We Need New Stories

Through understanding our past stories: and as singer songwriter Rab Noakes says, "a future with no past has no future". New stories can emerge through the exchange of ideas, new stories may emerge.

Professor Tom Devine writes, in his latest book, The Scottish Clearance: A History of the Dispossessed, that until the 1960s, there were few academic studies on Scotland’s history after the Union of 1707.((there were more on Yorkshire)

Is democracy failing today, with the rise of populism, and as people seem to have lost all trust and faith in the system? Military expert now say its all about counterintelligence – Russia and China are experts in this field. Its no longer about huge warships and its about who controls information flows. With the rise of cyber warfare and online propaganda, how can we protect our freedoms and democracies. How can we regain trust?

We in Europe we must remember we do have the rule of law, some accountability measures of free press, vibrant arts and quality universities. Knowledge is central – reading stories, creativity, collaborations and understanding our past.  

Most Scots have pride in their Scottish culture: from our highland glens, ballads and poetry, Edinburgh enlightenment, border hills, western isles, imposing historic castles and ever changing skies. We’ve had turbulent histories: William Wallace, John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, Bannockburn, Reformation, Jacobites. We are known for our whisky, Clyde ships, fish, oil, tweed, tartan, golf, poetry and song.

We’ve given the world the great songs of Robert Burns and other great writers. And innovations such as Penicillin, steam engines and more. The traditions are continued by powerful troubadours of folk music with popular live acoustic music and world scale festivals such as Celtic connections and Edinburgh festivals – the world’s biggest arts festival. 

I am encouraged that Scotland’s first minster is a keen reader. But equally dismayed to read that neither Trump or Corbyn are readers. In fact Trump has fake book covers lining his walls. Says it all really. 

Our national poet Robert Burns was a ferocious reader and read at the dinner table. He enjoyed his aunts stories, his mothers songs and his fathers reading and conversations. Famous fashion designer, Karl Lagerfield, valued his vast library of books above all else. Francoise Frenkel, fled the Nazis ( author of No Place to Rest my Head) - and it was her books and poems that kept her hope alive. When the Communist regime in Russia wanted to control arts and thought, they exiled any free thinkers, writers and artists on the Philosophy steamer. 

Edinburgh International book festival blog 2019

We Need new Stories 

THREADS FOR 2019 INCLUDE – 

Fragile Planet, Indigenous Voices, Her Story, Stories that make Scotland. Amnesty International Imprisoned writers series, music and more.

Contributors in 2019 – Val McDermid, Deray McKesson, Eilidh Muldoon, 

Famous names attending EIBF 2019 – Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak, Naomi Wolf, Kevin Barry, Ian Rankin, Ben Okri, Cathy Newman, Kirsty Wark, Fintan O’Toole. Alexander McCall Smith. 

Through understanding our past stories: and as Rab Noakes says, "a future with no past has no future." New stories can emerge through the exchange of ideas, new stories may emerge.

Karl-Ove-Knausgaard

Brian May

Chelsea Clinton

Murray-Lachlan-Young

Ruby Wax

BOOKS are the keys to empathy, understanding, otherness, journeys of imagination, we could never otherwise take. A love of books begins before a child can walk or talk, by the joy of bedtime stories.

EIBF welcomes children authors, illustrators, academics, politicians, novelists, scientists, journalists, travel writers, musicians, artists, poets,

Famous names attending EIBF 2019 – Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak, Naomi Wolf, Kevin Barry, Ian Rankin, Ben Okri, Cathy Newman, Kirsty Wark, Fintan O’Toole. Alexander Macoll Smith. Roddy Doyle, Kate Atkinson, Joanne Harris, DelRay McKessan (black lives matter) 

Sporting heroes – Chris Hoy, Katherine Graniger, Doddie Weir, 

A talk on homes for Migrants and Refugees – with Val McDermid, singer songwriter Karine Polwart, author Ali Smith, and Nayrouz Qarmour, (will speak of a Damascus refugee camp) who will discuss why people have to leave their homelands. The UK is a nation of immigrants (as is the US). What do we really mean by fear of immigrants? Is it a result of Blair’s uncontrolled influx of secret huge numbers of migrants. 

This year as well as main sponsor Baillie Gifford, the book festival has teamed up with the New York Times,with several of their journalist’s and writers – Naomi Wolf, Laura Watts, Yanan Yang, Adam Satariano, Josh Haner, 

*Music – Beerjacket, Tracy Thorn, Stuart Cosgrove, James MacMillan. 

More than ever we need ‘open spaces’ to discuss new worlds, adaptability, progress, to build bridges and for accountability. How do we encourage healthy, informed debates. 

**The joy and love of books in central, and EIBF also has a large Children’s book festival. 

EIBF celebrates the written and spoken word in the perfect setting of Charlotte square Edinburgh. EIBF is a celebration of books, written words ideas, spaces to collaborate and exchange views, inspiring stories. retrieving and renewing. 

EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL - 11th to 27th August 2018

TICKETS - https://www.edbookfest.co.uk

How do new stories evolve? 

Through understanding our past stories: and as Rab Noakes says, a future with no past has no future. New stories can emerge through the exchange of ideas, new stories may emerge.

Professor Tom Devine writes, in his latest book, The Scottish Clearance: A History of the Dispossessed, that until the 1960s, there were few academic studies on Scotland’s history after the Union of 1707.((there were more on Yorkshire)

Is democracy failing today, with the rise of populism, and as people seem to have lost all trust and faith in the system? Military expert now say its all about counterintelligence – Russia and China are experts in this field. Its no longer about huge warships and its about who controls information flows. With the rise of cyber warfare and online propaganda, how can we protect our freedoms and democracies. How can we regain trust?

We in Europe must remember we do have the rule of law, some accountability measures of free press, vibrant arts and quality universities. Knowledge is the key – reading stories, creativity, collaborations and understanding our past.  

**I am encouraged that Scotland’s first minster is a keen reader. But equally dismayed to read that neither Trump or Corbyn are readers. In fact Trump has fake book covers lining his walls. Says it all really. 

Most Scots have pride in their Scottish culture: from our highland glens, ballads and poetry, Edinburgh enlightenment, border hills, western isles, imposing historic castles and ever changing skies. We’ve had turbulent histories: William Wallace, John Knox, Mary Queen of Scots, Bannockburn, Reformation, Jacobites. We are known for our whisky, Clyde ships, fish, oil, tweed, tartan, golf, poetry and song.

We’ve given the world the great songs of Robert Burns and other great writers. And innovations such as Penicillin, steam engines and more. The traditions are continued by powerful troubadours of folk music with popular live acoustic music and world scale festivals such as Celtic connections and Edinburgh festivals – the world’s biggest arts festival. 

I am encouraged that Scotland’s first minster is a keen reader. But equally dismayed to read that neither Trump or Corbyn are readers. In fact Trump has fake book covers lining his walls. Says it all really.  

Our national poet Robert Burns was a ferocious reader and read at the dinner table. He enjoyed his aunts stories, his mothers songs and his fathers reading and conversations. Famous fashion designer, Karl Lagerfield, valued his vast library of books above all else. Francoise Frenkel, fled the Nazis  (author of No Place to Rest my Head) - and it was her books and poems that kept her hope alive. When the Communist regime in Russia wanted to control arts and thought, they exiled any free thinkers, writers and artists on the Philosophy steamer. 

Forgotten Women

Women pass on our stories, but they are often forgotten in the archives and annals of history. 

We live in a world where most of the statues are to men. I used to wonder were there no great women artists or musicians. Then I discovered, yes there were many outstanding women artists! –

In my life time there have been women of genius and great accomplishments – Joni Mitchell, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Oprah Winfrey, Coco Chanel, Angela Merkel, Christine Lagard, Hilary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, and many, many more. 

There are many women, who not only supported their husbands, but added to their creativity. 

I also read of how women influenced their children – Robert Burns learned not only from his father, but from his aunt’s stories and his mother singing the traditional ballads. 

Scottish author Sara Sheridan has written a new book where all the names in Scotland are female names!

Where are the Women? (2019) Sara Sheridan

Margaret MacDonald

Elsie Inglis

 A Few Examples

Elsie Inglis: Female hero honoured in Serbia. There is no statue to her in Edinburgh, only  plaque in st Giles, she brought hygiene to war conditions and saved many lives. 

**Elsie Inglis, doctor and suffragette, who fundraised for the first Scottish Women’s Hospitals (SWH)  hospice for poor women Edinburgh in 1894. She attended Edinburgh medical school and qualified from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Edinburgh. She trained at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s new hospital for women London and later at the Rotunda Dublin. She was appalled by the general standard of care and lack of specialization in the needs of female patients. 

She is best known for The Elsie Inglis maternity hospital and her war work when she set up the SWH for Foreign Service which sent medical teams to Belgium, France, Serbia, and Russia. After the British army turned her down she gained support from the French government. She was told – to go home and sit still by the UK war office! She went to Serbia and worked to improve hygiene to reduce typhus and other epidemics. She was awarded the Order of the White Eagle of Serbia

Margaret MacDonald

– (1864 -1933) Scottish artist whose design work became one of the defining features of the "Glasgow Style" during the 1890s.With her husband, renowned architect Rennie Mackintosh, she was one of the most influential members of the loose collective of the Glasgow Four. She exhibited at the 1900 Vienna Secession, where she was arguably an influence on the Secessionists Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffman. Her husband Charles Macintosh said, Margaret is the genius, I have only the talent.’

Beverly Martyn, English singer songwriter (1947 - )

Apparently John Martyn wrote his best songs with Beverly Kutner, his wife, which she gets little credit for. Beverly had worked with Paul Simon, Nick Drake. They recorded three albums together before John was persuaded by the record label to go solo - Stormbringer, Road to Ruin and Bless the Weather. She played piano while they wrote songs together for Solid Air.  Beverly was then left on the house on the hill to raise their children. John toured and turned to alcohol. Beverly left him after ten years of marriage.    

Nelle Harper Lee (1926 – 2016), author of To Kill a Mocking bird, one of the best loved American classics. 

Sofonisba Anguissola (1550 Spain) 

Lavinia Fontana (1520 Italy) 

Artemisia Gentileschi (1615 Italy). 

Clara Peeters (1594) 

Lady Butler (1846 England) 

Berthe Morisot (1841 France) 

Karin Larsson (1859 Sweden)  

Margaret MacDonald (1864 Scotland) 

Georgia O'Keefe (1887 America) 

Elsie Inglis -  (1864 –1917) Scottish doctor and suffragette,

Muriel Spark – (1918 – 2006) Scottish author

Margaret Macdonald – (1864 -1933) Scottish artist

Mary Somerville  (1780 – 1872)

Mary Barbour(1875  – 1958)

Photography & Journeys 2018

2018 has been a constructively rewarding year.

I was delighted that one of Scotland’s top singer song writers Rab Noakes has used my photos from his Celtic Connections gig 2017 - on his new album Anniversarywille. Back in the 60s and 70s, Rab played with greats such as Gerry Rafferty and Lindisfarne. When I hung out in the folk scene then, I remember well the harmony singing of Noakes songs, such as Branch, Clear Day,To each and Everyone, Somebody Counts on Me. In 2007, I saw Noakes still going strong at an Oran Mor gig. He often includes a fifties classic, and this time a song my husband remembered his mother singing. He is also a dedicated Bob Dylan follower – check out his interpretation of Dylan’s Mississippi. 

Rab Noakes Old Fruitmarket Celtic Connections

I also had my first front page in the Scotsman of Chelsea Clinton, in Edinburgh to promote her book, She Persisted. Also photos used by major media (the BBC, Albert hall, Celtic Connections and more) and by press outlets. I have exhibited at Celtic Connections music festival.

I need to allow space, movement, escapism, movement and time for dreams in my images. There have been times when I was so in the moment. I’ve had shoots with hours of time when the artists, the musicians, the dancers who have put their hearts on the line over their commitment to hours of hard graft.  

Journeys

I have been travelling the Scottish islands – first to Orkney, which was awesome, and all its history. Orkney gently tells many stories – ancient sagas from its rich past. Second the outer Hebrides and the beauty of the shimmering soft blues of these landscapes is breathtaking, and its expanse of sands and surging seas....

 

V & A Dundee

Other Projects

I’ve been pursing many projects - too many perhaps! - and I’m often inspired. Hopefully.

My interest and love of history continues apace – this began as a child and with visits to Edina’s historic castle and the Holyrood palace, where I purchased a small blue book on the Stewart kings. At school though, I only learnt of the Tudors and European history.

We learn invaluable lessons by following those who walked before us. I’ve been searching for Scotia – in Edina’s ancient streets and reading Robert Crawford’s The Bard, a very well researched Robert Burns biography that focuses on his poetry and songs. Writing requires a great deal of research, time, commitment, editing, resources and mostly patience too – as do all the arts. We need many skills. 

In these strange times, the arts matters more than ever. 

Culture matters. Our stories matter.

Art Freedom without Borders

This years theme at the Edinburgh International book festival 2018 is "freedoms". It is important we are free to have our VOICE. Its important for culture, sense of identity, artistic creativity, truth, heritage, communicating, collaborating and so much more. 

At a talk on the highly respected Scottish singer songwriter Michael Marra, a Canadian asked - 'why did we not hear of Marra on the Scottish radio or tv, and how can we have a Voice here in Scotland, if we have no way of expressing it freely and widely? ..The answer is that Marra went to London for a while, but the London music industry wanted to change him and take away the essence of what makes him a great artist. ........ And I wonder often why Scotland is not free, and unlike other nations has no media of its own....

An artist must be true to their art...

Creatives not only require freedom of expression, it’s the life blood they draw on for their creativity. Any artist who tries to stick inside boxes is stifled. I remember a Russian art exhibition at the Tate modern – all were identical, raising arms to the heavens.  

JD Fergusson

The Scottish painters JD Fergusson on modern Scottish painting is his plea for artistic freedom. "Scotland should have an independent art," Artists must challenge assumptions and take a sledgehammer to totems. 

Artist Alexander Moffat and poet Alan Riach , in a new edition of Scottish artist JD Fergusson Modern Scottish Painting, in which he questions the need of artists to conform to market forces. If arts motivation is economic it is not usually successful. Then as now, there was what Moffat and Riach call "the tyranny of academic authority in taste, practice and artistic social priorities". Oddly there have been significant problems with Creative Scotland’s large umbrella organization (which includes film, Games, music, literature, arts) being controlled by the accounts men.  There was the need for artists to conform if they wanted to be embraced by the kind of organisations and institutions who view art as the conduit to boosting the economy and encouraging an ever-growing influx of tourists. 

The need to conform to be embraced by established art institutions. Fergusson's approach to art was embedded in political philosophy and he was convinced of the need for independence. He questioned why "the Glasgow School" faded out. "Was it Scotland's feeling of inferiority? Was it the lack of sympathy or financial support?" 

Nick Barley

**Edinburgh book festival director Nick Barley claims culture and the arts is being adversely affected by the hostile attitude at the UK home office.  
“We’re putting culture at risk, ironically the theme of this years EIBF this year is freedom!  

The UK Home office refusals from Syria are up from 18% to 68% in 2017.  -"Our relationship with authors is being damaged because the system is completely unfit for purpose. They’ve jumped through hoops – to have their applications refused.”  The UK Home Office has refused visas for authors invited to Edinburgh book festival. Festival director Nick Barley says ‘humiliating’ application process will deter writers and damage cultural life in UK. A dozen writers, from African and Middle East countries have had their visa applications refused, amid a process that requires 3 years of bank statements. 

Michale Marra, Arrest this Moment

JD Fergusson was drawn like so many other Scottish artists of the day, to Paris. (Samuel Peploe, Francis Campbell and Boileau Cadell). He writes of the impact that the French capital had-. “Paris was a place of light, freedom, intellectual challenge, learning and research. It allowed me to be Scots as I understand it, and has made me so Scots that I am leaving it and coming home." 

Fergusson’s book is a cri de coeur for artistic freedom and he is always passionate..
Some of the greatest art happen when we challenge the boxes – as when French impressionisms challenged the Paris Salon.

Modern Scottish Painting, by J D Fergusson, published Luath Press, http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts_ents/13415574.J_D_Fergusson_on_modern_Scottish_painting/

Edinburgh International Book festival 2018!

Freedom & Equality

This year the Edinburgh International book festival 2018 will explore our freedoms.  

EIBF provides open minded and challenging platforms to explore new ideas. Each year I attend the Edinburgh festival in the perfect setting of Charlottes Square August for photos and to enjoy some talks and to be inspired.  

Themes will include: - Freedom and Equality, Politics of Change, Sport and Society, Our Planet, Scottish Ideas, Music Makers, Mind and Body, Muriel Spark, Spoken Word. 

The year EIBF will host many writers who challenge the norms and encourage informed debate. *Famous names who will give talks this year – Clinton, Corbyn, Gina Miller, Yanis Veronfakes, Karl Ove Khausgaad, Ali Smith, Ian Rankind. Musicians, scientism, artists, historian and more are represented. Edinburgh was made the first Unesco City of Literature. 

The festival, in collaboration with the Scottish Government Expo fund, has commissioned essays - The Freedom Papers – which consider which freedoms we must protect and which ones give up for the good of society. 

The freedoms of the individual must not impede the necessary structures of a healthy society. A free democracy and free press. In an era of fake news and online click baits, we need professional gatekeepers and investigative journalism more than ever. With the break down of many religions  we need moral guidance. How do we than achieve a healthy balance, along with strong and stable family structures. Education and family are crucial for the core of an informed democracy,  

Alexander McCall Smith

Neil Gaiman

Hera Lindsay Bird

Jake Wallace Simmons 

Simon Callow

Lura Waddell

Paul Muldoon

More than ever we need ‘open spaces’ to discuss new worlds, adaptability, progress, to build bridges and for accountability. How do we encourage healthy, informed debates. 

To question the nature of our freedoms and the nature and health of our democracies.

Freedom can mean the right to vote, or the right of every nation for self determination. 

**The joy and love of books in central, and EIBF also has a large Childrens book festival. 

EIBF celebrate the written and spoken word in the perfect setting of Charlotte square Edinburgh. EIBF is a celebration of books, written words ideas, spaces to collaborate and exchange views, inspiring stories. retrieving and renewing. 

EDINBURGH INTERNAITONAL BOOK FESTIVAL - 11th to 27th August 2018

TICKETS - https://www.edbookfest.co.uk

Statue of poet Robert Fergusson, muse of Robert Burns

Edina skyline from Calton hill

Famous authors Edinburgh Book festival 2016

Alan Cumming

Jonathan Dimbleby

Steve Beaumont

John Doyne

Vince Cable

Joanne Harris

Paul Mason

Paul Morley

I look forward each August in August to the place for contemplations, introspection, literary collaborations, thought-provoking conversation, famous faces, - the imaginative landscape that represent creative liberty and literature at the book festival. The stories we will hear, famous faces, new books. All the characters – Philosophers, individual free thinkers, dreamers, creative, artists, academics,

Some of the famous writers who gave talks this year at EIBF 2016.

Historical and cultural author Melvyn Bragg talked of  - that it is not language but our being able to ‘Imagine’ that makes us better – mostly IMAGINE BETTER.  The Book Festival is truly international with over 800 participants from 55 different countries coming together to share their books, ideas and stories.