An illustration of one of the stone piers and archways of the North Bridge, Edinburgh. By Kezia Lewis. With rays of purple and blue in the left top corner.

North Bridge: Where We Travelled Book Launch

Anthology, Past Events / By

Come celebrate the launch of our innovative, multi-genre anthology North Bridge: Where We Travelled!

Graphic with diagonal rays of colour and the book North Brudge: Where We Travelled. Text: Book Launch! 25 October 5.30pm - 7pm Charteris Centre St Ninian's Hall 138-140 Pleasance Edinburgh, EH8 9RR poetry / fiction / SFF / memoir / script / game Tickets: jedapearl.com

25th October 2025

5.30pm – 7pm

Charteris Centre  
St Ninian’s Hall 
138-140 Pleasance 
Edinburgh, EH8 9RR (Google Maps)

Book tickets

Tickets include tea & cake and go towards covering reader fees and access needs: £2.75, or £10 (the price of the book), or donation PWYC. Limited number of free tickets available for people who need them – no questions asked, simply email: jeda@jedapearl.com 

We have the last remaining copies of our limited print run in colour available at our book launch, and you can buy a copy with your event ticket.

Books are also available at some local indie bookshops, in Edinburgh libraries, at high school libraries, and as an ebook.

The book and event are suitable for adults and young adults. Parental guidance for under 14yrs. 

Reader line-up

Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Sandy, who is wearing a beret over shoulder-length hair, a winter coat and check-patterned scarf. She has a slight smile and is standing in front of a cathedral. Sandy Bennett-Haber is an Edinburgh based Australian writer, mother and wild swimmer. She is currently writing a speculative fiction novel. Sandy is a founder member of the Women Writers Network and has previously been selected for the Creative Scotland Our Voices program and longlisted for the Primadonna Prize. BlueSky: @sandybennett-haber.bsky.social Instagram: @sandybennetthaber
Sandy Bennett-Haber
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Zain, who is wearing glasses, one earring and a t-shirt. He has short, thick hair and a stubbly-beard. He's in front of an orange wall, smiling. Zain Rishi is a writer and bookseller from Birmingham. He won the 27th annual Ware Poets Prize and placed third in the 2024 Oxford Poetry Prize. His debut pamphlet, Noon, is forthcoming with The Emma Press in February 2026. Instagram: @zain.rishi
Zain Rishi​
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Sonny, who is wearing a lightweight jacket. He has short-cropped hair and stubble. He is looking to the side, standing on the North Bridge, with a foggy Edinburgh Old Town in the background. Sonny is a proud team member at Invisible Cities. He enjoys giving walking tours of his city, Edinburgh, that show sides of the capital that will amaze you! Sonny writes about his life experiences, including homelessness, and is working on his memoir. Website: invisible-cities.org Photo: Alicia Bruce
Sonny
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Catherine, who is wearing glasses, and a shirt over a polo neck, and large hoop earrings. She has chin-length hair with a fringe, and is smiling towards a window where light comes in. Catherine Wilson Garry is a poet and writer. Her debut poetry pamphlet Another Word for Home is Blackbird was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press. She has been highly commended by the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award 2024 and the Bridport Poetry Prize. Instagram: @CWilsonPoet Website: CWilsonGarry.co.uk
Catherine Wilson Garry
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of ABS, who is wearing an open-collar shirt with pockets over a t-shirt. He has a full beard and is smiling. There's greenery in the background. ABS is a creative technologist, game designer, producer and writer. He is an interdisciplinary collaborator in live events, immersive experiences, game development and genre fiction/psychogeography/TTRPGs. He enjoys engaging with people/places and history/culture – accessibly and sustainably. He is Board Secretary of Cymera festival, and the founder of the Edinburgh based morefunwith.games. More on abs.ventures. BlueSky: abs.ventures Instagram: @_a_b_5_
ABS
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Lesa, who wears a sparkly jumper and is standing in front of a textured wall with a slight smile. Her long, pink, wavy hair is in a side-parting and cascades over her shoulders. Lesa Ng is an Edinburgh based Glaswegian, librarian, poet, and writer. Her work is published in the Responders of Colour Annual (2022) and Covert Literary Magazine (2024). She appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2022 and 2023 and at Book Fringe: the ALT Edition in 2024. Instagram: @mrmacwolfy
Lesa Ng
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Elspeth, who wears a square-neck summer top. She is standing in dappled sunlight, with greenery in the background, and is partly-turned to the side, looking back to the camera and smiling. Elspeth Wilson is a writer interested in exploring the limitations and possibilities of the body. Her pamphlet, Too Hot to Sleep, is published by Written Off Publishing. Her debut novel, These Mortal Bodies, is forthcoming with Simon and Schuster in 2025. She can often be found in the sea. Instagram: @elspethwrites Website: elspethwilson.co.uk
​​Elspeth Wilson​
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Rachel, who wears a winter faux-fur-collared coat, with a floral broach. She has a slight smile, and her long wavy hair falls over her shoulders. There are evening city lights in the background. Rachel Gorry is a keen writer of short stories. Currently living in Glasgow, she is developing her debut novel. As well as writing, Rachel is a lover of anime, video-gaming and music-making. Photo: Andy Catlin
Rachel Gorry​
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Nazaret, who wears a long-sleeved jumper over a shirt, and a large ring. She has a hand under her chin and head titled to the side. Her long straight hair flows over one shoulder and she's smiling. Nazaret Ranea is a poet from Málaga, Spain, based in Edinburgh. Named one of Scotland’s Next Generation Young Makars, her debut collection Nettles (Drunk Muse Press, 2025) explores themes of migration, nature, and work. She has performed on BBC Radio Scotland and at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and StAnza, where she was 2025 Poet in Residence. IG: @nazareterreese Website: nazaretranea.com
Nazaret Ranea​
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Leilani, who wears a headwrap, floaty cotton top and beads. She's looking into the distance, standing in front of coastal rock formations. Loose curls of her afro hair float in the breeze. Leilani Taneus-Miller is a Haitian-American writer based in Edinburgh. An Alexander Dixon Scholar at University of Glasgow’s creative writing programme, her work has appeared in public campaigns, bookshops and anthologies. She is drawn to research and programming on: the art of migration communities, regeneration of Afro-Caribbean archives, and narrative voice in diasporic literature and theatre. Instagram: @leilani_taneusmiller Photo: Rod Penn
Leilani Taneus-Miller
Event graphic with event text and author bio. North Bridge: Where We Travelled book Launch. 25 Oct 2025, 5.30pm, Charteris Centre. Photo of Jeda, who wears a cotton top, and is standing in front of a sea-green wall. She's smiling and her curly hair cascades over her shoulders. Jeda Pearl is a Scottish Jamaican writer and arts programmer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her work was shortlisted by RSL Jerwood Poetry Award 2024 & Sky Arts RSL Award 2022, and longlisted by BSFA 2024 & Women Poets’ Prize 2022. Her poems and stories appear in art installations and several anthologies, and her debut poetry collection, Time Cleaves Itself, is published by Peepal Tree Press. @JedaPearl Website: jedapearl.com
Host: Jeda Pearl
Event graphic with event text and author photo thumbnails.
All readers
Book tickets

Access

  • Format:
    • In-person event.
    • Readers will read their pieces from the book and Jeda will share details about the project, followed by book signing.
  • Venue is wheelchair accessible – more info (new tab). 
  • You may wear a mask and masks will be available.
  • We do not have the tech for live in-person captions, but might be able to provide a note-taker.
  • Hybrid unavailable but we’ll have an online event another month. 
  • Some captioned recordings shared afterwards TBC.
  • Please add your access requirements during booking.

About the book

Image of a paperback book and an e-reader with the cover of the book North Bridge: Where We Travelled. The cover has an illustration of one of the stone piers and archways of the bridge.

North Bridge: Where We Travelled navigates North Bridge as connector, communicator, or passageway, has works that criticise the bridge’s links with colonialism, empire and industry; celebrate the bridge and the city; speculate on life in Auld Reekie (and alternate realities); or tell it how it is, as a woman, worker, visitor, or homeless person. Humanity, nonhuman experience, and emotional inner lives are explored from many angles.

Our multi-genre anthology has… historical, speculative (sci-fi, fantasy) & contemporary fiction, poetry in Scots & English, memoir, a script and a game! All inspired by the iconic North Bridge – a vital artery of Edinburgh since 1763 – and it’s reach beyond.

Contributors include: ABS, Brynn P, Catherine Wilson Garry, Elspeth Wilson, Ema Smekalová, Jay Garfield Oliver, Jeda Pearl, Kate Wilkinson, Leilani Taneus-Miller, Lesa Ng, Margherita Still, Maria Conte, Nazaret Ranea, Rachel Gorry, Rachel McBrinn, Sandy Bennett-Haber, Sonny, Tamzin McDonald, Toni De Luca, Zain Rishi. 

This book is the culmination of a community project called Bridging Time, part of the North Bridge Refurbishment Arts Legacy and Community Benefits Programme and ‘If this bridge could talk: past, present, future’, supported by the City of Edinburgh Council. Partners include Balfour Beatty, Invisible Cities, The Crannie and Southside Community Centre. 

Book tickets

Related Posts

Skip to content