Month: August 2015

2014 Portobello Book Festival programme coming soon!

Joanne 2014, Home ,

Hello, thanks for looking at the Portobello Book Festival site.  We’re delighted to let you know that the date for your diary is the first weekend of October – Friday 3rd, Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October and as usual, the festival hub will be the Portobello Library with events in venues large and small in Portobello.

The 2014 programme, the sixth book festival in our community, looks fantastic.  We’re excited that for the first time, in the spirit of the City of Edinburgh, we will also have a fringe when Portobello High School hosts it’s own mini festival alongside the main events.

Look back in a few days, when all will be revealed.  You’ll find the festival programme and all the information you need about how to get tickets and details of events.

2014 Portobello Book Festival

Joanne 2014, Home ,

Hello – thanks for visiting our site.  The Portobello Book Festival team are busy putting together the programme for this year’s festival which will run over the weekend of  3rd, 4th and 5th October 2014.   We will be updating this site as soon as we have our events confirmed, but it already  looks like another exciting festival in store – look back shortly to see who’s coming and get all the gen about how to get your tickets.

yours in books,

Portobello Book Festival

Tonight’s the night

Joanne 2013, Home ,

The Fifth Portobello Book Festival kicked off today with two fantastic schools events this morning.

  • The lovely Janis Mackay read her to really wonderful group of P3s and P4s at Towerbank.

                         

See her reading from her Scottish Book Trust Children’s Book award shortlisted novel ‘The Accidental Time Traveller’ here!
http://scottishbooktrust.com/node/111003%20@scottishbktrust

  • And some lovely enthusiastic 5th and 6th year students from Portobello High School had the children of St John’s Nursery, Portobello, roaring and dancing like Wild Things as they read to them.

  • James Spence also drew a great crowd and led them in some reminiscence of Edinburgh, Portobello and the world, 50 years ago today.

And tonight..

It’s Portobello Library’s 50th Birthday and Festival Opening Gala… can’t wait.  Henderson’s (who’ve been trading since 1963 in Edinburgh) are providing snacks, Molly Sugars Vintage Clothes are treating us to a cat walk parade of 60s fashions, writers from far and wide will be reading their 63 words on 1963, the Ladies Guerrilla Quartet will be providing some 60s music, James Spence, storyteller and poet has a set and we’ll be reading from some books published in 1963…  Hope our compere for the evening, David Francis, will be able to hold it all together!
And don’t forget to look at the programme of what other delights are in store for the rest of the weekend!  http://portobellobookfestival.blogspot.co.uk/p/2013-festival-programme.html

4th – 6th October 2013: Festival Theme – 1963: the start of the modern era

Joanne 2013, Home ,

This year Portobello library celebrates its Golden Jubilee so to mark this we’re making 1963: the start of the modern era the theme of the festival’s Opening Gala event. And we’d love you to be involved.

  • Do you have any special connection to that year?
  • Maybe that’s when you moved to Portobello?
  • Is it when you got married?
  • Or the year you were born?
  • If you’ve got any connection you’d like to share with us, do get in touch: leave a comment below or email us portobellobookfestival@gmail.com. 

Ready Steady Festival

Joanne 2012, Home , ,

Nearly there… The Portobello Book Festival 2012 starts tomorrow – here’s the full programme

The Portobello Book Festival starts this Friday, 5th October, and there’ll be a whole weekend of readings and chances to hear about and talk about books with people who love them as much as you do.

Our Gala Opening, “The Library at Night”, is shaping up to be a great mix of published and unpublished writers reading their own work, actors presenting material and talented musicians linking it all together. There are still a few tickets left (but not too many) so do come along. And better still, there’ll be a chance to hear about (and maybe support) the charity Book Aid International who’ll be coming to talk to us too.

And don’t forget there’s a chance to show your support for Libraries by coming to the “What are Libraries For?” event on Sunday (3.30 – 5.00). It’s chaired by MSP Kenny MacAskill, and will give you the chance to hear the views of an award winning novelist (Nicola Morgan), Edinburgh’s Schools librarian guru (Cleo Jones), knowledgeable local librarian (Heather Morrison) and a valued and informed library user (Stuart Fraser). There’ll be plenty time for your views and questions too. So come along (Portobello Library, 3.30pm, Sunday 7th Oct).

Sat 6th October: Writing Workshop

Joanne 2012, Home ,

As part of the 2012 Portobello Book Festival we are running a writer’s workshop, led by a local writer, Marianne Paget.

This interactive writing workshop aims to inspire your writing by –
bringing together local writers to share experience and to exchanging tips on what when, and where to write; encouraging you to flex your writing muscles with some fun, on-the-spot exercises; examining how to give and receive feedback on writing in order to improve it, and supporting you in identifying your writing goals for the future.
Workshop is Free

Maximum 16 places.
Sign up via Portobello Library

Writing competition: The Library at night

Joanne 2012, Home , , ,

The Library at Night – this is the theme of the opening event of the 2012
Portobello Book Festival. We are planning a rich programme of spoken word –
poetry and prose – with guest contributors from Portobello and beyond. There’ll
be music too! We’d like to hear your response (no more than 500 words please)
on what ‘the library at night’ conjures up for you, whatever age or background.
It could be fantasy, comedy, opinion or based loosely on your own experience.

Some of the responses will be chosen for ‘performance’ at the opening event –
by the author or somebody else. So, go on, have a go! You will be supporting the
Book Festival and it could be fun.

Closing date: 3rd September 2012
Hand in to : Heather at Portobello library or email to portobellobookfestival@gmail.com