MONDAY 20TH APRIL 2015
Ginny Elston: The Ruler and The Realm. Ginny Elston seeks to stage a new experience of space through immersing herself in places and subjects that are foreign to her; she pushes and pulls flat geometric patterns and shapes through depictions of large interior spaces in order to open up a new dimension of shifting representations. These works are in response to the diverse types of signs, symbols and languages that are to be found in arcade halls, casinos and gaming paraphenalia. 9am-4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, Leith School of Art, 25 North Junction Street. Ends 20th June 2015.
Ageing Well : It’s a Walk in the Meadows! If you are 50+ and would like to meet new friends, enjoy the fresh air and get healthier, join in this series of short, organised walks, tailored to the distance you can walk and led by trained and experienced volunteers. 10.30am today and every Monday and Thursday, Summerhall (outside main entrance), 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL. For more information please contact the Ageing Well office on 0131 458 2183 or email ageingwell@edinburghleisure.co.uk.
Minecraft/Hama Beads: for ages 5-11 years. 2-3pm, Wester Hailes Library, 1 Westside Plaza. Free.
Spring Break Activities at Craigmillar Library: today 1.30-2.30pm Games Tournament, 4-5pm Minecraft with Joe C, 6-7pm Craft with Sooz. All children welcome; any child under 8 years must be supervised by a family member over 12 years. Craigmillar Library, 101 Niddrie Mains Road. Free.
Easter Fun & Games @ Oxgangs Library: Creative Writing. For ages 7-12. 11am, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North.
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Adult Book Group: join the group for friendly, lively book chatter – no previous experience necessary! Currently reading Andrew Greig’s At the Loch of the Green Corrie ‘a richly atmospheric narrative, a celebration of losing and recovering oneself in a unique landscape, the consideration of a particular culture and a homage to a remarkable poet (Norman MacCaig) and his world’. The group’s book for May will be Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods. 6-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. If you would like to join the group, please email events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk with your name and address.
For Crying Out Loud: regular screenings for carers and their babies under 12 months, accompanied by no more than 2 adults. Baby changing, bottle-warming and buggy parking facilities are available. 
Today’s film is Paddington (PG): a young Peruvian bear travels to the city in search of a home….11am, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £4.50/£3.50 and may be obtained by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688.
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Children’s Book Group: if you are aged 8-12 with a love of books and biscuits, join this group to enjoy a friendly hour of fiction – come and discover more books to treasure! Currently reading Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth. 6-7pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. If you are interested in coming along, please email your name and address to childrens.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk.
Pear Tree Quiz: if you know your physics from your psychics – or maybe you are still mourning the loss of 15-to-1? – try the Pear Tree’s weekly quiz. Cash prizes. 9-11pm, Pear Tree House, West Nicolson Street. £1 per team: tables fill up fast, so please arrive early.
Family Heritage and Building a Good Food Nation in Scotland: to mark Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink 2015, restaurateur and food writer Carina Contini reflects on the lessons that can be learned from her family’s homeland of Italy. What can the country that gave the world the Slow Food Movement teach Scotland about local and seasonal cooking and becoming a good food nation? 6pm, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge. Free places may be booked online here or by calling 0131 623 3734.
Sofi’s Cult Movie Nights: see popular classics on the silver screen in the cosy, darkened back room. Free popcorn! This week: Harvey (U) starring James Stewart. 8pm, Sofi’s, 63-65 Henderson Street.
Lunchtime concert: Lynne Bulmer (flute) and Peter Churchill (piano) play JS Bach Sonata in B minor BWV 1030 and Prokofiev Sonata for Flute & Piano Op 94. 12.15pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Free.
Leith Central Community Council: 7pm, Nelson Room, McDonald Road Library, 2 McDonald Road. All welcome: agenda and minutes are available on the Community Council’s website here.
TUESDAY 21ST APRIL 2015
‘The Hundred Years War’: A Global History of Tower Blocks and Mass Housing. To complement the Ponte City exhibition, whose subject is the ‘accidental’ appropriation of an elite private tower by low income groups, this talk by Professor Miles Glendinning (University of Edinburgh) will focus on the state-backed ‘mass housing’ programmes systematically built in many countries during the 20th century, often specifically for the benefit of the disadvantaged strata of society. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.
Rosenna East: Wider Connections. Violinist and arts journalist Rosenna East will explore the relationships between the work of Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore and the setting of his poems from The Gardener by Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson. Featuring items from the NLS’s collection, live music and discussion. 6pm, National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge. Free places may be booked online here or by calling 0131 623 3734. The Wider Connections series is organised by NLS in partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Leith Folk Club: Ewan McLennan with support Gallus Crows. Ewan McLennan has come to be known as a guitarist at the very forefront of his generation: a troubadour, balladeer and storyteller cut in the old style, a singer who can move audiences with his passion and pathos. ‘You’d have to be mad to miss this’. 7.30pm (doors open), Victoria Park House Hotel, 221 Ferry Road. Tickets cost £9 and may be purchased in advance via the Club’s website here or by texting 07502 024 852.
Common Weal Edinburgh North & Leith: All Party General Election Hustings. Martin Veart (Lib Dems), Ian McGill (Conservatives), Sarah Beattie-Smith (Greens), Deirdre Brock (SNP), Mark Lazarowicz (Labour), Alan Melville (UKIP ) and Bruce Whitehead (Left Unity) , chaired by Jean Urquhart. 7-9pm, Area C Coffee House, 239-241 Leith Walk. All welcome.
WEDNESDAY 22ND APRIL 2015
Southside Community Centre PEEP Group for Babies. Learning together to help parents and carers create the best start for their babies by making the most of everyday learning opportunities – listening, talking, playing, singing and sharing books and stories together. 1-2pm today (after Well Baby Clinic, which starts at 12) and every Wednesday for ten weeks, Room 1, Southside Community Centre, 117 Nicolson Street. Free: all very welcome! For more information please contact the centre on 0131 667 0484.
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Presents Aline Templeton: The Third Sin – the latest instalment in the DI Marjory Fleming series. Fleming investigates the murky relationships among the Cyrenaics, who believe that pleasure is the highest good. 6.30-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free tickets are available via eventbrite here, or in person from the store’s front desk, by emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk or calling 0131 622 8218.
Rhymetime: songs and tunes for young children and their parents and carers. 11-11.30am or 2-2.30pm today and every Wednesday, Newington Library, Fountainhall Road.
Common Weal Edinburgh North & Leith Monthly Book Group: currently reading Tariq Ali’s The Extreme Centre. 7.30-9.30pm, Area C Coffee House, 239-241 Leith Walk. All welcome.
Bookbug: for young children and their parents and carers. 10.30-11am, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North.
Looking Glass Books Presents Catherine Chanter The Well. The award-winning writer and poet launches her debut novel, in conversation with the inimitable Peggy Hughes. ‘A dark and devastating tale of obsession, motherhood and the complexity of female relationships, wrapped inside a gripping whodunnit’. 6.30pm, Looking Glass Books, Quartermile, Simpson’s Loan. Free but booking is required via eventbrite here, or by calling the shop on 0131 229 2902 or emailing hello@lookingglassbooks.com.
The Edinburgh Bookshop Presents Patrick Gale: A Place Called Winter. The author launches his first novel for three years, set in the newly colonised Canadian prairies. ‘An exquisite story of self-discovery, loosely based on a real-life family mystery, Patrick Gale has created an epic, intimate human drama, both brutal and breathtaking – a novel of secrets, sexuality, and ultimately of great love’. 7pm, Eric Liddell Centre, 15 Morningside Road. Free but booking is required: please contact the shop on 0131 447 1917.
Pedro Serrano: the Mexican poet, who has published five collections of poems, visits 
Edinburgh. 6.30pm, Word Power Books, West Nicolson Street. Free.
LGBT Icebreakers: if you would like to meet new people, are just coming out or don’t feel confident going out on the ‘scene’, try this informal, fun and friendly social group for LGBT people and anyone questioning their sexuality or gender identity. For over-18s. 7.30-9.30pm, The Regent Bar, 2 Montrose Terrace. For more information please contact Alison Wren on 0131 652 3283 or email alison@lgbthealth.org.uk.
Peter Ranscombe: Hare. The author launches his debut novel, a scandalous story close to Edinburgh’s heart. What happened to William Hare? After his partner-in-crime William Burke was hanged in 1829 for a series of murders in the city, Hare was set free after turning King’s evidence against him and headed for London, where rumours spread of his death in a lime pit at the hands of an angry mob. The murders carried out by Burke and Hare are historical fact, but Peter Ranscombe settles Hare in Boston during the early years of the American Civil War. A series of terrifying murders places him under suspicion once again and sends the city’s police force into a desperate search for the killer. Peter will read from and discuss his fast-moving historical thriller. 7-8pm, Central Library, George IV Bridge. Free tickets may be booked via eventbrite here.
Edinburgh Gay Men’s Book Group: an inclusive group where you can meet new people and read and discuss interesting books. 7-9pm, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. Group contact: info@gaybookgroup.co.uk.
Edinburgh Folk Club: Jenna Reid and Kevin MacKenzie.. 8pm, The Pleasance Cabaret Bar, 60 Pleasance. Tickets cost £10/£9/£7 (members)
North Edinburgh Arts AGM: come and hear about the work of NEA and its plans for the next three years. Nominations for new Board members will also be registered at the meeting. Refreshments will be served and a creche will be available but must be booked in advance. 12 noon, (soup and sandwiches served at 12.30pm), NEA, Pennywell Court. To register your intention to attend and to book a creche place please contact Sandra on 0131 315 2151 or email admin@northedinburgharts.co.uk.
THURSDAY 23RD APRIL 2015
Mercat Grill Doggy Quiz: in aid of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. Kicking off a weekend of tail-wagging events – dog owners, dog lovers, their friends and all pooches welcome! Complementary buffet. 8pm, Mercat Grill, 10 Whitecraig Road, Musselburgh. £5 per person: to book please call 0800 124 4112. All proceeds will be donated to EDCH.
Word Power and Interactive Writing Salon in Scotland Present Mariusz Szczygiel: Gottland: Mostly True Stories from Half of Czechoslovakia. The acclaimed Polish non-fiction writer will be in conversation with his award-winning translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones about his new book. ‘Extraordinary, hypnotising and disturbing tales’ (Liberation). 6.30pm, Word Power Books, West Nicolson Street. Free: all welcome – donations also welcome!
Lunchtime concert: Annika Suhr (flute), Robert Milner (tenor) and Chris Harding (piano). The programme will include Jules Mouquet La Flute de Pan. 12.15pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Free.
i-Pad for Beginners: a new six week course. 10.30am-12.30pm, Newington Library, Fountainhall Road. If you are interested please register by contacting the library on 0131 529 5536, emailing them at newington.library@edinburgh.gov.uk or calling in to speak to one of the staff.
Mayfield Salisbury Thursday Club: Clark Gable on Film – a talk by Dr Peter Kendrick. 2-4pm, Upper Hall, Mayfield Salisbury Parish Church, West Mayfield. Membership of the club costs £3 per annum, but you do not have to be a member to attend, and all are warmly welcomed. Tea costs 50p. For more information please call Florence Smith on 0131 663 1234
Easel Sketching in the Gallery led by artist Damian Callan. A different subject every month, sometimes with a model. All materials supplied. 2-4pm, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street: please ask at the Information Desk for the exact location within the gallery. Free. Also at same times on Friday 24th April 2015.
Blackwell’s Edinburgh Presents World Book Night 2015: authors Anne Donovan (Buddha Da), Andrea Gillies (Keeper), Michael Malone (The Guillotine Choice) and Philip Miller (award winning journalist and writer) chat about books. 6-8pm, Blackwell’s, South Bridge. Free tickets are available via eventbrite here, or in person from the store’s front desk, by emailing events.edinburgh@blackwell.co.uk or calling 0131 622 8218.
Sean O’Hagan: Season of Photography Opening Lecture. Sean O’Hagan writes about photography for The Guardian and The Observer and is the winner of the 2011 J Dudley Johnston award from the Royal Photographic Society for major achievement in the field of photographic criticism. In this insightful talk he will share his views on contemporary photography as part of the nationwide Season of Photography 2015. 6-7.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Tickets cost £5/£4 and may be purchased in advance from the National Gallery’s Information Desk or by calling 0131 624 6560 (credit/debit payments only) between 9.30am and 4.30pm.
LGBT Learning Difficulties: Social Circle. A group for LGBT people who also identify as having a learning difficulty or disability. This month’s theme is ‘an introduction to transgender identities‘. 2-4pm, Lifecare Centre, 2 Cheyne Street, Stockbridge. If you would like to join the group, please contact George Burrows on 0131 652 3281 or by emailing george@lgbthealth.org.uk.
Edwin Morgan: The Midnight Letterbox: Selected Correspondence 1950-2010. One of the central figures of 20th century Scottish literature, Edwin Morgan was a prolific letter-writer. His correspondence, like his poetry, is wide-ranging, full of generosity and enthusiasm, and above all a testament to his lifelong commitment to exploring the possibilities of poetry. James McGonigal and James Coyle, editors of this new collection of Morgan’s letters, will be in conversation with SPL Director Robyn Marsack. 6.30-8pm, The Saltire Society, 9 Fountain Close. Free but booking is required via eventbrite here.
Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema: a season of films curated by Scorsese, all screened in pristine digital restorations. Today: Mother Joan of the Angels (Matka Joanna od aniolow) (PG). (In Polish and Latin with subtitles). Lucyna Winnicka plays an allegedly possessed abbess, who’s investigated by a priest, hopelessly out of his depth when confronted with forces he doesn’t understand. 6pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688. This screening will be introduced by Dr David Sorfa (University of Edinburgh); the film will be shown again on at 6pm on Saturday 9th May 2015
where language ends: amplified tour for visitors with hearing impairments, led by Juliana Capes. 2pm, Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge. Free but booking is essential and may be made via eventbrite here.
LGBT Coming Out Course. Coming out as LGBT is a lifelong process. If you would like to spend some time exploring how far you have come, and how far you might have to go, be a part of this 4-week course, which will explore experiences of coming out in a relaxed, confidential environment. Discover new strategies to deal with your fears and meet others in similar situations, whilst taking the opportunity to celebrate your triumphs in being you. 6.30-8.30pm, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. Booking is essential as places are limited: please contact Alison Wren on 0131 652 3283 or email alison@lgbthealth.org.uk.
A Beautiful Living Thing: filmed in the remains of the burned out Mackintosh library and the Glasgow School of Art in late December 2014 and early January 2015, Ross Birrell’s A Beautiful Living Thing features a composition for solo violin devised from Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s description of a work of art, performed inside the ruined library by Bill Chandler (RSNO). ‘The music sounds at first like a lament, but it does also have an element that is uplifting’ (Birrell). 7pm, Playfair Library Hall, Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge. Free: all welcome. Ross Birrell and David Harding’s exhibition where language ends continues at Talbot Rice until 2nd May 2015.
Edinburgh Napier University Postgraduate Information Evening: find out more about Napier’s postgraduate and professional courses (full-time, part-time and distance learning). Talks plus the opportunity to ask questions about study, finance, admissions and accommodation. The event will take place across all three Napier campuses, so click here to see which one offers the course you are interested in. 6-8pm, Edinburgh Napier University (Merchiston, Sighthilll and Craiglockhart campuses). Free but please register online here.
Maurizio De Giovanni. The Naples-based detective story writer will be in conversation with academic and engineer Raffaela Ocone, who is fascinated by crime novels and the precision of making them work. De Giovanni’s books have been translated into French, German and Spanish and are now available in English for the first time (Europa Books). 6pm, Italian Cultural Insititute, 82 Nicolson Street.
Share your Union Canal Stories: the Scottish Waterways Trust invites you to share your canal-related stories and memorabilia with its young Canal College volunteers. If you have a story to tell, or any photos, maps or other objects related to the canal, please come along to the Lochrin Belle barge on the quay – tea and coffee provided! The Canal College is a heritage skills training programme for 16-25 year olds who are not in employment, further education or training. As part of the course, the young people are leaning about the cultural heritage of the canals; they will record stories and collect photos and memorabilia to create unique heritage boxes to use in community groups and schools. 11am-3pm, Lochrin Belle (the purple barge), Edinburgh Quay, 1 Union Path. The quay can be accessed at the junction of Fountainbridge and Gardner’s Crescent through a pedestrian walkway beside the former Cargo bar.
The Electric Circus Presents Lainie and the Crows: Nashville comes to Edinburgh via the Carolinas and the Louisiana dustbowl, as Lainie and the Crows give their own British folk and 60s’ pop flavour to classic Americana themes. For over-18s only. 7pm, Main Room, Electric Circus, 36-39 Market Street. Free admission.
FRIDAY 24TH APRIL 2015
Northern Streams Festival: a two day festival of music, song and dance from Scandinavia and Scotland. In tonight’s concert Margaret 1281 Scottish performer of ancient native music traditions Simon Chadwick tells stories with harp music and song of Queen Margaret and The Maid of Norway, and introduces the bowed lyre, one of the oldest instruments of Northern Europe, which he has reconstructed, whilst young Copenhagen-based folk trio Fjarin play their own tunes inspired by the music of Celtic and Scandinavian traditions. 7.30pm, Grassmarket Centre, 86 Candlemaker Row. Tickets cost £10/£8 and are available via the Northern Streams website here. Please note that tickets cannot be purchased from the venue except during the festival itself. Northern Streams Festival is organised by the Edinburgh and Lothians branch of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland: it continues on Saturday 25th April.
Bookbug: for young children and their parents and carers. 10.30-11am, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North.
Lunchtime concert: KMA Men’s Choir, Dordrecht, Netherlands. 12.15pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Free.
The Portobello Comedy Night: your last chance to experience the magic of the comedy night until August! Starring Phil Differ, Ben Verth, Kate Dillon and Johnny Seaton, with MC Steven Davidson. 8.30pm, Dalriada, 77 The Promenade, Portobello. Tickets cost £10 and may be purchased from the Dalriada or from Brown Paper Tickets here (transaction fee applies). They will also be available on the door if there are any left. ‘Run like the seaside wind to secure your tickets, or be inconsolably sad for the whole summer!’
Do What U Wanna Do – @ Open All Hours is back at the Commie Pool tonight! Gym, swimming, coached activities, chill out, arts & crafts, and refreshments for ages S1-S6. 7-9pm, Royal Commonwealth Pool, Dalkeith Road. £1 per person. For more information contact Clare Jamieson on 0131 556 9389 or clare@canongateyouth.org.uk. Canongate Youth is an independent charity; since 1977 it has successfully provided support , recreation and training opportunities for 5-25 year olds to help them overcome barriers and secure a great future.
Balerno Village Screen: We Are The Best (15). Lukas Moodysson’s brilliant adaptation of his wife Coco’s graphic novel about three teenage misfits growing up in 1980s Stockholm, who – with neither musical instruments nor talent – decide to form an all-girl punk band. ‘An ebullient and sharply observant portrait of DIY spirit and growing up different’. In Swedish with English subtitles. 7.30pm, Balerno Village Screen, St Joseph’s Centre, Balerno. Balerno Village Screen is a community cinema run by volunteers. All screenings are free but you are asked to register in advance to give the organisers an idea of numbers; registration may be made online via eventbrite here, or by obtaining a ticket from the Mill Cafe or Balerno Post Office. Read The Editor Reporter’s Top Five Films of 2014 (of which We Are The Best came in at No.2) here.
Charlotte and The Charlatan: an Octavo Fika presentation from Kalopsia collective. A one-off performance-exhibition, combining dance, spoken word, illustration and video installation, costume and textiles and the written word. All elements take as a starting point stories from the artbook Charlotte and The Charlatan. Each artist is invited to interpret the text freely; the culmination will be a presentation of these collaborations in an engaging, entertaining performance-event, under the banner of Kalopsia’s Octavo Fika project. For over-18s only. 8pm, Community Space, Ocean Terminal, Ocean Drive. Tickets cost £5 (includes a drink) and may be purchased via eventbrite here (transaction fee applies); hand-made copies of the book will be available to buy at the event. Kalopsia is an Edinburgh-based creative agency formed in 2012 by a group of creators who wanted to improve the support and space for contemporary textile practice: it is now a social enterprise.
Summerhall Historical Fiction Festival. This three-day festival will explore the richness and variety of the historical novel – why writers love to write it and why readers delight in reading it. Today’s events:
(1) 10.30-11.30am: Why Historical Fiction? Novelist, journalist, reviewer and historian Allan Massie leads a discussion about the who, how and why of this most popular genre: ‘The historical novel at its best is history made to live in the imagination of the reader’. For ages 12+.
(2) 11.45am: The Vespasian Chronicles. Robert Fabbri talks about his life-long love of ancient war games, the challenges he encountered in changing careers and becoming a writer, and what it is he finds so compelling about Vespasian’s story.
(3) 3.15pm: Discovering the truth about Jean Armour, aka Mrs Robert Burns. Novelist and playwright Catherine Czerkawska talks about the research for her upcoming novel The Jewel, which tells the story of the long-suffering, intelligent and likeable Jean Armour.
(4) 4.30pm: Dalriada: A Romance of Invention. Prolific author Professor Christopher Harvie talks about the weird and wonderful way that fiction lands on fact and some of the odder facts that sound like fiction.
All events take place in the Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets for each of today’s events cost £6/£3 and may be purchased via the festival’s website here or by calling the Summerhall Box Office on 0131 560 1581. The festival continues on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th April.
Easel Sketching in the Gallery led by artist Damian Callan. A different subject every month, sometimes with a model. All materials supplied. 2-4pm, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street: please ask at the Information Desk for the exact location within the gallery. Free.
Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema: a season of films curated by Scorsese, all screened in pristine digital restorations. Today: Knife in the Water (Noz w wodzie) (PG). (In Polish with subtitles). Roman Polanski’s first feature mixed ostensibly simple ingredients: two men, a woman, a yacht, a vast expanse of water and a haunting jazz score by the great Krzystof Komeda; it became Poland’s first Oscar nominee. 6.15pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688. This screening will be introduced by Dr Pasquale Iannone (University of Edinburgh); the film will be shown again on at 6.15pm on Monday 11th May 2015
Bongo Lives! x Hidden Door Teaser: a trailer for next month’s Bongo Lives! x Hidden Door Festival (22nd-30th May) to launch the official publicity campaign, preview all the visual artists’ projects and showcase two of the live bands playing, alongside teaser videos of all of the bands involved. 7-10pm, The Bongo Club, 66 Cowgate. Tickets cost £5 on the door.
Stockbridge Parish Church Malawi Coffee Morning: Fair Trade tea and coffee, greetings cards for sale – all profits to the church’s Malawi project. 10.30am-12 noon today and every Friday, Stockbridge Parish Church, Saxe Coburg Street. All very welcome!
Beauty by Design: Unpicking Venetian Lace. ‘There never was a nation that could dream of taking precedence to Venice in making needlepoint lace appreciated by the likes of emperors and princesses across the mountains‘ (Giovanni Grevembroch). Come and celebrate the feast day of St Mark, Patron Saint of Venice, by finding out about the intriguing history of one of Renaissance Venice’s most famous ‘luxury products’ – needlepoint lace. Tricia Allerston, Deputy Director of the Scottish National Gallery, explores the making of needlepoint lace in 17th century Venice and its widespread appeal in Europe. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.
Slavs and Tartars: Lektor. Lektor, by art collective Slavs and Tartars, is part of a new body of work that explores Mirror for Princes – a medieval form of advice literature intended for future rulers. The artists locate contemporary parallels to these texts in relation to spin doctoring and society’s interest in self-help books such as How to Marry a Millionaire and How to Lose 15kg in 15 Days. The exhibition centres on a multi-channel audio installation, featuring extracts from an influential 11th century Turkic offering advice on the power and pitfalls of the tongue. Preview 6-8pm tonight, then 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday, Collective Gallery, City Observatory and City Dome, Calton Hill. Ends 12th July 2015.
Guid Crack: For the Love of Stories. Edinburgh’s monthly storytelling night, this time with guest teller Calum Lykan, who leads a celebratory evening, remembering the stories we love the most. Accompanied young adults welcome. 7.30pm, Circus Cafe & Bistro, St Mary’s Street. Entry by suggested donation of £3. A selection of drinks and food may be purchased from the cafe.
Satellites Programme: Thomas Aitchison. Thomas Aitchison has developed a new series of paintings and an installation entitled Drag a File Here, as part of Satellites Programme 2015. Employing a filter-like effect to the images and painting on dustsheets dotted with marks from previous use, Thomas explores the frictions between ground and image, systematic and accidental mark making. Using materials and tools that commonly support, but are edited out of, exhibition design, Drag a File Here brings the process and materiality of the ‘backstage’ to the fore. Preview 6-8pm tonight, then 10am-5pm Tuesday to Sunday, Collective Gallery, City Observatory and City Dome, Calton Hill. Ends 14th June 2015.
Song, By Toad’s Bad Fun Presents Tisso Lake + Adam Beattie + Brooke Sharkey. ‘A night of gorgeous, broadly folky music’ brought to you by the Edinburgh independent label. 7.30-10pm, Henry’s Cellar Bar, 16 Morrison Street. £5.
LGBT Women’s Wellbeing Group: an inclusive group offering the chance to meet other LGBT women in a relaxed environment. Chat, information and activities promoting health and wellbeing. The group is open to all LGBT women and welcomes transgender people who primarily identify as women. Today ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ – celebrate International Mother Earth Day by having a go at creative upcycling, with an opportunity to discover some of Stockbridge’s second-hand shops. 2-4.30pm: please contact Alison Wren on 0131 652 3283 or email alison@lgbthealth.org.uk for information re meeting place, and to be added to the group’s mailing list.
Mesh Artists Collective: Earthworks. Presenting our understanding of ‘earth’ in its wider sense, the focal point of the exhibition will be a large scale collaborative installation inspired by the diversity of Scotland’s terrain. Other works include prints, paintings, textile works and sculptures exploring soil, geology, landforms and human relationships with the land. The exhibition will also feature collaborative sketchbooks documenting the processes used in the development of the work. Mesh Artists are Barbara Rowell, Marrion Barron and Mary Walters. Private view tonight 6.30-8.30pm, then 12 noon-4pm Tuesday to Friday, 12 noon-5pm Saturdays and Sundays, Patriothall Gallery, 1D Patriothall, off Hamilton Place, Stockbridge. Ends 3rd May 2015.
Kevin Neary – Live. Serenity Cafe, 8 Jackson’s Entry, The Tun, 111 Holyrood Road. The Serenity Cafe is Scotland’s first recovery cafe, run by people in recovery for people in recovery, and for public customers who want good value, good quality food in a relaxed space. All events are family-friendly and drink and drugs-free.
LGBT Film Night: LGBT themed and mainstream films in a friendly, sociable setting. The film choices are voted for in advance at meetings or by email – you are welcome just to turn up, but please be aware that the film will already have been chosen. 6.30pm (screening starts 7pm), LGBT Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. To join the mailing list or to find out more, please contact admin@lgbthealth.org.uk or call 0131 523 1100.
The Story Collective: Living in a Better Nation. An evening of traditional stories, of Stoorworms and Selkies, which resonate deeply in our own time. Fact and fiction intertwine to spark imagination, vision and debate about the future of Scotland and its people, as the country enters a new chapter in its history. The Story Collective is David Campbell, Wendy Woolfson, Douglas Mackay, Beverley Bryant, Janis Mackay and David Francis. 8pm, Netherbow Theatre, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £8/£6 and may be booked online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 556 9579.
SATURDAY 25TH APRIL 2015
Mercat Grill Doggy Fun Day: in aid of the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. Doggy coffee morning followed by Agility Competition, Beauty Competition and much more. East Coast FM will be broadcasting live. 10.30am (coffee morning), 12.30pm start of main doggy events, Mercat Grill, 10 Whitecraig Road, Musselburgh. To book please call 0800 124 4112.
Northern Streams Festival: a two day festival of music, song and dance from Scandinavia and Scotland. Today: 10.30am-6pm: various workshops (see Northern Streams website here for details). Tonight’s concert: Fiona Driver and Graham Simpson, a popular and exciting fiddle and guitar duo from Orkney with a large repertoire from Orkney, Shetland, Ireland, Scandinavia and further afield, including Fiona’s own award-winning compositions, and Swedish-Norwegian trio Oleman, with Annette Thorheim (accordion), Olof Misgeld (violin/viola) and Ebba Jacobsson (vocals). Oleman play lively music of unforgettable songs from the border between Sweden and Norway. 7.30pm, Grassmarket Centre, 86 Candlemaker Row. Tickets cost £10/£8 and are available via the Northern Streams website here. Please note that tickets cannot be purchased from the venue except during the festival itself. Northern Streams Festival is organised by the Edinburgh and Lothians branch of the Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland.
Lunchtime concert: Jillian Bain Christie (soprano) and Ashley Beauchamp (piano). 12.15pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Free.
Anna Atkins: Cyanotypes and Margaret Watkins: Advertising Photography. A two person exhibition showcasing historically important work by Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and Margaret Watkins (1884-1969), who made pioneering photographic work in the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. Atkins’ name is synonymous with the cyanotype process; her scientific botanical studies, made using the camera-less ‘sun print’ technique, were informed by and contributed to the earliest experiments in photography in Britain. Margaret Watkins had a successful career as a photographer in Boston and New York before circumstances led to her relocation to Glasgow in the early 1920s. Her work became largely forgotten until her death in 1969: Stills will present examples of her advertising images for the first time in Edinburgh. 11am-6pm daily, Stills, 23 Cockburn Street. Ends 12th July 2015.
Christian Aid Sponsored Forth Bridge Cross: the 43rd annual crossing, with people from all over the East of Scotland – an enjoyable day out for people of all ages. Weather permitting, there will be a ceilidh outside the Forth Estuary Transport Offices on the South Queensferry side of the bridge before the walk begins – come early for some dancing! A prize for the best novelty fancy dress. 1pm (reception), 2-5pm (walk). To register and obtain your sponsorship pack with full details of the walk, meeting place, etc, click here. For more information please call Amy Menzies, Events Fundraising Officer, 0141 241 6138 or email amenzies@christian-aid.org.
Balerno Village Screen: The Boxtrolls (PG). A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash-collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator – the town’s villain, Archibald Snatcher. 2.30pm, Balerno Village Screen, St Joseph’s Centre , Balerno. Balerno Village Screen is a community cinema run by volunteers. All screenings are free but you are asked to register in advance to give the organisers an idea of numbers. Registration may be made online via eventbrite here, or by obtaining a ticket from the Mill Cafe or Balerno Post Office.
National Gallery Highlight Tours: an introduction to and tour of the National Gallery’s permanent collection, focusing on key paintings. 2-2.45pm or 3-3.45pm, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed.
Summerhall Historical Fiction Festival. This three-day festival will explore the richness and variety of the historical novel – why writers love to write it and why readers delight in reading it. Today’s events:
(1) 10.30am: The deadly true story behind one of World War I’s best kept secrets. Andrew Williams discusses the history behind his acclaimed fourth novel The Suicide Club, set in 1917 in Field Marshal Haig’s HQ in France. ‘A master of the intelligent historical spy thriller’ (Alan Massie).
(2) 11.45am: Queering History – a panel discussion. Explore the challenges of writing a past for LGBT people with Ronald Frame, Kaite Welsh and Laura Macdougall.
(3) 3.15pm: Tales of derring-do in Elizabethan England. Comic and novelist Rob Newman discusses his fourth book The Trade Secret; after an oil shortage plunges Isfahan into darkness, renegade English servant Nat and eccentric Parisan poet Darius set out in search of the secret oil well said to lie beneath the Temple of Mithras.
(4) 4.30pm: Waterloo: Fact and Fiction. Iain Gale, well known for his fiction writing on the Napoleonic Wars, offers an insight into the different challenges of writing about Waterloo as fact and fiction.
(5) 6pm: What next for the Comptroller-General? In the third of his acclaimed espionage thrillers The Spider of Sarajevo, Robert Wilton peers into the shadows to discover the political machinations and dangers lurking there in the final weeks before the outbreak of World War I. Wilton has worked in numerous government departments and been adviser to two Prime Ministers of Kosovo. Session chaired by Andrew Williams.
All events take place in the Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets for each of today’s events cost £6/£3 (except those for Queering History which cost £7/£3.50) and may be purchased via the festival’s website here or by calling the Summerhall Box Office on 0131 560 1581. The festival concludes on Sunday 26th April.
Rhymetime: songs and tunes for young children and their parents and carers. 11-11.30am today and every Saturday, Newington Library, Fountainhall Road.
Writing the North: an evening celebrating the poetry and music of Orkney and Shetland. This event follows a project of the same name, designed to bring together literary historians, museum professionals, schools and creative writers. 7-9pm, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High Street. Tickets cost £10/£8 (+ transaction fee) and may be purchased online here or by calling the Centre Box Office on 0131 556 9579: tickets include a copy of the project’s book Archipelagos and a glass of wine after the event. Organised jointly by Scottish Storytelling Centre, Scottish Poetry Library, University of Edinburgh and Royal Society of Edinburgh.
St Bride’s Family Cinema: see your favourite films for free! Juice and choc ices available during the interval for 50p. Please note that all children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Today: The Lego Movie (U). 10.30am-12.30pm, St Bride’s Centre, Orwell Terrace, Dalry. All welcome!
Out of the Blue Flea Market: over 45 stalls, selling clothes, jewellery, small furniture, music, books, bric-a-brac and much more. Delicious food and drink available to buy from the Drill Hall Arts Cafe. 10am-3pm, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street.
Bookbug: for young children and their parents and carers. 10.30-11am, Oxgangs Library, Oxgangs Road North.
Pedal on Parliament 2015: a mass bike ride on Holyrood by ‘a grass-roots group of people who want to see Scotland become a place where active travel is safe and enjoyable for everyone, whether they cycle or not’. Starts 12 noon on The Meadows and proceeds to the Scottish Parliament, joined by feeder rides from all across Scotland. For more details of the route and other arrangements, please see the Pedal on Parliament website here.
The First World War in Cinema: Tell England (15). A rare screening from a BFI National Archive 35mm print of the 1931 adaptation of Ernest Raymond’s 1922 novel. Edgar Doe and Rupert Ray, boyhood friends, enlist in the British army at the outbreak of war in 1914: both receive commissions and are eventually sent to Gallipoli, where the horrors of war reveal themselves. The film was co-directed by Anthony Asquith, whose father was PM at the time of the Gallipoli landings, and Geoffrey Barkas, who had fought at Suvia Bay in the Gallipoli campaign. 4pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £4 per person may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688. This screening is part of The First World War in Cinema, a four year series of films programmed in association with the University of Edinburgh; two more films on the Gallipoli Campaign will be shown later this year (Gelibolu on 27th May and Gallipoli on 7th August 2015).
where language ends: visual descriptive tour for visitors with sight impairments, led by Juliana Capes. 2pm, Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge. Free but booking is essential and may be made via eventbrite here.
French Family Saturdays: On Joue. Introduce your children to a popular piece of French culture with these all-in-French family sessions – today’s is all about games. From card games to board games, your children will have the chance to play in French, speak French and listen to French in a relaxed and joyful atmosphere – and as usual, a French gouter will be served. For ages 3-10. 12 noon-2pm, Institut francais d’Ecosse, 13 Randolph Crescent. £5 per child (£3 for members of the Institut). Advance booking is highly recommended: please email accueil@ifecosse.org.uk.
Polwarth Nearly New Sale: all ages of children’s clothes and toys, nursery equipment, maternity wear, high chairs, buggies, pushchairs and garden toys. 11am-1pm (queue usually starts around 10am), Polwarth Parish Church, Polwarth Terrace. No buggies can be taken into the hall, but a free and supervised buggy park is provided. Raising funds for Polwarth Parish Church and The Yard, an Edinburgh charity for disabled children.
The Torrance Gallery new exhibition: Ken Ferguson. 10.30am-4pm today, then 11am-6pm Monday to Friday, 10.30am-4pm Saturdays, The Torrance Gallery, 36 Dundas Street. Ends 9th May 2015.
Scotland’s Gardens: Shepherd House – an artist’s garden. The house and its one acre garden form a walled triangle in the middle of the 18th century village of Inveresk. 11am-4pm, Shepherd House, Inveresk, Musselburgh. Entry £4 (children free) of which 40% goes to The Teapot Trust and the net remainder to Scotland’s Gardens beneficiaries. For more information please call 0131 665 2570. Also at same times on Sunday 26th April.
Balerno Village Screen: Mr Turner (12A). A film exploring the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter JMW Turner. (an outstanding Timothy Spall). Before the screening, Frank and Stewart from folk band Holm will perform their ‘atmospheric Americana with a European avant-garde twist’ – you are warmly encouraged to come along early to enjoy the music. 7pm (music), 7.30pm (film), Balerno Village Screen, St Joseph’s Centre, Balerno. Balerno Village Screen is a community cinema run by volunteers. All screenings are free but you are asked to register in advance to give the organisers an idea of numbers. Registration may be made online via eventbrite here, or by obtaining a ticket from the Mill Cafe or Balerno Post Office.
Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema: a season of films curated by Scorsese, all screened in pristine digital restorations. Today: Jump (Salto) (cert tbc). (In Polish with subtitles). In this rich and subtle dream-play, a man arrives in a small country town and demands sanctuary from an unspecified threat. But who is he, why do people remember him differently, and can he really perform miracles? 6.15pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688. This film will be shown again on at 8.45pm on Tuesday 12th May 2015.
SUNDAY 26TH APRIL 2015
Water of Leith Conservation Trust: Floral Delights of the Dells. A guided walk to discover the beautiful wildflowers of Craiglockhart Dell and the secrets of wildflower identification. 2pm, Water of Leith Visitor Centre, 24 Lanark Road. £4 per person (members £2). Booking is essential: please call 0131 455 7367.
Summerhall Historical Fiction Festival. This three-day festival will explore the richness and variety of the historical novel – why writers love to write it and why readers delight in reading it. Today’s events:
(1) 10.30am: The story behind Wake. Debut author Anna Hope discusses the inspirations for her first novel, which focuses on the journey home from France of the Unknown Soldier and the stories of three women who are coping with loss and struggling to carry on in the aftermath of World War I.
(2) 11.45am: Inventing Cosy Noir. Edinburgh author and self-confessed ‘swot’ Sara Sheridan talks about her Mirabelle Bevan series, her novel about the abolition of the slave trade The Secret Mandarin, her book about plant hunter Robert Fortune The Secret of the Sands, and the pleasures and perils of writing cosy noir and historical fiction.
(3) 3.15pm: The Defender of Rome series. A former newspaperman who wrote his first novel on his commute to work, Douglas Jackson has been heralded as one of the best historical novelists writing today. His latest book Enemy of Rome is set in AD69 amid the turmoil of Rome’s civil war. Find out why the ancient world fascinates this author, and how he crafts his fast-paced, meticulously researched novels.
(4) 4.30pm: Circuses and Suffragettes. One of the Scottish Book Trust’s New Writers of 2014, Lucy Ribchester’s debut novel The Hourglass Factory is set in 1912 London, in a world populated by suffragettes and circus performers, journalists and cut-throats. Lucy will talk about her love affair with history, her ‘strange and waggly’ career path, and the myriad influences that helped to shape her novel.
All events take place in the Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall. Tickets for each of today’s events cost £6/£3 and may be purchased via the festival’s website here or by calling the Summerhall Box Office on 0131 560 1581.
Filmhouse Junior: films for a younger audience. This week: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (PG). When the ancient tablet that brings the Museum of Natural History’s exhibits to life at night begins to decay, nightwatchman Larry Daley must travel to London and the British Museum to heal it. 11am, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets cost £4 per person, big or small, and may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688.
Magical Story Cushions with Margaret Findlay. Bring along your favourite story book and create an amazing cushion based on your chosen character, hand-felted from sheep fibres, then decorate your cushion with a host of beautiful embellishments. For families. 11am-3.30pm, Lauriston Castle, 2a Cramond Road South. £6 per person: places must be booked in advance via the Usher Hall Box Office, Lothian Road, in person, by calling 0131 228 1155 or online here. Please note that at least one paying adult must accompany each child: children must not be booked into workshops alone.
Storytelling: Travels, Tribes and Treasures. Come and join a storytelling adventure exploring faraway shores! Inspired by portraits of famous Scots who were keen travellers, storyteller Anna Lehr will take you on a journey around the world. For ages 7+. 2pm, 2.45pm or 3.30pm (30 minute sessions), Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 1 Queen Street. Free and unticketed: supported by the Friends of NGS.
Scotland’s Gardens: Shepherd House – an artist’s garden. The house and its one acre garden form a walled triangle in the middle of the 18th century village of Inveresk. 11am-4pm, Shepherd House, Inveresk, Musselburgh. Entry £4 (children free) of which 40% goes to The Teapot Trust and the net remainder to Scotland’s Gardens beneficiaries. For more information please call 0131 665 2570.
Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair: 50+ stalls of fashions, homewares and collectibles from the 20s to the 80s. Judy’s resident Gramophone DJ Lord Holyrude will be mixing the best retro tunes and Miss Dixiebelle Ladies will be offering discount vintage makeovers. 11am-4pm, Assembly Rooms, 54 George Street. Entry £2, under 12s free.
Cameo Vintage Sundays: ‘classic films back on the big screen where they belong’. This week: Au Revoir Les Enfants (12A). In Nazi-occupied France, boarding school pupil Julien befriends a new boy; his childhood ends when Gestapo agents arrive to arrest Jewish children. This moving film won the Golden Lion at Venice in 1987. 1pm, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased online here or by calling the Box Office on 0871 902 5723.
Scotland’s Gardens: Gilmour Road Gardens. There will be seven gardens open in this quiet residential street on the south side of Edinburgh, ranging from the small to the large, the well established to the newly designed. Rhododendrons, magnolias, azaleas and spring bulbs. Tickets, maps, teas and a plant sale will all be available from Craigmillar Park Bowling Club. 2-5pm, (start at) Craigmillar Park Bowling Club, 34 Gilmour Road. £5 for entry to all seven gardens, of which 40% will go to Alzheimer’s Scotland and the net remainder to Scotland’s Gardens charities. For more information please contact Mrs Rae Renwick on 0131 622 0728.
LGBT : Me & T Monthly. A supportive space for people who have friends, family or partners who are transgender or exploring their gender, and an opportunity to meet other people who may have similar experiences, questions or concerns. 2-4pm, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. Group contact: me.and.t.scotland@gmail.com.
WHALE Craft Fair – Spring Special: handmade arts, crafts and gifts from local crafters. 1.30-4.30pm, WHALE Arts, 30 Westburn Grove. Free entry.
Martin Scorsese Presents Masterpieces of Polish Cinema: a season of films curated by Scorsese, all screened in pristine digital restorations. Today: The Saragossa Manuscript (Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie). (In Polish with subtitles). ‘One of the great 1960s ‘head trips’ – an adaptation of Count Jan Potocki’s legendary labyrinthine novel into a bewildering but exhilarating lattice of stories within stories within stories.’ 7.30pm, Filmhouse, Lothian Road. Tickets may be obtained online here or by calling the Box Office on 0131 228 2688. This screening will be introduced by Dr Malgorzata Bugaj (University of Edinburgh and University of Stirling); the film will be shown again at 2pm on Sunday 17th May 2015.
Rock & Roll Ping Pong with DJ Ding and DJ Dong: a free, monthly, Sunday night social. Fine beers, fine company, free-play, silly ping pong games, and music from every genre to play along to, plus an optional, strictly amateur, tournament (£1 entry, winner takes all). 7-11pm, The Bongo Club, 66 Cowgate. Free entry.
St Giles At Six: Edinburgh Academy Musicians. A programme including SS Wesley Blessed be the God and Father, Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium and Franz Beibl Ave Maria. 6pm, St Giles Cathedral, High Street. Free.
