Eleanor Thom, our fantastic Citizen Community Writer in Residence, reflects on a year working in and with Edinburgh communities. Leading our creative programme of conversations, writing and more, she’s seen and heard stories from the people of the city about their lives and experiences, hopes, fears and more. As we prepare to embark on the next year of Citizen, get a glimpse of just some of what Eleanor and the participants have achieved.
The Citizens of the Future
The Book Festival’s first Citizen Schools Writer in Residence, the poet and novelist Claire Askew, summarises her inspiring experience working with three Edinburgh high schools to explore ideas of belonging and identity. The Citizen Schools programme was wide-reaching in its first year: I was invited to engage with three very different groups of young people from three different schools in …
‘A Place Where Reading and Writing Became Not Just Pastimes but Lifelines’
Our Project Manager Jess Orr shares her experiences taking Book Festival authors and events into some of Scotland’s prisons this August, with sessions for male and female prisoners as well as special events enabling parents and their children to enjoy events together.