With so much talk about COP26 happening in the news and in schools, many pupils in Edinburgh secondary schools are becoming interested in campaigning and activism about issues that are important to them. But what makes a responsible activist? Catrina Randall from Young Friends of the Earth Scotland is here to help! Secondary school pupils across the city were given the opportunity by their school librarian to submit questions to Catrina via an online form. A small group of school librarians then had the challenge of selecting the best questions to put forward to Catrina. This interview is a culmination of their amazing questions and Catriona’s thought-provoking answers:
Next steps? Pupils from eight Edinburgh secondary schools will put Catrina’s advice into practice and create their own protest banners on the issues that matter to them. The final banners will be revealed during COP26 – so watch this space! #CultureCop26
Douglas from the Music Library continues his personal history of film music. In the last of his series of posts he will conclude his “history” of how the film soundtrack became what it is today.
The Golden Age of Cinema, (1929 – 1945), was a musical education, which freed the format to grow and become soundtracks made up of Rock and Roll Music, Jazz, Country and Western and of course, no music.
One of the first truly jazz soundtracks was made for the 1958 Louis Malle film, ‘Elevator to the Gallows’. A trio of musicians led by Miles Davies improvised the score directly to the film, creating a number of firsts, not least, the first soundtrack by an African American, paving the way for those to follow, like Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock.
In the 1967 film ‘The Graduate’, Mike Nicols took the ground-breaking decision to use previously released songs as the soundtrack to his low budget comedy-drama. If asked I would have said that the soundtrack was by Simon and Garfunkel but they should share that credit with Dave Grusin.
There are some famous examples of films with no music score, where perhaps silence or non-musical sounds are used to highlight the tensions. Alfred Hitchcock, who I would always associate with the composer Bernard Herman, chose in his ‘experimental’ film ‘Rope’ to have no score. In the film ‘The Birds’, another Hitchcock classic, Herman is a sound consultant with sound designers Sala and Remi Gassmann. The only pieces of music in the film are when one of the characters is playing some Debussy on the piano and children sing a folk tune in the playground.
Fritz Lang was seemingly no great fan of the soundtrack and in the 1931 classic ‘M’ he dispenses with one altogether using silence to create his suspense.
A film I watched for the first time recently and didn’t realise until I was researching this article didn’t have a score, is Sidney Lumet’s 1975 ‘Dog Day Afternoon’.
Allow me to digress once more, there is a little gem of a film by Sidney Lumet called ‘The Offence’ which was a vehicle for Sean Connery made in 1973. This film and one other were used to sweeten the deal when Connery reluctantly agreed to play James Bond one more time. A fantastic tight, tawdry little drama adapted from a stage play of the same name, with a great central performance from the recently departed Sean Connery. Another interesting thing about this film is its soundtrack by the British composer Harrison Birtwhistle.
The growth of the soundtrack continued in all directions, using many different genres of musical styles and techniques of music production, some in keeping with the time and place the movie was set in, some a complete juxtaposition.
In the seventies, the soundtrack made a return to the through composed roots it had started with in the thirties. The now 89 year old John Williams produced soundtracks for the great movie franchises Jaws, Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc etc etc. In his sixth decade as one of the pre-eminent film composers he has perhaps done more than most to establish the soundtrack as an artform.
When I started writing this article/history I sat and wrote a list of film composers whom I liked, with films I have enjoyed or even just enjoyed the music and have now forgotten the film. This is what remains of my list after I have removed all the composers I have already mentioned –
Hans Zimmer, Bernard Herman, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, Alexander Desplat, James Horner, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Miklos Rozsa, Nino Rota, Phillip Glass, James Newton Howard, Clint Mansell, Lakota Schifrin, Jerry Goldsmith, Thomas Newman, Danny Elfman, Jocelyn Pook, Rachel Portman and Delia Derbyshire.
I should point out that this list is in no order and if you chose any of these names you are guaranteed a fantastic soundtrack. To point out a few names there are only three women on the list, not completely surprising in the white male world of film. Delia Darbyshire not a great name in movie soundtracks but should always be remembered for the wonderful Dr Who theme music and the incredible work she did in the BBC’s radiophonic workshop, and Jocelyn Pook who composed a wonderful soundtrack for the film Brick Lane, which falls into the ‘better book than film’ category and also ‘better soundtrack than film’ category.
Available to stream or download from Naxos
It would be wrong to single anyone out for praise, but I will. Of all the greats listed in the article we have read over the last few weeks, I have one whom I come back to, over and again. Elmer Berstein studied composition with Aaron Copland and Stefan Wolpe, produced numerous concert works and appeared as a pianist and soloist. In a 50 plus year career in film composition, he has scored some of the great films of the fifties to the noughties. The greatest of all of those is perhaps the score for one of the best films ever made. That’s a bold statement, but I think ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a great film, a wonderful adaption of a great book with a wonderful score, which I return to often and is available at Naxos.
Now, one last digression which has nothing to do with anything except the Elmer Bernstein score for the movie, The Great Escape, another fine score.
In the mid eighties, I worked in a small theatre called Theatre Workshop which was in Hamilton Place in Stockbridge. I was the Box Office Manager and in my Box Office was the tannoy system which meant I had control of the music that was played in the foyer. Whenever we had a member of staff leaving or a visiting company, that we liked, moving on or an intern coming to the end of their stay, we would often have a little get together at the Box office for speeches and thank yous.
Sometimes, in the long hours and very late nights of working in small scale theatre we would dream of ‘The Great Escape’. So, at these, leaving get togethers, and to entertain myself, for usually no one else got the reference, I would play the theme from ‘The Great Escape’ on a loop. Forgive my woeful sense of humour but that made me smile.
On our Naxos music streaming service, search for any of the composers listed in this article and a complete film score or a selection of their work will be listed.
You can also watch concerts such as ‘Morricone conducts Morricone’, ‘Fantasymphony: One concert to rule them all’, music from fantasy in cinema and ‘Galaxymphony: music from sci-fi cinema’ on Medici.tv, our free streaming service for classical music, opera and dance videos.
If you want to discover more film music, Saturday early evening on both BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM is the time to catch up with music from the world of film and game soundtracks.
Douglas from the Music Library continues his personal history of film music. In the third of a series of posts he will take us through the ‘history’ of how the film soundtrack became what it is today.
Britain’s film industry or the music side, seems at the casual glance to be a microcosm of the Hollywood model. After the early silent movies, films of the 30s and on, employed the very great talents of the great and the good of the British classical composers. The earliest of these, possibly great works, is a now lost score/soundtrack for a film called ‘The Bells’. The score was written by Gustav Holst in 1931 three years before the composer’s death but still very much at the height of his powers.
Available to stream or download via Naxos
The first great British film soundtrack available to us, is for ‘Things to Come‘, Alexander Korda’s first sci-fi film from the book by H.G. Wells, ‘The Shape of Things to Come’, with a score by Arthur Bliss. Korda had bought the rights to the Wells novel but Wells was allowed to retain a great amount of artistic control over the making of the film. One of those controls was the employment of Bliss as composer of the soundtrack. Wells also asked Bliss to write the score first, to allow the film to be based on it rather than the other way round. This novel approach appealed to all Bliss’ modernist ways and he duly produced the score before the film was started, however Bliss refused to edit any of his work to suit the film, this cutting and fitting was left to composer Lionel Salter.
As the British Film Industry grew from successful release to even more successful release, the industry called upon the great and the good of the musical world to provide the go-to scores for the go-to movies. Vaughan Williams, William Walton, Malcolm Arnold and Benjamin Britten all made significant contributions to film and documentary making from the forties onward. Arnold provided scores to very many films of the fifties and sixties including ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’, ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ and ‘Hobson’s Choice’. Vaughan Williams provided the score for ‘Scott of the Antarctic’, which became the basis for his Seventh Symphony, also known as Sinfonia Antartica. One of the most important and often mentioned works of that period is the Famous ‘Night Mail’, a documentary film from 1936 from the General Post Office Film Unit with a screenplay/ poem W.H. Auden and a score by Benjamin Britten.
In a precursor to the film/music relationship between Patrick Doyle and Kenneth Brannagh which we will come to, the cinema of the forties, fifties and sixties saw the pairing of director/actor Sir Lawrence Olivier and Sir William Walton in the films Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III. Walton also produced the scores for ‘The Battle of Britain’ and many other noteworthy British films of that time.
As with the film industry throughout the world, the scales which had been weighed on the side of composers from the concert hall who dabbled in film, the weight changed and swung in the direction of composers whose specialism was film.
In that camp, were composers like John Barry, Ron Goodwin, Laurie Johnson, Stanley Myers, Richard Addinsell, Robert Farnon.
Available to stream or download via Naxos
John Barry is well known for his work on the James Bond franchise amongst others. Ron Goodwin provided the soundtrack for the ‘663 Squadron’, ‘Where Eagles Dare’ and over 70 other movies. Laurie Johnson scored over 30 films but is maybe best known for his TV output which includes ‘The Professionals’, ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Animal Magic’ which was reused as the theme for the wonderful ‘W1A’. Stanley Myers another who worked in both film and TV, including ‘Prick up your Ears’, ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘The Deer Hunter’. Amongst Richard Addinsel’s many highlights include the score for the best film version of ‘Scrooge’, the 1951 Alistair Sim outing, ‘Blythe Spirit’ in 1945 and his Warsaw Concerto for the 1941 film, ‘Dangerous Moonlight’. Canadian born Richard Farnon lived in Britain for most of his life and produced much light orchestral and film/TV music.
Available to stream or download via Naxos
As mentioned earlier, Scottish born Patrick Doyle and Knight of the Theatre, Kenneth Branagh have collaborated on many films. Like their illustrious predecessors Olivier and Walton, they have also made versions of ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Henry V’ as well as ‘As You Like It’, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and non-Shakespeare outings like ‘Sleuth’, ‘Thor’ and ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.
Perhaps more importantly, Patrick Doyle was my piano teacher when I was at Hillhead High School, Glasgow in the mid 1970s.
Join Douglas next week for the fourth and final part of his film music ‘history’.
Douglas from the Music Library continues his personal history of film music. In the second of a series of posts, he will take us through the “history” of how the film soundtrack became what it is today.
We stopped last week at 1927 which was an interesting date to land on as this was the date of the first full length Hollywood film with synchronised sound. The films mentioned to this point had soundtracks performed live or if recorded, this recording was not linked or synchronised to the film.
The Jazz Singer is acknowledged to be the first film to have synchronised speech and music and led to a period of consolidation of techniques in the film industry, the next milestone of interest in the history of music for film, brings us to the dawn of what is known as the golden age of Hollywood, a period from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s.
In 1933, a European emigre, one of many to work in Hollywood in that time, Max Steiner wrote the first complete, through composed, score for the film “King Kong”.
By the phrase “through composed” Steiner uses techniques used by the great composers of the 19th century who wrote for the stage, and the concert house like Berlioz, Wagner, and Puccini to name only three. These three and many others used the idea of introducing characters or ideas with tunes, the “leitmotif” or “idee fix” – a theme for the star-crossed lovers or a theme for developing menace. When Scarpia, the baddie, in Puccini’s Opera, Tosca, appears, musically you know that the villain is on stage likewise, and I always link these two excerpts, when Darth Vader appears for the first time in Star Wars, A New Hope, you know you are in the presence of evil. So the familiarity of the theme helps us to recognise the character and/or underpin what that character is going through.
Allow me another digression, or perhaps this is an illustration not a digression.
A long time ago, I went to see “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg”, five hours of glorious Wagner opera. If I was trying to be a smarty pants, I would say that if you wanted to listen to this opera just listen to the overture, all the tunes you are going to hear for the next five hours, rolled into ten minutes, but that is my point, the artistry is expanding those themes, inverting them, reversing them, changing the key or the time signature or changing major to minor, the sheer invention is astounding. Without the aid of subtitles or surtitles all of the goings on in the lives of Hans Sachs, Sixtus, Eva, Walther and the rest are played out before you and explained musically. Before you have looked at your watch, five hours has disappeared.
You could say that the skill of the film composer demonstrated first in the golden age of the 30s, 40s and 50s, was the skill of the accompanists of the silent era just before that, which was the skill of the nineteenth century composers whose works they all would have studied. The art of sometimes taking very little and making it say or do or last, more then it might have been intended to.
As already said, Max Steiner was the one of the first of many Europeans who ended in Hollywood at that time and here are a number who were fortunate to be able to flee Nazi Germany at a time when their religion made it an extremely uncomfortable place to be.
Names like: Franz Waxmann – Taras Bulba, The Spirit of St Loius, Bride of Frankenstein, Rebecca.
Erich Korngold, by Georg Fayer, via Wikimedia Commons
Erich Korngold – A Midsummers Night Dream, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essax, The Sea Hawk.
Kurt Weill from Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-2005-0119 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons
Kurt Weill – The Threepenny Opera, You and Me, Where do we go from here, One Touch of Venus.
Max Steiner – King Kong, Little Women, A Star is Born, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, Young Man with a Horn.
Dimitri Tiomkin from International Photographer, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Dimitri Tiomkin – Lost Horizon, High Noon, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Guns of Navarone.
Ernst Toch, Anonymous/Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ernst Toch – Catherine The Great, The Cat and The Canary, The Unseen.
Hans Eisler – Hangmen Also Die!, None but the Lonely Heart.
Nearly all of the names on this short list were Austrian/German Jews encouraged by friends and family to leave their country while they were still able. Some of the above list and many of their colleagues whom I have not mentioned made the switch from composing for the concert hall to composing for the screen and back again comfortably, the most well-known is perhaps Erich Korngold many of whose non-cinematic works have been regularly performed and recorded.
Some had suffered directly at the hands of Nazi aggression, some simply saw what was to come and decided to move on, winding their way across Europe via Paris and London, then to America. Few returned.
One who was forced to return was, Hans Eisler. Hans Eisler wrote music for some minor Hollywood films and is best known for writing the East German National Anthem. In his homelands and throughout the world he was perhaps best known for his long association with the playwright Bertolt Brecht. One of the first artists placed on a Hollywood blacklist and interrogated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He was later deported from the USA in 1948. All the support he had received from the likes of Charles Chaplin and Leonard Bernstein had failed to secure his place in America. On leaving from LaGuardia Airport, he made this statement, “I leave his country not without bitterness and infuriation. I could well understand it when in 1933 the Hitler Bandits put a price on my head and drove me out. They were the evil of that period; I was proud at being driven out. But I feel heartbroken over being driven out of this beautiful country in this ridiculous way.”
Another composer with long association with Bertolt Brecht was Kurt Weill. Weill fled Nazi Germany in 1933 moving first to Paris then to New York and to Hollywood. His brief stint in Hollywood and America was marked by more theatre collaborations with Brecht and some film scores. Weill died in 1950 shortly after his 50th birthday.
All of the above list made significant contributions to the great movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s. The most significant contribution was perhaps the accidental composition lesson that those Hollywood emigres gave the world during this golden age. The films of this age were seen by the widest numbers imaginable and it is in no doubt that lots of these very fine films have been studied and dissected by film and music students too. It was through this schooling, that having learnt the lessons, Hollywood could then throw away the lesson plan and rewrite how to score a film.
The most significant contribution all these composers made was their input to a continuing musical education and growth. Only in knowing and understanding, and demonstrating their ability in what has gone before, can you then dispense with all that you have learned, then can you reinvent and renew.
The last few months of closed cinemas have been a melancholy sight in Edinburgh. Our latest story on Our Town Stories offers the chance to reminisce about going to the pictures, with a hope that we’ll be able to return to them again soon.
From the first purpose-built cinema built in 1912 to the new Everyman Cinema which will be part of the new St James Quarter development, Edinburgh has a long history of going to the cinema.
We have also produced some very famous faces of the silver screen. We all know about Sean Connery, but we highlight some other familiar faces born in Edinburgh too.
Cameo Cinema
Our newest story on Our Town Stories takes you on a virtual tour of Edinburgh’s cinemas past and present, taking in some famous Edinburgh film locations along the way.
Well even if you are not heading to sunnier climes this summer, Spain can still come to you! Craigmillar Library is hosting a Spanish Week Festival from 16th-23rd June, filled with amazing events.
During this celebration of Spanish culture you’ll have the opportunity to meet one of Spain’s best female film and documentary directors, Iciar Bollain as well as exhibitions, dancing, book sessions, workshops, live music and more.
Pop in any time to see the exhibition “The Diversity of Spain’s Landscapes and Cultural Heritage“, an art exhibition by Marta Giron Adan and a crafts display. Or come along to the following events:
Saturday 16th June
10:30-12:00 Film Zipi Zape (English subtitles, 8+ years). Booking required
12:15-13:45 Animation Workshop by illustrator Pilar Garcia (8+ years)
15:00-16:00 Lingotot Nursery – songs, games & storytelling (0-5 years)
Monday 18th June 17:30-19:00 CinemaAttic. KIMUAK Basque Country short fils, from animation to comedy
Tuesday 19th June 15:00-16:00 Spanish footballers, writers, singers etc… event for teens 17:45-19:30 Talk by Iciar Bollain, one of Spain’s best directors plus a showing of her film “The Olive Tree” (English subtitles +12 years). Booking required
Wednesday 20th June 15:30-16:30 Children Crafts 17:30-19:00 Books showcase by Manu Rodriguez, and Introduction of Therapeutic Writing (Spanish/English)
Thursday 21st June 10:30-11:30 Spanish Bookbug and Crafts
13:00-14:00 Flamenco session by Cheekyrrikis Flamenco Power
Friday 22nd June
10:30-11:30 Spanish Bookbug
15:30-16:15 Alba Flamenca School dancers
Saturday 23rd June
13:30-16:30 Live Music Day
All events are free and no need to book, except for Zippi Zappe film and Iciar Bollain’s talk and Film – book online at http://www.facebook.com/CraigmillarLibrary or phone Craigmillar Library on 0131 529 5597. Anyone under the age of 8 will need supervision by a guardian aged 12 or over.
Monday’s launch of the Harpies, Fechters and Quines festival saw the annual 2 week programme of events off to a flying start!
Edinburgh Libraries is working in association with the Bonnie Fechters, a local women’s group, and with Scotland’s War, the Glasgow Women’s Library, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Workers’ Educational Association to deliver a range of activities. These include talks, workshops, an exhibition, a film and a concert. As a result, there are lots of opportunities to come along and join in.
Tapestry kindly loaned for display by the Workers’ Educational Association stitchers (Mezzanine, Central Library)
Whether you want to sing along at the Lena Ashwell concert, produce some creative writing, experience early film or simply look at the commemorative tapestries you are warmly welcome. You’ll find details of all the forthcoming events at www.edinburghreads.eventbrite.co.uk.
Films are better when enjoyed together, on a big screen with popcorn to munch on.
Every fortnight we will be showing a movie on our cinema size screen. Tickets are FREE and so is the popcorn!
We will be showing a range of films from recent blockbusters to all time classics. But we don’t just want to show films we think you want to watch, we want to show films you definitely want to watch. So, let us know, get in touch via email or Facebook with your screening suggestions.
Doors open at 12pm films will start at 12:15pm.
Working with a local community or support group? we are happy to arrange group bookings or private screenings.
For info on planned screenings or to book tickets contact us at the library via email: muirhouse.library@edinburgh.gov.uk Tel: 0131 529 5628 or online via Eventbrite
Edinburgh City Libraries has an exciting programme on offer for Dyslexia Awareness Week, 6-11 November 2017.
Central Library will have a one-off showing of the Film ‘Read Me Differently:understanding learning disabilities in family life ’ by Sarah Entine on 8 November.
Stockbridge Library will host an event on 9 November Can’t read won’t read…does this sound familiar? Where experts will be on hand to give advice on choosing dyslexia friendly books for kids and teens. Also on 9 November come along and join us for a special event for Dyslexia Awareness Week, Positive about dyslexia. The MC is Paul McNeill, Dyslexia Scotland Ambassador and Regional Head for the Scottish Football Association who will introduce author Margaret Rooke talking about her new book ‘Dyslexia is My Superpower (Most of the Time)’ and musician and songwriter Adam Strachan. Dyslexia Scotland will also be launching the new ‘Dyslexia Unwrapped’ website for young people with dyslexia at the event.
There will also be events for schools taking place during the week.
We’ve very pleased to announce the programme for this year’s Harpies, Fechters and Quines Festival, organised in partnership with the Glasgow Women’s Library and the Edinburgh Womens’ Group Bonnie Fechters.
This year the focus is on women and film – Reel Women – and includes many free film screenings. Come along and meet like-minded folk, learn something new or just sit back and enjoy.
Edinburgh and the Lothians has a rich and diverse cultural history. The Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council’s (ELREC) project, Routes to Roots: Adopting Scotland as a Homeland, is working to explore and showcase this shared heritage. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund the project is working with people from the Polish, Chinese, African, Spanish and South Asian communities.
The project’s aim is to highlight how these communities have enriched Scottish heritage by conducting video interviews with active members from ethnic minority backgrounds. The videos are being distributed online and the stories compiled into a book which will be exhibited in mid-2018 during the final stages of the project. Routes to Roots is also producing a weekly podcast on various heritage topics and conducting site visits to local religious centres, galleries and sites of importance in the local area.
Edinburgh Libraries is delighted to be supporting the project by hosting the material on our Capital Collections website. The exhibition will consist of the interviews that ELREC conduct and the podcast videos and photographs that they collect along the way. ELREC have started with the story of Wojtek, known to many as the ‘soldier bear’, who was brought to Scotland by Polish soldiers at the end of World War Two. His fascinating story is told over three short podcast episodes by Aileen Orr, author of Wojtek the Bear: Polish War Hero. ELREC will soon be adding podcast episodes about the Sikh community in Edinburgh and Chinese New Year celebrations in the city and much, much more.
Find out more by visiting the ELREC website: www.elrec.org.uk/project/routes-to-roots and follow the Roots to Routes project progress on Facebook: @ELRECroutestoroots and Twitter: @ELREC_Routes
The season runs until 22 May. These free screenings will encompass different genres, decades and styles for all audiences. Black and white.
On Monday 27th March we are showing O(15) which takes William Shakespeare’s Othello onto the basketball courts of a high school. Film runs from 6 – 7.40 pm. Doors open at 5.15pm.
Black Star Film Season is a celebration of the range and versatility of black actors on film taking place at Craigmillar Library.
The season runs until 22 May and opens with two special launch events funded by BFI Blackstar. These curated free screenings will encompass different genres, decades and styles for all audiences. Black and white.
On Monday 27 February there’s the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing (18). There will be music and food from 5.30pm and the film’s running time is 6 – 8.10pm. Doors open at 5.15pm.
On Monday 10 April you can watch the British Sci-fi film Attack The Block (15). Film runs from 6 – 7.30pm. Doors open at 5.15pm.
For the younger ones, come along on Monday 24 April and watch the animated Disney film The Princess & The Frog (U). Film runs from 3 – 4.40pm. Doors open at 2.30pm.
There’s a throwback to the 70s on Monday 8 May when Car Wash (PG) will be showing. Film runs from 6 – 7.40pm. Doors open at 5.30pm.
And finally ending with The Greatest on Monday 22 May Ali {15) starring Will Smith. Film runs from 5 – 7.45pm. Doors open at 4.30pm.
This year’s Harpies, Fechters and Quines 2-week events programme celebrates women’s cultural contribution to life in Edinburgh.
There is a wide range of events and exhibitions starting with the launch on 13June and closing with the amazing poetry slam competition on 23June at Out of the Blue in Leith. Whether you are interested in women’s issues, literature, arts or simply learning about new things then you are warmly welcome to come along and meet other women with similar interests. We are sure you will be both entertained and informed.
This Festival for women by women is the result of a partnership between the Bonnie Fechters, an Edinburgh Women’s Group, the Glasgow Women’s Library and Edinburgh Libraries.
This year’s festival a celebration of words inspiring children to enjoy reading, writing and other creative activities takes place in Craigmillar, Portobello and Piershill Libraries in the east of the City.
There are lots of activities for local primary schools but also events open to the public.
Library staff are teaming up with Into Film, Puppet Animation Scotland, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature and the Scottish Poetry Library to deliver an exciting programme of creative writing and illustration workshops, animation screenings and lots more.
This is Tim Bell. For the last ten years Tim has conducted Trainspotting tours of Leith, sharing insights on the book and the film with visitors from around the world.
Tim probably knows more about Trainspotting than anyone (with the possible exception of Irvine Welsh!) and yesterday he came along to Central Library to talk about the film adaptation of the book, which premiered 20 years ago this month.
Tim began by putting Trainspotting in a social and historical context, explaining the circumstances that led to the Sunday Telegraph describing Edinburgh in 1986 as “the AIDS capital of Europe”.
Then Tim moved on to the book itself and the ‘cultural fireball’ that it became.
Perhaps a film of the book was inevitable, although as Tim explained filmmakers Danny Boyle, John Hodge and Andrew MacDonald had previously forsworn adaptations, wanting instead to create original cinema.
We really enjoyed hearing Tim’s thoughts on the film’s plot, characters and particularly its music. Tim also took time to remind us on the impact the film had: how Trainspotting became a brand, and what that brand represented.
It was interesting to read contemporary reviews of the film as well: from Will Self’s description of it as ‘an extended pop video’ to Shelia Johnston’s feeling that ‘for all its brilliance, the film finally feels sour and hollow’.
Tim believes that Trainspotting ‘educates as effortlessly as it entertains’ – we could say the same about him.
Tim is in the late stages of writing his own book, provisionally titled Love Life, Love Leith: a Trainspotter’s Guide. To find out more visit www.leithwalks.co.uk
Written by Naoki Higishida when he was only 13, this incredible book explains the often baffling behaviour of autistic children and shows the way they think and feel – such as about the people around them, time and beauty, noise, and themselves. Naoki abundantly proves that autistic people do possess imagination, humour and empathy, but also makes clear, with great poignancy, how badly they need our compassion, patience and understanding.
This claymation-animated movie starring the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman charts the correspondence between an eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, with her alcoholic mother and inattentive father, and an obese 40-something Jewish New Yorker prone to panic attacks. The only thing the two have in common is their friendlessness and profound sense of alienation. Based on real events spanning continents and decades, this is a highly original, very funny and deeply moving piece of work.
Determined that her autistic son, Dale, should live a fulfilling life, Nuala Gardner describes her despair after being repeatedly let down by the authorities. But their lives were transformed when they welcomed a golden retriever into the family and found that the bond between Dale and his dog helped him to produce the breakthrough they sought. There’s a sequel: All because of Henry
This book draws parallels between children with Asperger syndrome and the behaviour of cats, illustrating shared characteristics and evoking the difficulties and joys of raising a child who is different.
Those lovely folks at the Cameo cinema are offering 2 for 1 entry to showings of Liberal Arts to Edinburgh library card holders.
The offer is valid from next week’s Monday to Thursday screenings and you’ll need to buy your tickets in person at the cinema – so if for some reason you haven’t got a library card there’s plenty time to remedy the situation before next week…
A packed programme of events in libraries next month includes poetry, propaganda, crime and cathedrals – get booking now!
Propaganda in the films of the Third Reich
During World War II, while the British were watching films like Casablanca and Went The Day Well, what sort of feature films were the German public viewing?
To coincide with the recent launch of his book, The Third Reich’s Celluloid War, author Ian Garden is coming Oxgangs Library to give an illustrated talk about the most interesting anti-British films produced by the Nazis – including anti-English films about Mary, Queen of Scots and Irish freedom-fighters such as My Life for Ireland and The Fox of Glenarvon
Ian will also discuss the Nazis own version of Titanic – a film which had even more tragedy associated with it than the sinking of the real Titanic, and Uncle Krüger, a film about the Boer War which is generally regarded as the most anti-British film ever produced – and excerpts of which will be screened with English subtitles!
We hope you can attend what should be a thoroughly fascinating evening during which the author will debunk a number of myths about the nature of Nazi film propaganda…
As the author of novels including Cradle to Grave, Lamb to the Slaughter and Dead in the Water, Aline is one of the stalwarts of Scottish crime writing – it’d be a crime to miss out! Book your place at reader.development@edinburgh.gov.uk or 0131 242 8100.
Here be Vikings! Armed only with her wit… oh, and a replica Viking sword…, Victoria will discuss her debut novel, Viking Gold, a rip-roaring yarn about a young Viking named Redknee. This free event is suitable for everyone over the age of 10, so get booking at readerdevelopment@edinburgh.gov.uk or 0131 242 8100.
It’s just what it sounds like! Poet-in-residence Ryan van Winkle will read a poem for discussion afterwards. You don’t need to be a scholar to have an opinion!
Geoffrey Lord OBE, former Secretary and Treasurer of the Carnegie UK Trust, and founder of Artlink, is visiting Blackhall Library on Tuesday 20th March at 6pm to talk about his new book: Cathedrals for the curious: An Introduction to Cathedrals, Minsters and Abbeys in Britain.
Cathedrals, Minsters and Abbeys are of the past and the present: usually the greatest, most beautiful and extraordinary of all our public buildings. Geoffrey’s book is full of intriguing facts and stories and this is sure to be an informative and enjoyable evening. To book your place email blackhall.library@edinburgh.gov.uk or call 0131 529 5595.
Well even if you are not heading to sunnier climes this summer, Spain can still come to you! 
Tim probably knows more about Trainspotting than anyone (with the possible exception of Irvine Welsh!) and yesterday he came along to Central Library to talk about the film adaptation of the book, which premiered 20 years ago this month.
Victoria Campbell – Viking Gold
Tales of One City 