More articles Tuesday 16 September 2025 10:00am
Join the Citizen Collective
We are now recruiting for our next year of The Citizen Collective. If you're aged 15-18, live in or close to Edinburgh and are passionate about writing, read on for more details and to find out how to sign up.
What is The Citizen Collective?
The Citizen Collective began in Autumn 2020 and is an online writing group, made up of creatives between 15-18 years old from across Edinburgh.
Sessions are facilitated by Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Writer in Residence Ryan Van Winkle, an award-winning author, artist and producer, and supported by a member of Book Festival staff.
If you have a keen interest in creative writing, whether that’s spoken word, poetry, rap, fiction, non-fiction or journalism, then we would love to welcome you to be part of our new cohort of young people, with Citizen Collective sessions starting on Wednesday 22nd October.
What happens in the sessions?
The Collective is a nurturing and fun environment for participants to build their writing skills, find their voice, explore self-expression and learn about different creative writing tools and techniques. Members receive feedback on their work and build connections with a community of local young writers. The project is part of the Book Festival’s funded Communities Programme, so there is no cost to any of the participants involved.
The Citizen Collective sessions will include guest talks from authors and other creative industry professionals and the group will attend cultural trips to see shows, performances and readings in Edinburgh.
As per tradition, the Citizen Collective will also have the chance to present their work at a special live event during the Book Festival in August, one of the largest celebrations of the written word in the world.
How do I join?
The group takes place on Zoom, and will be meeting on Wednesdays, 4.30-6pm during the school term.
If you think this might be of interest, please fill in the form here, attach a piece of your creative writing and email this over to jodie@edbookfest.co.uk. You will not be ‘assessed’ on your writing, we just want to see an interest and willingness to write.
We are asking young people to express their interest to join the Citizen Collective by Wednesday 8th October at 5pm.
