Nearly all the West Port Book Festival team are interested in hearing about opportunities for paid employment of one kind or another.
Us
Will Brady: design
Will is a freelance graphic designer, photographer and writer. It is thanks to him that people pick up our programmes and say, ‘Ooohh, these are lovely,’ their eyes lingering on the delicate use of white space, off-beat ink splot and seductively graceful design. Sometimes we think we should just frame a few programmes and be done with it. Will is currently available for art direction, design, typesetting and photography commissions.
willbrady.net
Andrew Neil: web developer
During the day Andrew is a mild-manned software engineer; at night, and sometimes at weekends, he masquerades as @nelstrom and plunges himself into the world of open-source innovation and social media technology. He straddles the art/geek divide, equally at home with creative flair and ruthless logic. Lately, he has been collecting Collective Nouns on Twitter, and encouraging people to Pass the Plot. He is also the best-dressed Edinburgh twit 09 and is the proud owner of a parrot (not alive).
drewneil.com
Colin Fraser: social media
Editor of Anon, the anonymous submissions poetry magazine, and co-founder of constrained fiction website confiction.org, Colin is a writer and social media producer. He was a New Media Scotland twitterer-in-residence in 2009 and freelances for various literary organisations - including StAnza, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Some call him 'Beard'.
www.anonpoetry.co.uk
Kayleigh Bohan: general manager
Kayleigh spent much of her time at the University of Edinburgh pottering around secondhand bookshops in capacities both paid and unpaid while being breathtakingly efficient on behalf of the West Port Book Festival. By day, Kayleigh is a Library Assistant at the Scottish Poetry Library. She has worked in events, sold shoes, cat memorabilia and birthday cakes, and would like to continue learning about all things bookish or spreadsheet-based for money or fun. Kayleigh's mum is glad she plays trombone with Edinburgh Brass Band to "get her away from books."
Peggy Hughes: programme director
Peggy uses her communication powers at Edinburgh UNESCO City of
Literature Trust by day (and sometimes by evening too). When she's not
there, she moonlights in many other masked guises: freelance book
reviewer, co-editor of Anon poetry magazine; one third of Electric
Bookshop, event goer, Guinness drinker and Scrabble fan. Peggy's
spiritual home is second hand bookshops, and she's not as old as her
name suggests.
Hannah Adcock: director
Hannah is a freelance journalist, author, copywriter, editor, events’ organiser and jack-of-all-trades bookish. She has written for a wide range of publications ranging from The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Herald to Practical Caravan (without owning a caravan) and The Oldie (without being old). She has also trained horses, published a survival guide for 20somethings and become irretrievably entangled in the booktrade. hannahadcock.co.uk
Nicola Hopper: festival officer
Nicola is a film, media and marketing graduate who organises events, makes short films and blogs as Finding Connery . She was attracted to Edinburgh by all things Connery and will only leave when an official bus tour and/or tourist attraction is set up in his honour. Her deadline for paying tribute to the sibilant Scot is 25 August 2015 and now all she needs is his permission, a bus and a giant moustache. If you can arrange any of the above, please get in touch.
nicola@westportbookfestival.org
Chris Scott: photographer
Chris (sometimes erroneously referred to as 'Mr Donia') fell into photography through a twist of Lamarckism and into the literary circles of Edinburgh through blind luck. While juggling employment with study he takes every opportunity to gatecrash any event he can find featuring his coterie of pet wordsmiths, and when not trying to be an ace paparazzo to the literati he tries to slowly revolutionise the photographic world by being generally nice to people and making them look their best. They say nice guys finish last but at least they aren't universally reviled. Time will tell.
Isabelle Ting: Bookbinder
Isabelle Ting is a professionally trained bookbinder and printmaker who has worked for clients such as the National Trust, the Museum of Scotland and Edinburgh College of Art, and has been involved with the WPBF since its inception. In 2007 Isabelle co-founded the Owl & Lion Gallery in Edinburgh's Grassmarket. In 2011 the gallery closed only for the Owl & Lion Bindery to rise like a phoenix from its ashes – only in West Port this time, which is obviously better. Isabelle may well be the busiest bookbinding teacher in Scotland, but she still finds time to appreciate owls and food. She originally hails from Australia, although her family traces its routes back to Mongolia.
Ottilie Shipp: festival officer
Ottilie has recently returned from living in Japan where she taught English. Originally from South London (said in a cockney accent) she came to Edinburgh to study film and television at Edinburgh College of Art. Since graduating she has been keeping busy organising events – Ottilie was co-director of a weekly singer songwriter showcase called Fly Your Kite at the GRV and also managed and performed in a local band called Edward and the McCalls. In her spare time she dabbles in making short experimental films, which have been entered into various film festivals both in Edinburgh and abroad, and also in black and white photography. She also fancies herself as a writer and enjoys writing prose and poetry.
ottilie@westportbookfestival.org
Agata Maslowska: festival officer
Agata is a freelance translator and interpreter. Originally from Poland she lives in Edinburgh where she writes fiction and poetry, plays her accordion and volunteers at the Scottish Poetry Library. Over the years she has worked in various capacities as an English teacher, theatre reviewer and proofreader. She can’t (and doesn’t want to) imagine the world without second-hand bookshops.
agata@westportbookfestival.org
Piotr Tamulewicz: posters
Piotr is a ‘creative type bloke’ who lives and works in Edinburgh. In a nutshell, his work involves sitting at his shiny computer all day long creating designs for cool folks from around the world. Tough luck, hey? He has a keen interest in everything to do with branding, graphic design and typography - you would probably call it an obsession. His interests include spending time with his amazing girlfriend Katharina, good food, good films, good company, bad television, live music and colours that would make your eyes bleed.
John-Mark Glover: festival officer
With a background in publishing, narrow-gauge train-driving and commercial window-cleaning, John-Mark currently works at the National Museum of Scotland. He has (bravely or foolishly) put himself at the disposal of the West Port Book Festival to undertake whatever tasks the imaginatively demanding Directorate require. He came by this post browsing the Creative Scotland Opportunities site, and, as a lover of Edinburgh, books, and all things eclectic, volunteered to lend a hand, blithely hoping the West Port Book Festival might help him too. His hopes were modest: maybe a chance to stretch some decaying creative muscles; maybe a contact or two: maybe just a warm fuzzy feeling at the end of it all. And maybe the occasional cake?
john-mark@westportbookfestival.org