RBS Schools Events

Monday 25 August, 10.00am-11.30am, RBS Workshop TentS4-6 Freedom with Scottish PENEVENT SYNOPSISScottish PEN writers will usethe board game ‘Free Zoravia’to stimulate discussion amongstudents and provide them withopportunities for creativewriting. The game aims tocreate an awareness of theimportance of freedomof expression and to showhow oppressive states try todeny this right to their citizens.The exercise also suggestshow people worldwide canhelp to combat this.Please note bookings are limitedto a maximum of 40 pupils plusteachers.BIOGRAPHYScottish PEN is a branch of International PEN, a worldwide associationof writers which campaigns for freedom of expression and defendspersecuted writers. It has run workshops in schools, using the boardgame as a starting point for discussion and writing about many issues.TIPS FOR TEACHERS• It is the 60th anniversary of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, founded on the equalentitlement of all people to freedom, justice and peace. Learn more about this important milestoneat www.un.org/Overview/rights.html.• Look at the Scottish PEN website or ask their office for information leaflets, particularly the PENCharter and the Writers in Prison leaflet. Use these as tools to begin a discussion surrounding theissues of freedom of speech.• Ask students to think about censorship. How much is there in this country and in their own lives?• At the event suggestions will be given for follow-up work arising from the board game.WEBSITE www.scottishpen.orgMonday 25 August, 10.30am-11.30am, RBS Imagination LabP7-S2EVENT SYNOPSISCatherine Webb has beenwriting books since she wasfourteen. She has written in avariety of genres from fantasyto historical adventure, andloves to include inside jokesfor savvy readers. In this eventshe will talk about how shebecame a writer, the subjectsthat most influence her writing(like science and history) andthe stories she likes best. Nospecific preparation is required.Catherine WebbBIOGRAPHYCatherine Webb is one of the most talented and exciting young writersof children’s fiction in the UK. She published her extraordinary debutMirror Dreams at the age of fourteen, garnering comparisons withTerry Pratchett and Philip Pullman. She lives in London with a rubberduck called Alice and is currently writing the insanely clever HoratioLyle series.TIPS FOR TEACHERS• Horatio Lyle conducts experiments and solves problems using physics, chemistry and mechanicalknow-how. Try your own classroom experiments to solve everyday problems or research someamazing discoveries from history.• Horatio lives in Victorian London. Take a look at this point in history. What are the similarities anddifferences to life now? What is the Industrial Revolution and why do you think it was important?• Victorian novels follow a very particular writing style. Try reading a passage of a famous Victoriannovel and decipher it. You could use Jekyll and Hyde from this year’s One Book: One Edinburghcampaign, instead of Dickens or Hardy.BOOKSHELFThe Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle £5.99, The Obsidian Dagger: Being theFurther Extraordinary Adventures of Horatio Lyle £5.99, The Doomsday Machine: Another AstoundingAdventure of Horatio Lyle £10.99WEBSITE www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/catherine-webb/EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL RBS SCHOOLS PROGRAMME17