New creative writing group for young people!

Aged between 16 and 19 and love to write?

Join us for a series of 8 fortnightly creative writing sessions led by poet Roshni Gallagher, winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2022 and author of the pamphlet Bird Cherry (2023). Our next session is at 4pm on Wednesday 28 September in Meeting Room Two at Central Library. These sessions are a gentle and encouraging space to grow and explore your writing practice.

Please email roshnigallagher@edinburgh.gov.uk for further information. No booking needed. All abilities welcome – from keen writers to complete beginners. You’re invited to bring along a short piece of your writing to our first session but please note that this is optional.

Green Pencil Award-winner 2021

We’re thrilled to announce the winning entry for the 2021 Green Pencil creative writing competition on the theme of Climate Change is ‘We need to stop this now!’ by Alfie Ross, from St. Mary’s Primary School.

And we’re delighted to invite you to listen to a specially recorded reading of Alfie’s poem by poet, Jeda Pearl Lewis.
Here is, ‘We need to stop this now!’

The winning entry for the 2021 Green Pencil creative writing award, ‘We need to stop this now!’ by Alfie Ross, is read by poet, Jeda Pearl Lewis.

You can enjoy all four of our finalists read their highly commended entries in yesterday’s blog post.

Green Pencil Award 2021

A big thank you to all the children and young people who entered the Green Pencil creative writing competition. We enjoyed reading all your writing.

This year’s theme tackled a very hot topic – climate change. P4-P7 aged children and young people in S1-3 were challenged to write a poem, piece of prose or story on the theme.

Once again, we were unable to hold an awards ceremony in Central Library, so here instead, you can listen to the finalists read their highly commended entries in these special Green Pencil videos.

Congratulations to all our talented finalists!

Raghav Palanivel from Corstorphine Primary School reads his highly commended poem ‘A kid’s cry for justice’.

Alex Cook Ribes from Hermitage Park Primary School reads his highly commended poem ‘Mother Earth’.

Alfie Ross from St. Mary’s Primary School reads his highly commended poem ‘We need to stop this now!’

Lulah Thomson from Wardie Primary School reads her highly commended poem ‘My Highland Home’.

Come back tomorrow when the winner will be revealed…

Make Zines with the Edinburgh Zine Library!

Central Library are running two zine writing workshops with the Edinburgh Zine Library for young people and teenagers this July.

Workshops take place on Thursday 25 July, 2-4pm for 9-12 year olds and Friday 26 July, 2-4pm for 13-18 year olds in the George Washington Browne Room.

What is a zine? Zines are small books that you make yourself. Often, people make them to tell stories from their life, to share things that they love or to teach people about things that they know about. You can draw and write and collage about whatever you want – we’ve got zines in the library about cats, slime, bands, buses, myths and legends, and more. Zines can be about anything!

In these workshops with members of the Edinburgh Zine Library, you’ll learn how to make your own mini-zine that you can photocopy and share with your friends.

Edinburgh Zine Library is an archive and reference library of contemporary zines housed in the Art & Design Library at Edinburgh Central Library.

Reserve a free place: visit www.edinburghreads.eventbrite.co.uk

Or phone 0131 242 8040 or just drop in on the day.

 

Looking for holiday arty fun for children and young people?

This year Edinburgh Art Festival’s Explorers programme in partnership with the Art and Design Library comes to Central Library for informal, creative sessions suitable for ages 8 to 13 on Thursdays 5 and 12 July and 2 and 9 August from 2 to 4pm.

Join us for all the sessions or just drop in for one. We’ll be drawing, cutting, sticking, chatting about art, playing art games, working together and making fun stuff. We’ll be using found materials and transforming unwanted materials where possible. Feel free to bring in your own stuff to incorporate into the workshops.

You can book online or drop in at 2pm on the day.

Thursday 5 July, 2 to 4pm – Collage
Manipulate and transform printed material and imagery through collaborative collage games. Come along to cut, tear, fold, stick, and make strange and surreal artworks. Book online

Thursday 12 July, 2 to 4pm – Cut-Up
Can a word be a picture? Focusing around words, in today’s workshop we’ll be making collaborative collage poems, word weaves, and combining words, images and drawing to make new and exciting artworks.
Book online

Thursday 2 August, 2 to 4pm – Artists Books
Today’s workshop will focus on drawing, mark-making and collage, using found and natural objects as inspiration to create your own unique artist’s book.
Book online

Thursday 9 August, 2 – 4pm – Assemblage
Using a wide range of found and collected materials, we will be making crazy, inventive assemblage sculptures. Feel free to bring your own objects to add to the sculptures, anything from a shell to an eggbox to a bicycle tyre!
Book online

My Perfect Place

Children in Scotland have just announced My Perfect Place, a national art competition for children and young people aged up to 18.

Through drawing, painting, collage or photography, participants are encouraged to express their ideas and inform international architects, planners, policymakers and designers about what makes the perfect place and why they like to spend time there.

The competition runs alongside Making Space 2010, a conference focusing on the importance of creating innovative and inspiring environments in which children and young people can live and learn.

The competition deadline is 12 July 2010.  For further information and details on submitting an entry please see

http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/html/ArtCompetition.htm

SPL Reading Stars kicks off at McDonald Road Library…

On May 2nd 2009 we’ll be launching the first of our SPL Reading Stars events at McDonald Road Library.  

We’ve been working with Hibs FC  to develop a collection based around Hibs player’s favourite adult and children’s books.   And these books will be made available to those families recruited to participate in our SPL Reading Stars sessions.

Sessions will be jam-packed full of football themed learning activities, author events, visits to local bookshops and a chance for participants to combine their passion for football with reading for pleasure!
Result! 🙂  

We’ll also be  rolling out a similar session at Leith Library; and have recruited the support of Hearts FC  for events at Fountainbridge Library and Sighthill Library.  

To find out more about the SPL Reading Stars project click here; or to see a list of books already chosen by some of Scotland’s top footballers click here.

Exciting plans to extend our Libraries 4U Project…

Our Libraries 4U project aims to encourage young people from our local communities to work in partnership with their local library service to create teen focussed spaces and develop a range of services and resources that are relevant to the lives of our younger users.

After a hugely successful launch period at libraries in Moredun, Craigmillar and Kirkliston we’re looking to extend the project to our community libraries in Muirhouse, Wester Hailes and Granton.

We’re hoping to emulate the success of our previous Libraries 4U projects by involving young people from the start! We’ll be collaborating on a range of issues including redesign and refurbishment, stock purchasing, new technologies, event programming and opening hours.

Ultimately, we’re aiming to build positive relationships with young people in our communities by establishing trust, listening to their opinions, and creating safe, secure, supportive and welcoming learning and recreational spaces for them in their local libraries.

We’ll be tracking both the short and long term impact of our Libraries 4U projects and will post the latest news and developments on this blog…