We are back at the Edinburgh Festivals again this August with a host of events celebrating free speech.
Secret Comedy Podcast Live... from Edinburgh 2013
Throughout August our Secret Comedy Podcast returns for an extended run
of 15 shows with hosts Julian Clary (in Edinburgh exclusively for us),
Ed Byrne, Alan Davies, Jo Caulfield, Christian O'Connell, and John
Moloney.
Buy tickets for the live shows | Subscribe on iTunes | Listen to past shows
Other acts joining us for stand-up, chat and music will be Cassette Boy, Mark Thomas, Lucy Porter and many many more. See all names confirmed so far
The Critics vs Comics football match
"Such a grudge match they had to get Amnesty International to referee".
The critics vs comics football match is back with the comedians keen to trounce the critics for a second year running.
Turn up and cheer on your favourite comedian or critic - or just watch them run around the Meadows. Either way, it's sure to be entertaining.
Date: Sunday 11 August 2013
Time: 3pm kickoff
Location: The Meadows
The winners' trophy has been kindly donated by Challenge Trophies
Freedom of Expression Award 2013
- Neil Cooper - writer and Theatre Critic for The Herald
- Lyn Gardner - writer and Theatre Critic for The Guardian
- Stephanie Knight - Applied Theatre and Human Rights specialist
- Joyce McMillan - writer and Theatre Critic for The Scotsman
- Joe Spurgeon - cultural journalist and Theatre Critic for FEST magazine
- Name of your production
- Brief description of the work
- Venue
- Run dates
- Production contact email and mobile phone number
Amnesty at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
Poetry and the Fight for Human Rights - Jackie Kay and Matthew Kay
Date Friday 16 August
Time 4.30pm - 5.30pm
Venue Baillie Gifford Main Theatre, Charlotte Square EH2 4DR
Price £10.00, £8.00 - available online or from the on-site Box Office
This year's Amnesty Annual Lecture features Jackie Kay in discussion with her filmmaker son, Matthew Kay. Jackie will read from her new poems focusing on asylum-seekers in Glasgow, and the rich artistic and cultural contributions they make to the lives of their communities, as well as broadening the political discussion in Scotland.
Matthew Kay recently took a British football team to Palestine, where poetry is also a vital part of the culture of resistance. He'll screen an extract from the documentary he made following the visit.
Imprisoned Writers Series
Date Every day of the Book Festival, 10-25 August
Time 5.30pm - 6.15pm
Venue Peppers Theatre, Charlotte Square EH2 4DR
Price Free - available from the Book Festival Box Office in Charlotte Square on the day
Our well-established series returns to the Book Festival for another year, to showcase the work of those who have been locked up, threatened or even killed for what they have written.
Every evening, renowned authors, thinkers and speakers appearing in the Edinburgh International Book festival programme will read a selection of these works, with a different topic and a new panel of authors daily. Writings will focus on a range of human rights subjects, including the death penalty, climate justice and love as a human right.
Using fiction to teach about the death penalty
'It is through literature, not simply literacy, that we learn to understand and empathise ... Through literature, we can find our place in the world, feel we belong and discover our sense of responsibility. Amnesty International understands this very well.' - Michael MorpurgoDate Thursday 22 August 2013
Time 5.00pm to 6.00pm
Venue Baillie Gifford Corner Theatre, Charlotte Square EH2 4DR
Annabel Pitcher and specialist English teacher Claire Dancer discuss how to use fiction to stimulate lively discussion around the death penalty across the secondary curriculum. The event is chaired by Guardian's children's book editor Julia Eccleshare.
Fiction is a very powerful means of inspiring and informing young people about human rights. This event looks at profound issues of guilt and punishment, focusing on award-winning author Annabel Pitcher's new novel Ketchup Clouds, awarded Waterstones Children's Book of the Year 2013. The book's central character writes to a man on death row in order to articulate and explore her own dilemmas in life.
Edinburgh Appeal - Prageeth Eknaligoda
This year we are asking Festival goers to take action for Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda.
Prageeth Eknaligoda is a Sri Lankan journalist, cartoonist and political analyst who has been missing since he left work on the evening of 24 January 2010, just days before the last presidential election in Sri Lanka.
Shortly before he disappeared, Prageeth Eknaligoda had completed a comparative analysis of the two main presidential candidates, coming out in favour of the opposition.
In the days before he went missing, he told a friend he believed he was being followed and his neighbours reported seeing a white van without number plates close to his house.
We fear he might have been taken because of what he said as a journalist. Please download the letter below and write to the President of Sri Lanka calling for an investigation.