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Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Why Edinburgh International Book Festival can't ignore working-class and gender-critical voices
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Do you remember the good old days? Back when the Edinburgh International Book Festival was situated in Charlotte Square and felt like the beating heart of everything good happening in the city in August. In those days, it punched way above its weight, attracting some of the finest authors of our age and tackling every subject under the sun. Then it got lost. Literally, that meant a journey to Edinburgh College of Art, then onto its new home at Edinburgh Futures Institute. But it also lost its spine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Last year that involved caving in to the new puritans who decided sponsorship money supplied by Baillie Gifford wasn't scented enough for their delicate nostrils. The cultural vandals identifying as Fossil Free Books demanded sponsors should divest any investments linked to oil and gas or Israel. Citing concerns about 'safety', the book festival organisers compliantly pulled the plug on a 20-year-relationship. READ MORE: Why Edinburgh has picked exactly the wrong moment to launch to bike hire scheme Writer and musician Darren McGarvey, pictured at the launch of the Make Health Equal campaign last year, claims he has been excluded from Edinburgh International Book Festival (Picture: David Parry Media Assignments) | PA Left out in cold So how did that work out for everyone? For the investment firm, it was business as usual but the move emptied the festival's coffers. Unsurprisingly no replacement corporate sponsors have been keen to face the constant trial by scolds so it has been left to generous, kind-hearted individuals to prop things up for the sake of the institution. You might have thought last year's embarrassment would have made the organisers think more carefully about the decisions they make but no. This year they're being pilloried over programming, with gender-critical feminists and Orwell prize-winning author Darren McGarvey claiming they've been deliberately excluded. The theme of this year's book festival is repair so both would have fitted perfectly into the programme. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad McGarvey lives here, is an acclaimed writer and has a new book out about the impact of sharing trauma. Any psychologist will tell you that is central to repairing damage done but there was no invitation for the author. As one of the few genuine working-class voices in the literary world, he is right to feel left out in the cold. 'Extremely divisive' As are the authors of The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht, a gender-critical anthology that has been a Sunday Times bestseller on three occasions. Despite being called by one critic 'the most important political work to come out of Scotland this century', it proved too difficult territory for the book festival. 'At present, the tenor of the discussion in the media and online on this particular subject feels extremely divisive. We do not want to be in a position that we are creating events for spectacle or sport, or raising specific people's identity as a subject of debate,' said director Jenny Niven, in response to a question about why the book wasn't featured. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What's happened here is all very sad. A once-great 'August in Edinburgh' institution has taken sides in the culture wars in a desperate bid to be seen as progressive by the sort of people who preach being kind while practising the opposite. The end result is an event that claims to be open, curious and inclusive but does so only on its terms. Working-class people shouldn't be too working class and gender critical feminists should, well, just wheest.
Bangkok Post
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Bangkok Post
Thai-British artist centres women in exploration of myth
The histories and relationships between women and trees are portrayed through art during "Epiphytes", which is running at Supples Gallery, until Sept 7. This is a solo exhibition by Thai-British artist Julia Phetra Oborne, who brings a series of new oil paintings that reflect her ongoing exploration of the relationships between women and trees, memory and myth and landscape and identity. Rooted in stories, memories and personal observations of woodlands and forests, the exhibition reflects the woodland as a universal and symbolic environment, familiar yet ambiguous, where the presence of the female form threads through the landscape. Both personal and symbolic, the paintings are shaped by the artist's dual Thai and British heritage. The title "Epiphytes" -- meaning plants that grow upon other plants -- considers the canvas as a site of accumulation. She builds surfaces that play host, revealing and veiling forms, through the process of mark-making and layering. The imagery is inspired by ritual, literature and myth, including the Buddhist tale of Nariphon, a tree bearing fruit in the shape of women. Like epiphytes themselves, these symbols are tethered to the surface, which becomes a space where the past and present meet and are re-examined. Oborne holds a BA in Painting from Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. She blends myths, folklore, and autobiography in paintings that explore memory, identity and reimagined visual languages. Influenced by abstract expressionism and Southeast and East Asian imagery, her work shifts between abstraction and figuration. She has lived and worked between Bangkok and London.
Scotsman
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Watch: The Scotsman at the Edinburgh Festivals episode one - Baby Reindeer, Shedinburgh and the Tattoo
The Scotsman at the Edinburgh festivals will run regularly throughout August. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Welcome to our first edition of The Scotsman at the Edinburgh festivals. We have a jam-packed first video show for you, speaking to performers and producers as the first week of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe kicks off. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Arts and culture correspondent Jane Bradley is speaking to Fleabag and Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody, at the launch of her new venue, Shedinburgh, at the Edinburgh College of Art, as well as comedian Dion Owen, who has brought his free bike loan scheme for performers to Edinburgh for the third year. Meanwhile, reporter Rachel Fergusson has been at the launch of this year's Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The launch of new Fringe venue Shedinburgh on Friday morning. | Scotsman We also bring you interviews with comedians, including Melania Trump impersonator Laura Benanti, from outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh.
Fashion Network
18-07-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
TEX+ 2025 announces UK textile award winners
Central Saint Martins' Amber Fry also won two prizes, the £1,000 TEX+ Trustees' Prize for Sustainability & Ethical Practice, and the Mary Restieaux Prize, which included a private studio visit, mentorship and hand-dyed silk yarns. Other winners were Esme Whitton, UWE Bristol School of Art and Design, who won the Liberty Fabrics Studio Prize, which comes with a studio visit, and three-month mentorship complete with archive access; Winnie Sowter, Edinburgh College of Art, who took the Helga Goldman Prize for Innovation & Creativity and its £1,000 cash prize; Severina Seidl, Royal School of Needlework, won the TEX+ Trustees' Prize for Technical Excellence (also with a £1,000 award); while The Pentland Prize saw two winners of two-month paid design placements at Pentland Brands going to Yingruo Cao, London College of Fashion and Aidan Morris, Glasgow School of Art; meanwhile Asha Vine, Arts University Bournemouth, took the Bay & Brown Prize which included an online floral print course and portfolio session with Tracey Brown. Jeremy Somers, chair of TEX+, said: 'Every year we're amazed by the depth of talent coming through, but the 2025 cohort has truly raised the bar. These designers are not only technically skilled but also tackling some of the most urgent conversations in design today -- from sustainability to storytelling, identity to innovation.' Edelkoort added: 'The future is incredibly bright when I see so many students courageously confronting the major challenges of our time -- rethinking materials, reshaping systems, and reviving crafts. At TEX+, we witness a new generation not just dreaming of change, but designing it.'
Edinburgh Live
14-07-2025
- Science
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh lecturer becomes world's first forensic jeweller and is drafted in during mass fatalities
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A former jewellery designer has become the world's first forensic jeweller and IDs bodies in disaster zones through their rings, necklaces and earrings. Dr. Maria Maclennan, 36, first studied jewellery design at university then realised she wanted to use her talents to help people instead, now she analyses victim's bracelets, gemstones, pendants and trinkets for clues to help emergency crews, investigators and families. The Edinburgh College of Art lecturer has since been drafted in to aid identification in disasters and mass fatalities around the world. She helped identify victims of the 2015 Tunisia terror attacks, worked on Grenfell, the Germanwings plane crash in France in 2015 and the Mozambican airliner disaster in Namibia in 2013. She's also helped ID the bodies of migrants lost in sea crossings. Maria says the 'holy trinity of primary methods' - teeth, fingerprint, DNA - are the still the foremost ways to establish who the bodies are. But she realized jewellery can hold vitals clues to discovering who a deceased person is - which can help remains be reunited with loved ones, reports the Daily Record. Maria joined a project led by Interpol when she was a Masters student at the University of Dundee. It was designed to improve practices around victim identification in disasters, which sparked her interest in the relationship between forensics and personal effects. She said: "It was a project that was spearheaded by Interpol and a number of other international project partners, looking at how we could improve practices around disaster victim identification. They were looking at the usual scientific method - DNA, fingerprinting, dental records - but they were also expanding into what we call secondary methods. "They were looking at clothing, personal effects, body modification, tattoos - and jewellery. That was my background - I was a jewellery designer by trade. A lot of pieces are very traceable. The might have some kind of mark, a serial number, a hallmark. "A lot are very personalised, they can connect to a manufacturer, a designer, a maker and we can trace something back to the place of purchase. Distinctive pieces are recognised, they're memorable. Something that has been worn often or for a long time can be a physical repository for DNA. "They might have been gifted between family members - they might symbolise a very significant relationship, they may have been passed down through generations or they could be really important spiritual, religious or cultural items." She added: "I was never as interested in designing as a lot of my peers and colleagues. I didn't actually enjoy sitting down at the bench and designing and making quite as much as I did the research and studying. "It was all the stories, the histories, the meanings that I was interested in - why people wear jewellery, why they don't wear jewellery, when they decide to take it off or keep it with them, and what it symbolised. I was living with a medical student, one of my friends, and there was probably a bit of me that saw her go off and thought 'she's really going to save lives and help people.' "As a jeweller, we design wedding and engagement or memorial pieces, and we really have to understand their personality, their identity and relationships. It's very much an important job - but the opportunity to get involved in that project made me think there could be some way to really improve or contribute to people's lives. "It really opened up my thinking to this whole new world that I hadn't really been exposed to before. I loved the idea that I could use my skills and knowledge as a jewellery designer in this completely new way to really help people." Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox Maria and her team worked on a jewellery classification system, which has since been incorporated into Interpol's current disaster victim identification practices. Maria, who has a PhD in Forensic Jewellery said: "I was working mostly in forensic imaging, so any kind of visual evidence, whether that was photography, fingerprints, footwear, patterns, 360 panoramic views of scenes, and I was carrying on my own research alongside that. I was starting to deploy to international incidents - aviation crashes mainly, but also natural disasters and terror incidents too. There was a lot of international mass fatality work. "Once I started doing the work, I realized that it wasn't just about studying these objects, analysing them, trying to trace them, trying to identify people. I think especially in the mass fatality context, where very sadly, many families and next of kin don't have a dedicated place to go to say goodbye, to visit. "They maybe don't always even receive the remains of their loved ones, they depending on the condition. Very sadly, it might not be possible to repatriate an entire body. I think this is where it goes back to my initial training and love of jewellery, and all the personal stories and the sentimental value. "I actually drew quite a few parallels with the designing and making that we do in the jewellery world and the return and the repatriation of objects to next of kin, because these little objects, they're very often seen as an extension of us and of our identities, especially if they've got that really personal element. To receive those back after often quite traumatic incidents and events really means a lot to the families, and that part of the process is not to be underestimated. "We try and treat the objects with the same amount of dignity and respect as we would the person themselves. That includes everything - ensuring that the families have an opportunity to view the object. "They can choose whether they would like the items returned in their current state, even if they've been damaged or melted or burned, or whether they would like them to be repaired or fully reconstructed. We give families that option, and we also try to put just as much care into how we package and gift those items. "The care that needs to go into that is just as much an important factor, because that's the first impression that families will often get - it's the first thing they'll see. Also, many of them may not quite be ready to open that package and confront these items. "For many of them, they may choose to keep them in storage or only revisit them a number of months or years later, so we have to really think about that whole process." Maria has begun teaching and is travelling the world to train law enforcement and investigators based on her research. "Over the last few years, I've become more involved in training and upskilling law enforcement and investigative agencies on the value of jewellery and personal effects and trying to create practical, hands on training programs, things that will be useful for them in their day to day life," she said. "Most recently, I was over in Brazil, working with the Brazilian Federal Police and running a training program for them - they're kind of forensic gemologists. "They have quite a large criminal investigative department over in Brazil, because they deal a lot with gem crime and trafficking and smuggling of gemstones and other artefacts across borders. I've developed a lot of training, and now being an educator myself, that that's something I'm very passionate about, is trying to share the knowledge I've learned. "I still work on some live cases, but these days, it's more about kind of helping others to help themselves, rather than me doing the work personally." The project closest to her heart today is a humanitarian project called Identifying the Displaced, which seeks to use personal effects to identify people lost while migrating across the Aegean Sea. Maria and her team have recovered over 500 personal objects, belonging to migrants who lost their lives while attempting to cross the "River of Death," which has claimed the life of over 2,500 people between 2014 and 2024. "We're looking to try and study and analyse the objects, the jewellery, the personal effects that were carried with people on the move," she said. "Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, as they make these journeys to try and gain entry into Europe, a lot of them, very sadly, lose their lives. "By collaborating with the local pathologists and people who work in that industry over in Greece, we've designed a database that we're trying to use to collaborate with different communities to raise more awareness of the migrant crisis, to hopefully generate new investigative insight around the objects."
