It was a full house at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre on Saturday for Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Stories and Scran event.
Guests braved plunging temperatures to enjoy a delicious afternoon tea provided by Scran Academy and to hear a rich variety of stories and poems from EIBF’S Citizen programme participants.
Hosted by EIBF’s Ryan Van Winkle, the packed programme also included brilliant contributions from authors Kate Foster and Douglas Johnstone, and there was another welcome opportunity to see the touching documentary produced by North Edinburgh Arts’ Adult Drama Group.
Yes, it may have been freezing outside but there was a warm welcome and a cosy atmosphere in the local community centre. A real winter warmer!
£5/£3 (Concession/NEA Members) including an afternoon tea
Come along to this special community celebration bringing together local voices with authors and artists from across Scotland.
Savour a sumptuous afternoon-tea provided by the Scran Academy (included with your ticket) and hear brilliant new writing from local people who have taken part in Edinburgh International Book Festival‘s ‘Citizen’ alongside special guests including Kate Forster and Doug Johnstone.
This year’s event showcases the diverse voices and creative talent from local groups including a film from the North Edinburgh Drama Group and the Book Festival’s own Adults Writing Group.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival has announced Stories and Scran will take place on Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd December as part of the third season of Citizen Winter Warmer events: a community celebration bringing together local voices and authors and artists.
Audiences are invited to savour a sumptuous 3-course meal provided by the Scran Academy (included in the price of the ticket) and hear new writing from local people who have taken part in the Citizen project.
This year’s first event will take place at Fisherrow Centre in Musselburgh and will showcase the diverse voices and creative talent from local groups including illustrations from students at Edinburgh College of Art and the Book Festival’s own Adults Writing Group and The Citizen Collective. Special guests include Chitra Ramaswamy.
This will be followed on Saturday 2nd November with another Stories and Scran Winter Warmer event in North Edinburgh.
Join us at West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre for tasty food and brilliant storytelling in a heart warming event at the heart of the community.
Savour a sumptuous afternoon-tea provided by Scran Academy (included with your ticket) and hear new writing from local people alongside special guests including including Kate Foster and Doug Johnstone.
This year’s North Edinburgh event showcases the diverse voices and creative talent from local groups including a film from the North Edinburgh Drama Group and the Book Festival’s own Adults Writing Group.
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL’s COMMUNITIES PROGRAMME
‘celebrating the diverse voices, stories and talent of local people, from across the city and beyond’ – NOELLE COBEN, EIBF Communities Programme Director
As a charitable non-profit making organisation, the work of the Book Festival stretches far beyond the month of August. Our Communities Programme runs year-round and isfocused on inspiring and empowering people of all ages and backgrounds.
Our dedicated team work closely with local organisations to create tailored events and activities for a range of community groups throughout Edinburgh and the surrounding areas.
This year we have:
developed a new partnership with The Ripple Project to bring monthly author events to their social club for older adults
worked with young people and staff from NHS Lothian’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) on a three-day creative writing and illustration project
facilitated sessions with our Writer in Residence, Chris Barkley, for young people at The Alternative School at Spartans Community Football Academy
… and so much more.
As an outpouring of this year-round work, we run a series of events during the Festival that have been created both for and by those taking part in the programme. We can’t wait to share them with you!
STORIES AND SCRAN
Stories and Scran – Mon 14 Aug | 19:30 – 20:45
Stories and Scran returns for its fourth year – a joyful event celebrating the dynamic and thought-provoking work created by our Citizen participants.
The evening includes a sweet snack provided by Scran Academy (a catering social enterprise based in North Edinburgh) and readings and performances from local groups across the city.
Tickets are on a Pay What You Can basis.
LETTERS OF HOPE
Letters of Hope – Mon 21 Aug | 19:00 – 20:00
What would you tell an outsider about where you live? What hopeful things would you write to your future self?
These were two creative questions our writer in residence, Chris Barkley, has been exploring with young people from the Spartans Alternative School.
Featuring short film, music, and readings, this event celebrates the diverse voices and creative talent of local young people.
Tickets are on a Pay What You Can basis.
OUR CITY, OUR STORIES
Our City, Our Stories – Various dates | 18:15 – 19:15
Our City, Our Stories is an inspiring, recurring event, showcasing new writing from both professional and non-professional writers across our Citizen project (and other community-based groups including Intercultural Youth Scotland and Open Book).
Join to hear them perform their stories: a collective love letter to Edinburgh.
These events are free.
RETURN TO PLANET CITIZEN
Return to Planet Citizen – Sat 26 & Sun 27 Aug
Explore the weird, wonderful world of Planet Citizen in this multi-media installation. You’ll find artifacts, writing, and impressions of a planet as far away as imagination can take you.
Return to Planet Citizen was created by pupils from St. Thomas of Aquin’s RC High School and Tynecastle High School in collaboration with professional artists. Join free 20-minute tours of Planet Citizen every 30 minutes (last tour 15:30).
This event is free.
Beyond the Book Festival Village …
Aware that not everyone can attend Book Festival events in person, our Communities Team work closely with partners and institutions to bring events to groups who might otherwise be excluded. This is thanks largely to the support of the players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
This August, author/illustrators Rob Biddulph and Nadia Shireen will visit the wards of the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, for instance,and writers including Jenni Fagan, Doug Johnstone, and Alan Bissett will visit six prisons across Scotland.
We hope this newsletter has given you a taster for some of the amazing work our Communities Programme are involved in.
The Citizen Writing Group meets online every week under the guidance of Communities writer in residence Eleanor Thom and, with life after lockdown returning to something like normal, have recently met in-person at two lively sessions at Musselburgh’s Fisherrow Centre and Granton Hub at Madelvic House.
Three writers – Nandini, Janet and I – were recorded during August’s Edinburgh International Book Festival at Edinburgh College of Art, where the Citizen Writers Group performed a selection of writing at the popular Stories and Scran event. The group’s work was also showcased in One Day Ticket, an ensemble piece performed by actors.
Returning for its third year, Stories and Scran celebrates the dynamic and thought-provoking work created by participants in Citizen, EIBF’s long-term creative programme offering local people a platform to explore identity and place.
Enjoy a snack and a diverse showcase of readings, stories and short films from communities in North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
I’m delighted to be reading a short story at tonight’s Citizen event. Big question for tonight is: wellies or flip-flops with the dinner jacket?
Find out more about EIBF’s Communities Programme: ontheroad.edbookfest.co.uk.
I’ll also be reading LOST, my contribution to the Scotland’s Stories Now project, tonight at 5pm in the On This Day slot:
Scotland’s Stories Now: On This Day
This year, EIBF asked people across Scotland – of any age, background or ability – to submit their own stories responding to the prompt ‘On This Day’, to build a fascinating portrait of Scotland today.
Every day at 17:00 different storytellers from around the country share their work. Join us to hear their illuminating stories and have a go at writing your own.
Supported by EventScotland as part of the Year of Stories 2022.
This year Edinburgh International Book Festival is hosting several Communities Programme events as part of the August Book Festival, as well as organising several off site visits and screenings.
Read on to find out more about how you can get involved …
With Edinburgh International Book Festival starting in just a month, we are looking forward to returning to Edinburgh College of Art for a summer packed with events, performances, interviews and workshops.
We will be welcoming authors from all over the world to the Festival, with over 600 events planned, many of which are hybrid and can be watched online for free. There is going to be something for everyone!
Our full programme is now available to browse online, but in this post, we wanted to focus on how the Communities Programme is shaping up over the month of August. As always, we are planning to do a series of events inspired by the themes of our Citizen project, which explore community, place, identity, belonging and what citizenship can look like in today’s world.
Through our Story Nation programme, we are taking the joy of the Book Festival to those who otherwise cannot access it, through a weekend of events at the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People as well as author visits to six Scottish Prisons, a local high school and the Streetreads Library, a dedicated place for readers who are experiencing homelessness.
The Birks Cinema in Aberfeldy will be screening five of our events for free to their local audiences, as a way of counteracting digital exclusion in rural areas.
We are also delighted to present our Scotland’s Stories Now project each and every day at the Festival, and we are so grateful to EventScotland for funding this project as part of their Year of Stories 2022.
We are really looking forward to welcoming many of our Communities Programme participants from across Scotland to celebrate their creativity with us the Book Festival.
Monday 15 August, 7.30 -8.30pm
Stories and Scran
We are delighted to announce the return of Stories and Scran for its third year. The Scran Academy will be catering a meal for our community participants before they take to the stage for a special showcase of the creative and thought-provoking writing they have created over the past year.
Event attendees will also get to sample some delicious sweet treats while they enjoy a diverse showcase of readings, poetry and song from communities in North Edinburgh and Musselburgh.
While sitting on a train, bus or tube, have you ever wondered about all of the complicated stories of your fellow passengers’ lives unfolding around you?
One Day Ticket takes this idea and elaborates it, creating a series of narrative snapshots as seen from a train carriage with an unknown destination. This collaborative work for the stage is written by Citizen participants with our Communities Writer in Residence, Eleanor Thom.
The cast of this collection of poignant and humorous human stories will perform with scripts in hand.
Everyone has a story to tell; through stories we can make sense of our world. Earlier this year writers Andrew O’Hagan, Eleanor Thom, Ryan Van Winkle, Mae Diansangu, Roseanne Watt, Bea Webster and Siân Bevan collaborated with community groups across the country to collect Scotland’s Stories Now.
At the Festival, we are sharing the tales, poems, conversations and words from the people who took part, as well as several of the stories submitted to our Open Call, inspired by the prompt ‘On This Day’.
Following two years of disruption in schools, we’re bringing together education pioneers to imagine the creative, bespoke settings needed to support young people.
Our panellists include founder of The Black Curriculum campaign, Lavinya Stennett; Emma Easton, school manager at The Spartans Alternative School, Ian Midwinter, CEO of Scran Academy, and Alexander Boys, a former member of The Citizen Collective, our writing group for 16-18 year olds.
What would the planet look like if you designed it? This is the question Ryan Van Winkle, our Schools Writer in Residence, has been exploring with local pupils at St. Thomas of Aquin’s RC High School as part of Citizen.
Drop in anytime between 11am at 5pm to explore the world they created in a multi-media installation, or come and join our free 30-minute tours at 11am, 2pm or 4pm. Featuring work from Natalie Doyle, Faith Eliott, Lotte Fisher, Caitlin Hynes, Seamus Killick, Emily Randall and Natasha Russell.
This year, we asked people across Scotland – of any age, background or ability – to submit their own stories responding to the prompt ‘On This Day’.
What resulted was a fascinating portrait of Scotland in the here and now. Throughout the Festival, different contributors from around the country will be sharing their snapshots of life through the power of words. Join us to hear their illuminating stories in a free daily session at 5pm in our Storytime Yurt.
We hope you enjoy the Book Festival this year and look forward to welcoming you at Edinburgh College of Art, 74 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9DF, or chatting to you online in the event chat and Q&A sections, if you are planning to join us virtually.
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Citizen is our long-term creative programme working in partnership with organisations across Edinburgh and Musselburgh, offering local people a platform to explore identity, connection and place. It is supported by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery and the PLACE Programme administered by Creative Scotland.
Our Story Nation project aims to bring the spirit of the Book Festival to audiences who, for various reasons, cannot access our physical events. It aims to combat isolation and create rich opportunities for engagement with the written word among vulnerable or unheard communities, enthusing and empowering readers across Scotland.
Scotland’s Stories Now is supported by EventScotland, as part of the Year of Stories 2022.
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.
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.
