Five things you need to know today 10 June
All news about the Book Festival is embargoed until 10am on Tuesday morning. That means we know what you would like to know but we can't tell you until 10am.
But there is a Front List of events already on sale at McEwan Hall for you to look at meantime.
This year's The Front List series of events, presented in partnership with Underbelly, offers the chance to hear from authors, international voices, critical political commentators, and figures from sports and entertainment.
After sell-out events in 2024, this year EIBF have expanded The Front List to 14 events (including two for just Schools), with most taking place at 1.30pm daily throughout the Festival.
Watch this space later this morning.
Edinburgh Refugee Festival
As part of the Edinburgh Refugee Festival the Mission of Innocents is taking part with 'A Life in One Suitcase' – evocative dance and vocal performance exploring displacement, belonging, and hope.
Event: A Life in One Suitcase
A Life in One Suitcase When: Thursday 13 June at 4:30 PM
Thursday 13 June at 4:30 PM Where: St. Cuthbert's Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh
St. Cuthbert's Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh No Admission Free (Part of the Edinburgh Refugee Festival 2025)
This is a powerful multimedia event illuminating the emotional and psychological impact of forced migration through music, movement, and visual art.
The centrepiece of the event is a 40–45 minute live vocal and dance performance, created and directed by Oksana Saiapina, and presented by Mission of Innocents. This performance tells the deeply moving story of a person fleeing their home forever—leaving behind family, memories, and identity—captured through the simple but symbolic object of a suitcase. Inside is everything most precious. Inside is a life.
The show features performances from:
Vocalist Karina Chervyakova
Dance group Flowers of Ukraine
Children's group Kvity Ukrainy, directed by Oksana Saiapina
Children's choir Harmony, directed by Nataliia Khomenko
Dance group MyWay, directed by Tetiana Gordienko
The performance will be accompanied by three visual exhibitions that offer a broader reflection on memory, identity, and resilience:
The Weight We Carried – A display of personal belongings, symbolic objects, and photographs from Ukrainian refugees who fled war. It poses the searing question: If you had to pack your life into one suitcase, what would you take?
Icons on Ammo Boxes – An internationally exhibited project by Spiders of Ukraine, transforming materials of war into sacred icons of peace.
Refugee and Migrant Art Showcase – Paintings, sculpture, textile art and mixed media by displaced artists from across Scotland, marking personal milestones in resettlement.
This event is presented as part of the Edinburgh Refugee Festival 2025, with support from the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, Consulate of Ukraine, and the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Ukraine.
The dance segment is organised by Mission of Innocents, a grassroots initiative founded by Joyce Landry, supporting refugee children and families in Scotland through the arts and creative mental health programmes. Their work offers displaced young people tools for expression, healing, and self-worth through song, dance, and storytelling.
Former Scottish Widows building is on the market
One of the previous venues for Hidden Door (which takes place later this week) was the Scottish Widows building on Dalkeith Road. Now that there is planning permission in place owners Schroders have put it up for sale.
There is no hint of the asking price, but the consent involves demolishing five of the twelve hexagonal office modules with the remaining office structure being upgraded and extended.
Five high quality residential apartment blocks are proposed in the north-east portion of the site, containing 174 homes.
The agents also say that there is 'an opportunity to amend existing planning consent to explore alternative uses including Residential, PBSA, Hotel, Education and Leisure'. (PBSA is purpose built student accommodation).
Support Hidden Door Festival
Hazel Johnson Director of Hidden Door Festival has written an open letter to everyone who may just be thinking of attending the festival this week – they really need your support.
This is the letter here:
Arts venues and cultural events need your support now more than ever: Hazel Johnson, Festival Director at Hidden Door, invites you to be part of something special at The Paper Factory this week
Scotland's arts scene is vibrant, innovative, and utterly vital to our national identity, wellbeing and economy. Yet, like many sectors, it faces unprecedented challenges, from funding pressures to the ever-shifting landscape of audience engagement. Cities like Edinburgh are at their best when they have cultural venues that can thrive all year round, not just in festival season.
This week, we launch our most ambitious venture yet. The Paper Factory is a magnificent, abandoned industrial site which we're transforming into a vibrant new arts venue hosting an amazing programme of music, visual art and performance. It's a monumental undertaking, driven by a passionate team of volunteers, and its success hinges, quite simply, on audiences coming along to experience it.
Hidden Door was born from a belief that Edinburgh needs vibrant cultural venues that offer something different. By literally and figuratively opening up forgotten spaces for the arts, we create a place where creative talent can flourish. We exist to provide a vital platform for new and emerging artists in Scotland, offering them the crucial opportunity to experiment and reach new audiences. From our diverse music lineup, including promising local bands selected from hundreds of open call applications, to the captivating, site-specific art installations and immersive performances that bring The Paper Factory's history to life – every element of Hidden Door is designed to be unique and unforgettable.
We were fortunate this year to benefit from the Creative Scotland Development Fund – a fiercely competitive pot of funding. We are also hugely grateful to the sponsors and partners who believe in us enough to generously give their support.
This support has meant we can be as accessible and inclusive as possible. This year we have offered more concessions and free tickets than ever before, including a 'pay what you can' option to help us better serve the many different communities across the city.
But the stark truth is that as a volunteer-run charity, we rely on ticket sales. The magic we create, the opportunities we provide for artists, and our ability to keep opening up new, surprising spaces for the arts across our city – all of it depends on you stepping through our 'hidden door'.
Your ticket isn't just access to a great night out; it's an investment in Edinburgh's creative future, a vote of confidence in the artists who are shaping our cultural landscape, and a lifeline that allows us to continue our unique work. Without you, non-profit organisations like Hidden Door simply can't exist.
We've all seen much-loved venues and arts organisations forced to close, a worrying trend accelerated by ongoing economic uncertainties. The impact from these external factors on the arts sector is all too real, with arts venues and cultural events needing your support now more than ever.
So I invite you to join us at The Paper Factory this week, from Wednesday to Sunday. Come and discover the energy, witness the innovation, and be part of a truly unique cultural moment. If you want Hidden Door to keep doing what we do, transforming forgotten spaces and championing incredible local talent, then please come down and support us. We've been doing this for over a decade, and with you on board, we'll keep doing it.
Hazel Johnson Festival Director, Hidden Door
https://hiddendoorarts.org
The Paper Factory
The Paper Factory
Bike Station – opening this week
The new Bike Station hub at Lauriston Place will open on Thursday 12 June.
'The Bike Station is opening its doors at 141 Lauriston Place this June — and we're setting our sights on a cycling future for all generations. From first bikes to lifelong journeys, we've spent 20+ years making cycling accessible across Edinburgh, Perth and beyond. Now, our new city-centre hub puts us closer to key infrastructure, communities, and the people who need us most.'
Sales and servicing begin on Thursday with an official opening in July.
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