Cumbernauld 19 – 21 May A festival uncovering the human stories behind the buildings in Scotland’s New Towns booked.edbookfest.co.uk @edbookfest 1947: The New Towns Act is passed. ReimagiNation: 1957: The first Cumbernauld is a festival sod of the New weekend bringing stories Town is cut. out of the shadows of the New Town’s infamous architecture. 1967: The Town Produced by the Edinburgh International Book Festival in partnership with CultureNL Centre complex and having taken input from hundreds of local residents, workers and organisations, this is opened. festival weekend launches an 18 month tour of Scotland’s 5 New Towns with an exciting programme of events, debates, workshops, readings, performances, walking tours, What happened exhibitions and more for adults and children. next? From crime fiction to local history and sci-fi to sport, we listened to what local people want as we built ReimagiNation, ensuring there are events for all ages and all interests as well as plenty of free drop-in activities. There’s even a pop-up Waterstones bookshop on Teviot Walk, and Cumbernauld Librarians will be on the ground level too. ReimagiNation is a chance to tell your story in your town, and hear others from some of the best authors and performers around. Access and Ticketing Most ReimagiNation Tickets cost £5 or events take place around £3.50 concessions Cumbernauld Town unless otherwise stated. the centre will direct you. To Book: ReimagiNation is accessible on foot, by car, Online: booked.edbookfest.co.uk rail or bus. Travel information can be found Phone: 01698 274545 on booked.edbookfest.co.uk or check Visit: Cumbernauld Library, or Traveline Scotland. Motherwell Concert Hall (Mon – Fri, 9am – 4.45pm) Venues & Access: Many events and exhibitions are free. Cumbernauld Shopping Centre venues: See back for details. Festival Hub, Cinema and Library/Bookshop: Teviot Walk (ground level). Concessions: Castle Comics: Turn right at the top of the Under 16s, students, pensioners, registered escalator on Teviot Walk. disabled and jobseekers. Carers go free. Cumbernauld Library and Museum: Allander Group discounts and Festival Passes available Walk (top floor). Fully accessible. by phone. Penthouse Flats: Please note the flats are not fully accessible. See online for details. Events last one hour unless stated. Most include an audience Q&A, followed by a book signing. New Town Hall, Bron Way: Opposite the Antonine Centre, between The Tryst and Central Heath Centre. Fully accessible, parking available. St Mungo’s Parish Church, 4 St Mungo’s Road: Directly outside Tweed Walk Shopping Centre exit. Travel and access info online. Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Kyle Road, Kildrum: Parking available. Travel and access info online. Full access info: booked.edbookfest.co.uk Free Drop-In Events Tales of Our Town Pop-Up Cinema Sat: 8.15am – 6.30pm | Sun: 11am – 5pm Sat & Sun: 10am – 6pm Cumbernauld Shopping Centre Cinema, All ages Discover four new illustrated tales of the town Step into Cumbernauld’s past and enjoy a rolling created by local pupils in our ReimagiNation programme of films from North Lanarkshire’s residency. How do the kids of Carbrain, Kildrum, Cumbernauld Collection and the National St Mary’s and St Margaret of Scotland Primary Library of Scotland Film Archive. Films include: Schools imagine Cumbernauld — past, present Cumbernauld: Town for Tomorrow, Cumbernauld and future? Hit, ads and cartoons from 1950 to 1980. 50 Years of Cumbernauld See the Light: Town Centre UV Drawing Room Sat: 10am – 6pm | Sun: 11am – 4pm Sat & Sun: 10am - 4pm Cumbernauld Museum Teviot Walk A display of items from North Lanarkshire’s Step into an amazing UV Drawing Room and Cumbernauld Collection, marking 50 years reveal incredible images from Cumbernauld’s since the Town Centre was opened. past! Use UV torches and special templates of images from the Cumbernauld Collection to see Build a Carbrain Totem the New Town as never before. with Eilidh Muldoon Sat & Sun: 11am – 4pm Building Blocks: Lego Festival Hub, All ages Animation Workshop Inspired by Brian Miller, Cumbernauld’s very first Sat & Sun: 11am – 4pm town artist, join artist Eilidh Muldoon to build Festival Hub, Ages 8 – 13 your own version of his Carbrain landmark. Make your own short animation using everyone’s favourite toy – Lego. Get advice on creating a story, then learn to film a short stop- Faulty Towers: frame animation. New Town Life & Housing Sat & Sun: 10am – 4pm St Mungo’s Church It’s All About UKE! Sun: 1pm – 1.45pm & 1.45pm – 2.30pm Explore 70 years of life and housing in Cumbernauld Library, Ages 8+ Cumbernauld through fascinating photos, A family-focused taster workshop on that much adverts, letters and plans. See how the town’s loved instrument – the ukulele! No previous innovative housing was envisioned then shaped experience required. by those who moved in, and add your own photos and memories. Cumbernauld Unbound Sat: 8pm – 10pm, See inside for details Books, Friday 19 May Diane Watters: Sunday 21 May Birth, Death, Renewal reimagined 2pm, New Town Hall My Cumbernauld, Join architectural historian Diane Watters for a Braw Wee Stories Books and stories are hugely My Story: Workshop lively account of the past and possible futures with Mike Nicholson diverse, and so are we. Traditional 1pm – 4pm, Cumbernauld Museum for St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross, an iconic 11.30am Come along to share reflections and modernist structure which has been praised Cumbernauld Library, Ages 3 - 6 events see authors talk about their experiences of your life in Cumbernauld, and and pilloried in equal measure, and is now being Mike Nicholson brings the friendly folk and fun writing and lives. They may read feed into the creation of a collage of local stories. transformed into a cultural space. Scots words of Thistle Street to Cumbernauld. extracts and take your questions. Bring any items you would like to add. Join him for a lively interactive session of rhyme, You can usually chat with them The Town for Tomorrow word-play and guessing games. afterwards too. But from lively The Big Festival Story Tour debates to fascinating reading 2pm – 3.30pm, Meet 1.45pm Plan Book Club 11.30am – 1pm & 2.30pm – 4pm workshops, creative sessions for 4.30pm, Cumbernauld Library St Mungo’s Church, All ages New Town Hall, Adults & 8+ Free but ticketed Cumbernauld has always been the Town for kids to food events, and theatrical Ishbel McFarlane’s Plan is a show with a game in Dive into history with local librarians and Tomorrow, but did you know that it’s also the performances to cabaret nights, it, in which you plot and build your own imaginary explore the bestselling fiction of 1957 – when future seat of Scotland’s space programme? New Town. It’s a show about utopias, refugees a Book Festival event can offer Cumbernauld was being designed. Come along That’s what storytelling duo Macastory tell us at and cities offering a thought-provoking spin on something special to everyone. for a read and a chat. Refreshments provided. No any rate! Join them on a fun song and story trail how modern Cumbernauld came to be. advance reading required. through the Town Centre. Tickets: £5 / £3.50 Bloody Murder: Jenny Colgan on Utopia to Carbuncle: A Wrinkle in Time Town Centre Walking Tour Events 1 hour Graeme Macrae Burnet 12pm – 1.30pm, Meet: 11:45am Unless stated 7pm, New Town Hall Reading Workshop Sacred Heart Church, All ages A national publishing success story last year, 2.30pm, Penthouse Flats Bookended by visits to two impressive modernist booked.edbookfest.co.uk Graeme Macrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project is a Meet: 2.15pm, Cumbernauld Library churches, reimagine Cumbernauld through the mesmerising thriller centred on a triple murder Join Doctor Who writer Jenny Colgan for eyes of two leading experts, Miles Glendinning and in a remote Highland community in 1869. Join Madeline L’Engle’s lively workshop on a Diane Watters, both thoroughly steeped in the New the author and delve into a story of murder classic, award-winning sci-fi novel. Explore the Town history. Tour concludes at St Mungo’s Church. and madness. intergalactic adventure of the original book which has been adapted for stage and screen, with a new film due in 2018. Passages provided, Liz Lochhead: no need to read beforehand. Poetry and Place Saturday 20 May 12pm, New Town Hall Denise Mina: Killer Fiction Before taking up the mantle of Scots Makar, poet The Big Book Bonanza 3pm, Cumbernauld Library Liz Lochhead was an art teacher in Cumbernauld. 11am – 12.30pm, Scottish crime superstar Denise Mina’s latest She takes you on a journey through her work and New Town Hall, Ages 8+ novel follows the twinned fates of William inspirations, investigating how poetry informs Join a whole host of favourite children’s authors Watt and Peter Manuel, offering a compelling our understanding of where we’re from. for a fun-filled start to Saturday! There’s fictionalised account of Scotland’s first something for everyone in a packed line-up convicted serial killer. See a crime writer at the Liz Lochhead on including Lari Don, David MacPhail, Barry top of her unsettling game. Hutchison, Mark A Smith and Jenny Colgan, plus Edwin Morgan’s Poetry hosts Macastory and some special guests. Overspilling: Reading Workshop 2pm, Penthouse Flats Cumbernauld Stories Meet: 1:45pm, Cumbernauld Library Plan 4pm 11.30am – 1pm & 2.30pm – 4pm The poetry of Glasgow’s first Laureate Edwin New Town Hall, Free but ticketed New Town Hall, Adults & 8+ Morgan bore witness to the city and its people A special showcase of Cumbernauld stories Ishbel McFarlane’s Plan is a show with a game in – their pain, joy, hope, humanity – while being from residents young and old.