Saturday 5th October – 2pm – Portobello Baptist Church Hall

Melissa Terras, Professor of Digital Cultural Heritage at The University of Edinburgh, discusses her book Picture-Book Professors with Edward Ross, graphic novelist and creator of Filmish. This in-conversation event  explores issues around representation of academics and scientists in children’s books and culture at large, and how they affect our attitudes towards expertise, science and knowledge.

You can download a free ebook of Picture-Book Professors at the CUP webpage: cambridge.org/core/services/…

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Saturday 5th October – 2pm – Library Upstairs

Photographer Alastair Jackson and poet Kenneth Steven have collaborated on their recently published book, The Spirit of the Hebrides. Their words and images have been inspired by renowned Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean, who was a native of Skye and Raasay. Alastair shares his thoughts on how MacLean’s poetry has influenced the ideas for the book.

Chair: Peter Ross

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Saturday 5th October – 2pm – Portobello Baptist Church Cafe

Writers around the world are censored, imprisoned, even murdered for speaking out. Scottish PEN brings together leading writers to read work that people have tried to silence, standing in solidarity with at-risk writers across the globe.

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Saturday 5th October – 11.30am – Library downstairs

BOOKBUG returns to the Book Festival for fun, songs and rhymes. No tickets are needed for this event, just turn up with your wee ones.

Saturday 5th October – 12.30pm – Library Upstairs

Alan Hepburn is a local teacher and Education Director of SCOTLAND: The Big Picture. Their latest publication is Scotland: A Rewilding Journey. He is a passionate advocate of reconnecting young people with nature and will talk about inspiring and informing the next generation of rewilders.

Children are most welcome at this event.

Chair: Rona Gray

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Saturday 5th October – 10am – Library Upstairs

Who would have guessed a humble cabbage was used to treat scurvy or that the taxonomic name for the thistle – Scotland’s iconic emblem – means something like ‘donkey’s fart’? Greg Kenicer, botanist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and author of the beautifully presented Scottish Plant Lore: An Illustrated Guide reveals much more about our ancient and modern Scottish flora.

Chair: George Anderson

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

As we pride ourselves on being a very local festival, tickets are only available to pick up in person from Portobello library in Rosefield Avenue. Tickets for each event, which are free, are limited to four per person per event. This is to try to ensure that as many people as possible get the chance to attend the events they would like to.

However, tickets for quite a few of our events this year are already completely gone. It’s always worth checking the library for returns. If you have a ticket and can’t go anymore please return them to the library so others can get the opportunity to attend.

Remember that there are always a few tickets available just before each event. Although we cannot guarantee admission, it is always worth turning up on the day. So far, we’ve never turned anyone away!