Edinburgh International Book Festival
Fringe tip of the day
Tattoo photos
Football
Doors Open Day
The Edinburgh International Book Festival opens its doors at 9.30 this morning. As always there are too many events to go to and much to see and do, but the good thing is that entry to the garden is free! This means that you can just sit and watch the world go by even if you don’t manage to get tickets for any of the events.
This year if you miss it all then you may be able to catch up by watching the live-streaming of some events on the BBC. One of the events which will be live-streamed is the talk to be given by American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and the chat between crime writer Val McDermid and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Later today Kirsty Wark will chair a special Edinburgh International Book Festival event at the BBC venue at Potterrow in Edinburgh, which will also be live-streamed. Wark will be joined by leading Scottish authors Maggie O’Farrell, Jackie Kay and poet Rachel McCrum.
Here are some highlights for today
11.45am Marilynne Robinson with Lennie Goodings The multi-award winning essayist and writer is regarded as one of America’s greatest living writer and for her first appearance in Charlotte Square Gardens presents a talk entitled The Restless Reader.
1.30pm Antony Beevor The acclaimed historian turns his attention to the greatest battle of the second world war in Western Europe – the Ardennes offensive launched in December 1944.
2.00pm Cedric Villani Dubbed a ‘rock star’ mathematician, the French winner of the Field Medal (the maths equivalent of the Nobel Prize) has a gift for revealing the beauty and magic of mathematics at the highest level.
2.15pm Ali Smith – The PEN / H G Wells Lecture One of the most playful, joyfully experimental novelists working in the world today presents the second annual H G Wells Lecture.
5.00pm Jackie Kay, Maggie O’Farrell & Sarah Waters with Lennie Goodings The Female Gaze – three of Britain’s best loved contemporary writers discuss their favourite Virago Modern Classics author.
6.45pm S J Watson The Midlands-born author opens up a shadowy world of identity, lies and secrets with his follow-up psychological thriller Second Life.
8.15pm David Mitchell The Bone Clocks is Mitchell’s most accomplished novel to date and he joins us to discuss his work.
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Our tip of the day is to go and see a play!
Most men who went away to fight in World War I wrote letters home – but what if you had no family? Around 250 boys – for they were boys – left the Aberlour Orphanage for France and Belgium; 62 never returned.
Playwright James Urquhart has drawn upon the boys’ surviving letters to create Letters From Aberlour, a moving play about the importance of the orphanage in their lives and the strong family ties they felt to one another. The orphanage was founded in 1875, with the ethos that every child had the ability and right to grow up and flourish in society; the letters show how much the boys longed to return to Aberlour, the only home many of them had ever known. We have seen an excerpt from the play, and it is gripping.
Letters From Aberlour is performed by New Strides Theatre as part of the Just Festival at Central Hall (Venue 295a), Tollcross.
Tickets are available from the Fringe website here or on the door.
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If you have been to the Tattoo this year then you will already know that it is an outstanding show.
Even if you have been then you might be interested in this exhibition of photos on display at the Central Library until 29 August.
“The photos by Martin Scott Powell are dramatic, thought-provoking and stunningly beautiful. They capture the spirit of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo with its fantastic performers to its world-beating backdrop of Edinburgh Castle.”
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A mobile sports pitch is to make an appearance in Edinburgh communities experiencing antisocial behaviour, thanks to a grant fromKids In The Street.
The sum of over £9,000 will give young people the chance to take part in weekly football coaching sessions and the opportunity to play football with other young people in their area.
Susan Law, Kids In The Street, Administrator, said: “This grant will make a massive difference to us. It also means that we will be able to build on our junior world cup and double the numbers from last year and have more teams competing for the Kids In The Street World Cup 2015!”
Common Wheel, picks up a grant of £8,669 to engage with dementia sufferers in six care homes across Glasgow. Storytelling, music and dance will be used to connect with and bring joy to the lives of those affected by dementia.
Emma Razi, Common Wheel, Project Manager, said: “We have worked hard to build a network of people in Glasgow with dementia and a love of the arts, in particular music. Now, thanks to this grant, we have the opportunity to share something really special with them. Our ‘Festival of Joy’ will bring storytelling, dance, music, singing and visual arts into care homes across the city. Without projects like this, people living in residential care can miss out on access to this kind of activity. We’re really looking forward to getting started.”
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Doors Open Day in Edinburgh takes place on 26 September 2015 and you would be well advised to get yourselves organised now! This year we definitely want to go through the Lothian Buses ‘bus wash’ at Annandale Street Bus Depot. What would you like to see?
There are details of the Lothian Buses Doors Open Day here and you will see that through their support for the charity Fresh Start they would like you to bring along some items to help. They will use these to make up starter packs for homeless people moving into a house.
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
