Edinburgh International Book Festival News
1 July 2009
Book Festival Illustrator in Residence wins CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal
Congratulations to Catherine Rayner, Edinburgh-based illustrator and our very own 2009 Illustrator in Residence, who has won the 2009 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK’s most prestigious award for children’s book illustration.
Catherine, who is only 27, won the award for her second published book, Harris Finds His Feet. Previous distinguished winners include Shirley Hughes, Raymond Briggs and Quentin Blake.
Harris Finds His Feet was inspired by a real and magical encounter with a hare in the wild, and by the size 8 feet of its author: a childhood embarrassment Rayner strove to turn into a positive feature for Harris, and for her audience of young readers.
Of this year’s winning book, Joy Court, Chair of the CILIP Kate Greenaway judging panel comments: “Harris is a triumph, from the way he moves and his expressions to his velvety fur and his oversized feet. His relationship with his Grandad is beautifully evoked as are the times of day and the textures of the exquisite landscapes around him, in a book which oozes charm and glows with colour.”
As our Illustrator in Residence this year Catherine will be leading illustration workshops for both children and adults, as well an Outreach event for school children who can’t make it to Charlotte Square during August. To find out more about Catherine and her work, visit her website www.catherinerayner.co.uk.
25 June 2009
Get Morpurgoed! Win a day with Michael Morpurgo
We've just announced details of an exciting new competition for 7 – 14 year olds involving world renowned, award-winning author and former Children’s Laureate, Michael Morpurgo.
The winning entrant will spend the day at the Book Festival on Saturday 22 August. They will meet Michael Morpurgo backstage and have the honour of introducing him, on stage, to a capacity audience of over 500 people, and then enjoy the event from a seat in the front row. The winner will also have a ‘golden ticket’ to be first in the queue following the event to get their book signed by the author.
Morpurgo is the author of over 100 books for children of all ages, including Kensuke’s Kingdom, Private Peaceful, The Amazing Story of Adolphous Tips, and War Horse, which has been turned into a hugely successful stage production.
Children across the UK are invited to submit up to 200 words on why they love Michael Morpurgo’s stories. From this a shortlist of 20 will be drawn up and all shortlisted entrants will be invited to submit a 1 minute video explaining why they would love to come to the Book Festival. The winning entrant will be chosen by Michael Morpurgo and Sara Grady, our Children & Education Programme Director.
Sara Grady said “We are in the business of bringing readers and writers together. This summer, we are scouring the country for one enthusiastic, passionate child to celebrate a special day with Michael Morpurgo – Could it be you? If you have been inspired or excited by Michael’s wonderful stories, this is your chance to shout about it. We can’t wait to hear from children across the country and to welcome one lucky child to Edinburgh for a once in a lifetime experience, so get your entries in today!"
Entrants should submit their entry (up to 200 words) on why they love Morpurgo’s books to the Book Festival by midnight on Friday 10 July 2009. Entries will be judged on their creativity and originality. The shortlisted entrants will be notified by 15 July, and asked to submit a 1 minute video by midnight on 24 July 2009. The winner will be notified by telephone by 31 July 2009.
The competition is open to 7 – 14 year olds in the UK. The prize includes return train travel to Edinburgh from anywhere in mainland UK for one adult and one child, accommodation for one night in a four star hotel in Edinburgh, and two tickets for the Michael Morpurgo event at the Book Festival on Saturday 22 August at 1.30pm. In addition the winner will receive a free book and tote bag and have their photograph taken with the author.
Check out full details of the competition, entry forms and terms and conditions.
23 June 2009
Margaret Atwood & Very Hungry Caterpillar top selling Book Festival events
The Book Festival experienced a phenomenal demand for tickets when we opened sales yesterday. Among our first events to sell out were Margaret Atwood’s special event at St John’s Church, Princes Street, as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar in the RBS Children’s Programme. Over 50 events from 700 across the adult and children’s programmes sold out by 3.00pm yesterday including Vince Cable, Antony Beevor, Garrison Keillor, the Writing a Novel Workshop, Tom Kitchin, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the Drawing Manga workshop, Richard Dawkins and David Sedaris.
The quality of the programme this year and the special nature of the events – each event is a one-off and takes place in a relatively intimate venue – combined with comparatively low ticket prices has meant that the demand for tickets has been greater than in previous years with ticket sales at 3.00pm yesterday afternoon exceeding the first full day of sales in 2008.
300 customers were queuing outside our specially created Box Office at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre at 8.30am when bookings opened yesterday. Iain Hunter and Marc Capapanni from Edinburgh were first in the queue having waited outside the EICC from 4.20am in the morning! They were hoping for tickets for Richard Dawkins, Tom Devine, Jeremy Paxman and Neil Gaiman and were delighted to be able to purchase all their choices.
Richard Holloway, our 2009 Guest Director, said “Once again, we are delighted that the Book Festival programme has proved so popular. It is a great reflection on the breadth of our audience and the strength of our programme that events across every genre are selling out so quickly.”
“The Festival has invested a significant amount of time, staff and financial resource to develop a system to cope with the demand and we are delighted that we have been able to deal with so many customers satisfactorily today. All our systems are working well and we have been taking ticket sales over the telephone, the internet, by post and at the EICC consistently since 8.30am. We know that due to the extraordinary demand a large number of potential customers were finding it difficult to get through on the phone or via the internet, however they were patient and kept trying and ticket sales have reflected this. With over 700 events in the programme, there are still thousands of tickets available to see world class authors – both internationally renowned and relatively unknown.”
11 June 2009
Book Festival offers a feast of talent
We launched a packed 2009 programme today, conceived by Festival Director, Catherine Lockerbie and featuring 750 writers in over 700 events. Writers, poets, thinkers, politicians, photographers and artists will come from 45 different countries to debate, discuss, argue and inspire from 15 to 31 August in the wonderful setting of Charlotte Square Gardens in the historic heart of Edinburgh.
The UK’s first female – and Scottish – Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, will appear on the opening day of the Festival and will be joined by a host of literary talent from around the world. From the USA Garrison Keillor will bring the latest instalment of his immensely popular Lake Wobegon series, George Dawes Green will speak about his first novel for 13 years following the extraordinary success of The Juror – and he will also present his cult storytelling event, The Moth, for the first time in Europe. David Simon and Richard Price, writers of the hit TV series The Wire, will be speaking as will Valerie Martin, Nicholson Baker and poet Sharon Olds. Charlotte Square Gardens will also welcome the winner of the first Arabic Booker Prize, Bahaa Taher from Egypt; Ma Jian from China and Zoya Phan from Burma.
Another international element of the programme welcomes a dozen of Sweden’s best contemporary authors, including internationally renowned crime writer Henning Mankell. Some well known, some unknown, and some translated and presented in English for the first time will be in unique dialogue with their UK counterparts.
Margaret Atwood will launch her new novel with us, as will Mathias Malzieu from France and Andrey Kurkov from the Ukraine. From closer to home, Charlotte Square Gardens will also showcase brand new work from Richard Dawkins, William Boyd, Michelin-starred chef Tom Kitchin, stage legend Joss Ackland, A L Kennedy, Irvine Welsh, John Burnside, Michael Mansfield and David Peace among others.
Richard Holloway, Chair of the Scottish Arts Council and our 2009 Guest Director has created and will chair a special series of evening debates in the Spiegeltent, bringing together authors with thinkers and experts from across Edinburgh to debate subjects from the economic crisis, childhood, social equality, Islam to the true meaning of happiness.
Holloway said “Scots are an argumentative race, but it is not all contrariness.We have learned during our turbulent history that ideas are dangerous things that need to be tested again and again in debate if they are to enhance rather than enchain the human community. We are proud of the fact that, once again, the EIBF will provide an arena for proposing and challenging ideas on science, religion, politics, and just about anything else that matters to the health of society.”
In this, Scotland’s Year of Homecoming, we welcome over 200 Scottish authors, and a Celebrating Scotland strand will examine Scottish history, literature, culture, society, and exploration and of course, celebrate our National Bard – Robert Burns. In addition we explore Scotland’s most exciting creative talent, and introduce some of the finest unpublished fiction and poetry writers from across the creative writing schools of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews, supported by the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Festivals Expo Fund.
Mike Russell, Minister for Culture, said “The line up for this year’s Book Festival is truly impressive with Edinburgh yet again playing host to a plethora of literary talent from home and abroad. In this Year of Homecoming, when we aim to reconnect with millions of people with an affinity to Scotland, I am particularly pleased to see this programme embracing Homecoming by celebrating Scotland’s National Bard and examining our history, culture and society.
“I am delighted today to announce £55,000 Expo funding for the Book Festival’s Scotland’s Writing – an exciting and vibrant project which showcases the best of Scotland’s leading and new writers, and celebrates the Scottish diaspora including the strong literary links between Scotland and Canada. Through a series of high quality events, Scotland’s Writing will celebrate and actively promote Scottish literature and focus new attention on the tremendous wealth and talent of our creative writers.”
11 June 2009
RBS Children’s Programme: world of discovery awaits kids of all ages
Exploration, adventure and discovery are at the heart of our 2009 RBS Children’s Programme which was launched today. Interactive events and activities celebrating mankind’s greatest scientific achievements allow all age groups, from toddlers to teenagers, to blast off into outer space, tramp through the land of the dinosaurs, solve forensic mysteries or explore the far reaches of our planet from 15 – 31 August 2009.
Highlights this year include exclusive peeks at new books from Nick Butterworth, Jeremy Strong, Julia Donaldson, Steve Cole, Michelle Paver and Jenny Nimmo. Ian Rankin launches his latest venture with us – Dark Entries – his first graphic novel and will be joined by Sandman author, Neil Gaiman. Jacqueline Wilson returns as do Terry Deary, Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen and Darren Shan, while we welcome for the first time John Burningham, Oliver Jeffers, Patrick Ness, and Judith Kerr.
2009 sees our first ever Illustrator in Residence. Catherine Rayner, a Scottish illustrator, nominated twice for the Greenaway Award and winner of the Best New Illustrator, will be involved in a wide range of events throughout the programme, and she will also chair a series of illustration masterclasses. She also launches her new book, Ernest. She said “I am delighted to be appointed Illustrator in Residence at this year’s Book Festival. I see this post as a great opportunity to raise the profile of illustrators (and to emphasise the value of quality illustration) by celebrating the role of children’s books, and the visual arts, within literature.”
Sara Grady, Director of the RBS Children’s Programme said “Voyages and adventures of all sorts will take place in the heart of Edinburgh this summer. Children will trek across the globe, travel back in time and lose themselves in outstanding stories at this year’s Book Festival. Families can discover a vast array of exceptional international, UK and Scottish children’s authors and illustrators. Whether it’s football or forensics, poetry or graphic novels, we are committed to celebrating stories and ideas with children of all ages. We’ll soon be announcing a very special competition in our RBS Children’s Programme, so watch this space. Edinburgh is undoubtedly the place for families this August.”
9 June 2009
Pupils encouraged to swap stories in a bid to help the environment
ScottishPower has teamed up with Friends of the Earth Scotland and the Edinburgh International Book Festival to launch a fun end of term reading challenge for youngsters across Scotland.
The ScottishPower Story Swap Shop encourages children to recycle their old books by swapping them with their classmates and raising money for environmental projects at the same time.
1 May 2009
Book Festival Administrative Director announced
We’re delighted to welcome Andrew Coulton as our new Administrative Director, who will take up his new position in mid-May 2009.
No stranger to the Book Festival, Andrew first joined us in 2005 as Spiegeltent Venue Manager, and swiftly moved on to become Technical Manager the following year. Since then, he has increasingly been involved in all aspects of the year round operation including the current project to improve communication with authors, publicists, press and friends through our secure website.
For the last 9 years Andrew has been the owner of PROScenia, a production management business working across the arts and corporate events industries. He moved from Newcastle to study at Queen Margaret University College in 1999 and soon decided to make Edinburgh his home. On graduating with distinction from the BA Stage Management and Theatre Production programme he worked in the Traverse Theatre’s electrics department for a year before joining his business full time.
Since then, he has been responsible for a varied and challenging stream of projects including performances in moving cars, cathedrals and public toilets as well the conventional stage. He has worked regularly at home and abroad with the young people’s theatre companies TAG and Visible Fictions, including training and mentoring students in production skills. His success and versatility has earned him a reputation as one of Scotland’s leading freelance production managers.
But the Book Festival is where Andrew’s professional and personal heart lies, “I’m passionate about the Book Festival’s success both artistically and as a workplace – and I met my fiancée working here! I’m thrilled to be appointed Administrative Director and am looking forward to leading the Book Festival’s dedicated and skilled team in the years to come.”
