As part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, Book Festival staff have been working with a group of school pupils aged 8-14 from Craigmillar in Edinburgh to co-curate a strand of events exploring the concept of freedom. The name the young people have chosen for their strand is Codename F.
The Codename F young programmers have designed 9 events across the Book Festival’s public adult and children’s programmes, and the programme for schools. In a series of posts, the young people (and some of the authors featured) explain the reasoning behind their decisions.
Helena Duggan & Christopher Edge: Quirky Adventures
Sunday 19 August, 17:00 – 18:00
Baillie Gifford Imagination Lab (Charlotte Square Gardens)
£5.00 – Tickets available here from Tues 26 June
Two masters of quirky and unforgettable adventures share the stage. Explore the real-life science behind Christopher Edge’s new mind-bending mystery, The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, and venture back to Perfect with Helena Duggan in the second instalment of her creepy A Place Called Perfect series. Fantastic characters, twisting plots and unusual settings transport these books to another world.
Year of Young People co-programmer Bruce Banner is a big fan of this combo of eerie stories from two great novelists:
Great for getting your blood pumping!
Meanwhile, India Cierpikowska thought A Place Called Perfect helped raise important questions about our surveillance society:
How can life be perfect if you’ve always got eyes on you?
The Codename F group liked the blend of reality and the surreal in the books and the plots led to discussions on being trapped mentally rather than physically, and drew comparisons with the increased monitoring of individuals by government bodies and national corporations.
Author Christopher Edge was thrilled to discover that he had been chosen to be part of the Year of Young People: Codename F strand:
Children’s books give young people the freedom to explore and make sense of the world, provide an escape from it, and maybe one day will inspire them to build a better one. I love coming to the Edinburgh International Book Festival as it sets so many imaginations free – including mine! It’s wonderful to see young people taking a leading role in programming this strand. Thanks for inviting me to be part of this!
Helena Duggan was equally as excited:
I think the kids will do a much better job [of programming events] than adults could ever do and I can’t wait to discover what they have in store for us! Hopefully it doesn’t include sludge, I’m not a huge fan of sludge especially green sludge, I’ve heard that Chris is though…
Find out what’s in store by coming along to the event on 19 August. Tickets cost £5.00 and we recommend booking in advance.
You can find a full list of the Year of Young People: Codename F events here.
You can book tickets for any of the events in the Codename F strand from Tuesday 26 June online, by phone 0345 373 5888 or in person. You can find all of the booking information on the Book Festival website at www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/how-to-book
About the Year of Young People 2018
In 2018, Scotland puts its young people in the spotlight, celebrating their talents, contributions and creating new opportunities for them to shine. The Year of Young People 2018 is a year-long programme of events and activities that will give young people in Scotland the opportunity to show the world what they are made of.
