The Portobello Bookshop team is thrilled to welcome cultural icon David Shrigley to Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre for this very special evening event to celebrate the publication of his brand new book, Creative Writing. Shrigley will be in conversation with Edinburgh Makar, Michael Pedersen. There will be time for an audience Q&A following the discussion between Shrigley and Pedersen. About Creative Writing: The cultural icon is back: but this time, with no illustrations. Creative Writing is a thoughtfully designed, black and white book of David’s comic writing - pure words, pure joy, pure Shrigley. Featuring … Creative Project The shape of a banana Whatever you create it must be the shape of a banana and look like a banana That is the only constraint otherwise you are completely free to create whatever you want Let your imagination run wild and others … Participants: David Shrigley - Author David Shrigley was born in Macclesfield in 1968 and studied at Glasgow School of Art. His work has been exhibited at Tate Modern in London, at MoMA in New York, and in Paris, Berlin, Melbourne and beyond. He has published over twenty books, animated a music video for Blur and produced another for Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. His work has also been profiled in a documentary for Channel 4. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2013 and in 2016 his sculpture Really Good was installed on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. In 2018, he was the Guest Director of Brighton Festival. He lives and works in Brighton. Michael Pedersen - Chair Michael Pedersen is a prize-winning Scottish poet and author, and the Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends, was published by Faber & Faber to rave reviews and was a Sunday Times Critics Choice 2022. He’s unfurled three collections of poetry, the most recent being The Cat Prince & Other Poems – which won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and The Scottish National Book Awards, and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has attracted praise from the likes of: Stephen Fry, Bernardine Evaristo, Kae Tempest, Irvine Welsh & many more. His debut novel, Muckle Flugga, was shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards and the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award.

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