community meal prepared and served up by by a team from North Edinburgh’s very own Scran Academy.
Congratulations to the organisers – coronavirus restrictions must have made this a very difficult event to plan and stage, but it really couldn’t have gone better.
Stories and Scran was live streamed and you can view it here:
Join us for an evening of food and entertainment, hosted by our Citizen Writers in Residence Eleanor Thom and Leyla Josephine.
With live readings, audio recordings and a film created by Citizen participants, our community meal will showcase the insightful and thoughtful work of local people from North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
This live event is part of Citizen, our long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh, offering local people a platform to explore identity, connection, place and everything it means to live in our world right now.
Following on from the success of last year’s virtual event, Stories and Scran returns for a second helping.
This community meal, enjoyed by participants in our Citizen programme, will take place in Edinburgh College of Art, with dinner provided by The Scran Academy.
The meal will be followed by a showcase of live readings, audio stories and short films in a celebration of community spirit.
During lockdown I took the opportunity to try something new and signed up to North Edinburgh Arts’ Writing the Times creative writing group.
I so enjoyed the experience of meeting up with others – fair enough it was still Zoom, but at least it seemed more like normal life! – that I went on to take part in the Citizen creative writing project this Spring (above).
We were asked to choose and write about a local building, and, living in Drylaw, I chose The Doocot.
While I would never describe the Doocot as a place of worship, pubs, like churches, are more about the people in them than the actual buildings themselves, so I wrote a series of short stories about unforgettable characters – real, imagined and some a bit of both – who made the Doocot such a popular place in it’s heyday.
I will be reading a Doocot tale at the Stories and Scran celebration tomorrow evening. The event is fully subscribed, but Edinburgh International Book Festival will be streaming it live.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival, which takes place this year from Saturday 14 to Monday 30 August, will do so in the beautiful indoor and open, grassy outdoor spaces of the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh College of Art on Lauriston Place.
Full programme details will be announced in June, but Book Festival fans can expect a range of live online author talks, workshops and readings as well as, if circumstances permit, some events for live socially-distanced audiences.
This new strategic partnership with the University of Edinburgh gives us use of the ECA’s buildings and grounds in August. The University will operate catering and bar provisions if permitted by the Government’s Covid19 guidelines during the Festival.
EIBF Director, Nick Barley, explains this important move: “While we are now experiencing a full lockdown in Scotland which is challenging for so many people on so many levels, we very much hope that the combination of this, together with the ongoing vaccination programme, will bring the virus under control by August.
“While 2020 proved extremely challenging for the Book Festival it also opened up some extraordinarily exciting opportunities. Building on the success of our online Book Festival we can now announce that we will be entering into a new strategic partnership with the University of Edinburgh that will enable us to inhabit this innovative space in 2021 with facilities to create events for both digital and, if circumstances permit, physical audiences.
“Covid19 has created a huge tectonic shift in the way that live events, ourselves included, can reach their audiences. With in-person ticket sales impossible to forecast this August, we simply can’t justify incurring the costs of the tents and infrastructure we’d normally put into Charlotte Square Gardens. It is highly probable that most events will take place online, and the need for broadcast studios is more likely than large venues for an audience.
“In the grassy courtyard of Edinburgh College of Art we will, if rules allow, recreate the elements of the Book Festival that our audiences love – bookshops, cafes and open spaces in which to come together safely offering the ‘oasis of calm’ for which the Book Festival is renowned. The College offers excellent studio and theatre facilities for both online broadcasting and potential events with a socially distanced audience.
“We intend that this strategic partnership with the University will be a long-term arrangement, and the Book Festival will continue to occupy their spaces when a Covid-free Festival, with audiences able to enjoy live events in person, can be staged.
“However digital events will continue to be a key part of future Book Festivals, enabling us to reach truly global audiences as well as those closer to home who face barriers to attending the event. We are excited that our hybrid festivals of the future will engage with authors and audiences around the world in a more environmentally responsible way.”
It’s a new chapter for the Book Festival. Look out for more announcements in the coming months, with full programme details to be revealed at the end of June.
As the nights draw-in and the lights begin to twinkle, join us online for a day full of free fun and creative activities for all the family, with readings, DrawAlongs, music and more!
Enjoy stories from Maggie O’Farrell, Alan Bissett and Nadine Aisha Jassat, put your pens to work with illustrator Eilidh Muldoon, hear music from Tinderbox Collective and experience tales written by our Citizen groups in North Edinburgh, Musselburgh and beyond!
Free and online on Saturday 12 December. Find out more:
Join us for an evening of food and entertainment, hosted by our Citizen Writers in Residence Eleanor Thom and Leyla Josephine. With live readings, audio recordings and a film created by Citizen participants, our community meal will showcase the insightful and thoughtful work of local people from North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
Our Community partners Scran Academy will cook and deliver a free meal to those joining the event within an Edinburgh or Musselburgh postcode. If you’re watching from further afield, we can provide you with an ingredients list and recipe card, so that you can recreate the meal at home to eat with us during the event.
To book a free meal (numbers limited, so don’t miss out!) or receive an ingredients list and recipe card contact us on citizen@edbookfest.co.uk.
This live event is part of Citizen, our long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh, offering local people a platform to explore identity, connection, place and everything it means to live in our world right now. Find out more at ontheroad.edbookfest.co.uk.
Organisers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival have announced that they will be presenting the 2020 Book Festival online from Saturday 15 to Monday 31 August.
The programme, made up of over 100 events for adults, families and children, will offer both live and pre-recorded conversations featuring leading writers, poets and participants from around the world.
Events will be free to view, and available through the Book Festival’s own website.
Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, said “We are very excited to be presenting live online events for the first time.
“Thanks to invaluable support from The Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, The City of Edinburgh Council and many of our sponsors and donors, including Baillie Gifford, People’s Postcode Lottery and a number of generous individuals, we are in a position to experiment, to bring the essence of our wonderful festival to our loyal supporters – and new audiences – in a series of ambitious, innovative and exciting online conversations.
“The Edinburgh International Book Festival is a crucial part of the literary year for Scottish and British writers and publishers, and we felt strongly that we needed to showcase the very best writing and ideas despite not being able to come together in Charlotte Square Gardens in Edinburgh this August.”
Full details of the programme and participating authors for the 2020 Edinburgh International Book Festival online, and information on how audiences can access the free events, will be announced at the end of July.
Join us to celebrate Citizen our latest long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh, listening to people’s views about the communities in which they live.
Led by Scottish-based writers-in-residence, Claire Askew and Eleanor Thom, Citizen aims to give a voice to communities, offering residents an opportunity to explore their connection to each other and their relationship to neighbourhoods. Come to hear, see and meet some of those who have been taking part so far.
West Pilton’s Betty McVay MBE is among the contributors.
We invite you to Pay What You Can for this event. You may choose to pay an amount between £0 and £25 for your ticket, taking into consideration what you can reasonably afford to spend. This pricing has been introduced to help make the Book Festival accessible to those with limited means. If you are able to pay more for your ticket, you will help support our efforts to provide financial flexibility to those who most need it.
As ever, there are some big names at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival – but the biggest star of them all kicked off the annual event in Charlotte Square Gardens yesterday. The Gruffalo came to town to get the party started – which is quite appropriate as the children’s favourite is celebrating his twentieth birthday!
Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson was joined by illustrator Catherine Rayner for her Performing Picture Books event at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Continue reading Happy Birthday, Gruffalo!
