Join us as we celebrate and big up our wonderful SBWN community, their events, book launches, and happenings! If you have a literary event, call for submissions, or happening, please email us the details. We publish a monthly Newsletter at the end of the month and, going forward, will be adding more community events to our blog.
One of the big events this month is the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Some of our members are also playwrights and storytellers and are showcasing work at the Edinburgh Fringe and we have book launches and more…
SBWN at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
SBWN: Right Here, Now
Sunday 28 August, 18:15
Five network members will be giving readings at our in-person showcase: Anna Cheung, Etzali Hernandez, Amanda Ajomale, Rachel Kareem, Sean Wai Keung, hosted by Andrés N Ordorica.
Tickets are pay what you can and are available here.
We are also planning a ticketed informal social meetup for SBWN members after our EIBF event. If you’ve participated or attended an SBWN event this year, we’ve already emailed you an invite – please get in touch if you’ve not heard from us.
Some EIBF events are pay what you can, livestreamed, BSL interpreted, captioned.
SBWN writers with EIBF festival events include
Sat 13th Aug: Jay Gao and Alycia Pirmohamed: History, Memory, Poetry
Sat 13th Aug: Jazz Money and Andrés N Ordorica: The Language of Protest and Love
Tue 16th Aug: Jessica Gaitán Johannesson & Amanda Thomson: Climate Change is Personal and Political
Tue 16th Aug: Sha Nazir and BHP Comics: How to Get into Comics and BHP Comics: Killing Time
Wed 17th Aug: Quines Cast: Live including with Hannah Lavery, Chitra Ramaswamy and Sara Shaarawi
Sun 21st Aug: Chitra Ramaswamy: Homelands
Mon 22nd Aug: Shaping Scotland’s Stories: New Voices Showcase including Anna Cheung and Trishna Singh OBE
Mon 22nd Aug: Lisa Williams in conversation with Cristina Bendek: Shifting Sands. Lisa is also leading Black History Walking Tours with Alex Wheatle throughout the festival (sold out)
Mon 22nd Aug: Edwin Morgan Poetry Award
Tues 23rd Aug: Young and in Love with Dean Atta (S1-S6, 12-18yrs)
Tue 23rd Aug: Scottish Spoken Word Showcase including Bee Asha, BEMZ and Mae Diansangu
Thu 25th Aug: Strictly Come Writing with Maisie Chan
Thu 25th Aug: Celebrating Inclusion with Jenny Kumar (Literature Alliance Scotland) and Jeda Pearl
Fri 26th Aug: Hannah Lavery: Scotland, You’re No’ Mine, chaired by Marjorie Lotfi
Fri 26th Aug: Rachelle Atalla: Where Are We Truly Safe?
Sat 27 Aug: Dean Atta & Juno Dawson: Love in Scotland
Sat 27 Aug: Ocean Vuong interviewed by Alycia Pirmohamed
Sun 28 Aug: SBWN: Right Here, Now
Events around Scotland
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 5th-29th August:
- Annie George has a double bill, Resilience, as part of the Made in Scotland showcase: Home is Not the Place (12+), and Twa (12+).
- Lubna Kerr is performing her show Tickbox (12+).
- Mara Menzies is bringing her book back to the stage in Blood and Gold.
- Niall Moorjani has three shows in the Fringe: Mohan: A Partition Story (14+), The Girl and the Dragon (5+), A Fairie Tale (15+).
- Also check out Fringe of Colour’s database of Fringe and Edinburgh International Book Festival events
WayWORD Festival – date for your diary: 20th-25th September, Aberdeenshire, including Raymond Antrobus, Monica Ali, and SBWN members Bee Asha, Mae Diansangu and Rachelle Atalla celebrating her debut novel, The Pharmacist.
Book Launches
We’re so excited to read our (award-winning) members’ new novels, memoirs, pamphlets and poetry collections!
The Way the Light Bends – Lorraine Wilson‘s second novel. Lorraine also runs #RewritingTheMargins, a bimonthly mentorship for underrepresented writers.
Homelands – Chitra Ramaswamy‘s second memoir, launching at Fringe By The Sea, 12th Aug, North Berwick.
The Nerves And Their Endings – Jessica Gaitán Johannesson debut essay collection, launching 16th Aug, Edinburgh.
Belonging – Amanda Thomson’s debut memoir, launching 25th Aug, Portobello Bookshop
There is (still) love here – Dean Atta‘s second poetry collection and his second verse novel Only on the Weekends.
Keep Dancing Lizzie Chu – Maisie Chan‘s newest middle-grade chapter book.
Re·creation:: A Queer Poetry Anthology edited by Éadaoín Lynch & Alycia Pirmohamed. Watch the launch livestream on Lighthouse Books with Joelle Taylor, Dean Atta, Andrew McMillan, Harry Josephine Giles, Nat Raha And Jay Gao.
New Skin For The Old Ceremony: A Kirtan by Arun Sood.
From Murky Waters, We Rise – Etzali Hernández‘s debut pamphlet.
Another Way to Split Water – Alycia Pirmohamed‘s debut poetry collection.
Imperium – Jay Gao‘s debut poetry collection
And a shoutout to our members who launched their books earlier this year and in 2021, including…
- At Least This I Know – Andrés N Ordorica‘s debut poetry collection
- Blood, Salt, Spring – Hannah Lavery‘s debut poetry collection
- Where Decay Sleeps – Anna Cheung‘s debut poetry collection
- Sikfan Glaschu – Sean Wai Keung‘s debut poetry collection
- Honorifics – Cynthia Miller‘s debut poetry collection
- Like A Tree, Walking by Vahni (Anthony Ezekiel) Capildeo
- The Pharmacist – Rachelle Atalla‘s debut novel.
Stay in touch
Black and PoC writers based in Scotland – let us know what you’re up to! Send info about your events, book and pamphlet launches, plays and other literary happenings to us via email and tag us on Twitter and Instagram so we can reshare.
We’re also happy to hear from publishers, bookshops, festivals, etc.
