The Making Moment with Conor O'Brien (Villagers), Hollie McNish & more

An Edinburgh University Writer in Residence event

with Edinburgh & Dublin UNESCO Cities of Literature,

Scottish Storytelling Centre, and the Goethe-Institut…

on occasion of the UNESCO Cities of Literature Network Conference:

The Making Moment

with

Conor O’Brien (Villagers)

Hollie McNish

Sadaf Zahedi

Michael Pedersen

Friday 25th October

Gordon Aikman Theatre, 32 George Square, Edinburgh

18:30 — 20:00

— with book signing afterwards by Lighthouse Books —

Tickets FREE via Eventbrite below.

Conor J. O’Brien

Dublin has a long and legendary tradition of writers, and since Conor J. O’Brien adopted the name Villagers, the singer-songwriter-instrumentalist-dramatist has joined the club with a rich, deep and diverse body of work. Villagers have since become a formidable and glorious musical force – twice shortlisted for the Mercury Prize for Music, twice winning an Ivor Novello Award, and garnering many more sublime accolades. This event will serve as a celebration of Conor’s new book, with Faber Music, Passing A Message — an exciting publication presenting the lyrics to over 80 songs collected for the first time in one volume, with artwork and photographs, along with previously unseen notebook lyric drafts and drawings curated by Conor. It’s a truly stunning literary arrival.

Hollie McNish

is a Ted Hughes Award winning poet, a twice Sunday Times Bestselling author, and the first poet to record a poetry album in London’s Abbey Road Studios. Having published some six superb books, she’s sold out theatres of the scale of Hackney Empire and Liverpool Playhouse, penned a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ Athenian tragedy Antigone, and counts amongst her fans Matt Haig, Jodie Comer, Jo Brand and Lemn Sissay. Her recent book, Lobster & Other Things I’m Learning to Love, was an instant best-seller, and her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese and more. She really loves writing.

Sadaf Zahedi

Sadaf was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, came to Germany at the age of three as a child refugee of war, and grew up in Bremen. She developed a passion for writing early on and regularly performed her poetry to raise funds for charitable causes. Sadaf writes autobiographical stories and texts to raise a loud voice against the silent violence against girls and women. Her story Four Seasons was selected by the Erik Neutsch Foundation in the 2020/21 competition and published by Neues Leben in April 2022. Excerpts from it were integrated into the production of the play Dazwischen by the Transcultural Theater Osnabrück. Zahedi has recently completed her first novel about the oppression of Muslim girls and modern Afghanistan, and she has submitted this work to various competitions.

Michael Pedersen:

is the Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University and the current Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction at Scotland's National Book Awards. His third poetry collection, The Cat Prince, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has also been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has been praised by the likes of Stephen Fry, Kae Tempest, Shirley Manson, Maggie Smith, David Shrigley & many more.

This is part of a series of events that has seen esteemed cultural figures appear at Edinburgh University in-conversation with Writer in Residence, Michael Pedersen. Thus far we have hosted the likes of Alan Cumming, Sara Pascoe, Nicola Sturgeon, Irvine Welsh, Jackie Kay, and Val McDermid in some of Edinburgh University’s most stunning spaces.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre, 32 George Square, Edinburgh, United Kingdom