International Women's Day Events

11:00-12:00 International Women's Day and the Stories We Tell about Women with  Rosa Campbell 

Venue: IASH Seminar Room, Hope Park Square 

Presently, there are two stories being told about feminism. First is the 'anti-feminist' story that the global far-right tells. This falsely suggests that the movement has been so successful that men are now oppressed and that feminism does not represent the interests of 'ordinary' women, but elites. The second is an important, compelling critique from the left, that feminism is not inclusive enough, that it has been a movement for white, middle-class women from the Global North. In this talk, I will discuss a visit of Vietnamese women to Australia for International Women's Day 1975 to demonstrate how global histories of feminism might offer us new stories.

Respondents: Wannes Dupont and Hemangini Gupta

This event is presented by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, in partnership with GENDER.ED.

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(N.B This event is open to UoE Staff and Students only due to the limited capacity of the venue.) 

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13:00-14:00 – Creative Writing and Inclusion with Isla Cowan and Jaspreet Kaur 

Central Campus; for details, see Eventbrite link

Join playwright Isla Cowan and writer Jaspreet Kaur for an exclusive conversation around creative writing and inclusion. Together, they will explore ecofeminism, privilege and social change, and consider the future of inclusion in literature

Isla Cowan is a playwright, performer and director from Edinburgh. Isla specialises in making ecofeminist theatre, and is committed to exploring issues of class, gender, and ecology in her work. Isla was winner of the 2022 Assembly ART Award and the 2021 Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize for her acclaimed monologue play She Wolf, and nominated for the 2022 Filipa Bragança Award for best female solo performance. Isla’s plays have also been recently shortlisted for the St Andrews Playwriting Award and the Phil Fox Award. Playwriting credits include: To the Bone (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), She Wolf (Assembly Roxy), Progress Review (Stellar Quines, Traverse Theatre), Alright Sunshine (A Play, A Pie and A Pint, Òran Mór), And… And… And… (Strange Town Touring Company, Traverse Theatre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Hopscotch Theatre Company), Daphne, or Hellfire (Pleasance), and Sno Wite and the Seven Dickensians (Strange Town, Scottish Storytelling Centre), amongst others. 

Jaspreet Kaur, also known by her online handle ‘Behind the Netra’, is an award-winning spoken word artist, history teacher and writer from London. She is passionate about gender issues, taboo subjects, and encourages positive social change in both the Asian community and wider society. Her work tackles issues related to gender discrimination, mental health stigma, the postcolonial immigrant experience, and more.  Jaspreet is a regular on the BBC, Sunday Morning Live, Radio 4 and worked with the UN on the HeforShe campaign. She is the author of #1 Amazon bestseller, Brown Girl Like Me.  One of the first books to speak directly to the experiences of South Asian women in Britain since 1978, delving into some of the most complex conversations brown women are tackling today. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to build a fuller picture of women’s lives in Britain today across a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives. Her first children’s book The Spaces in Between, an illustrated children’s mindfulness poetry book, released in April 2023 in the UK, USA, Canada and South Korea.

This event is presented by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, in partnership with GENDER.ED.   

This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis

Access to Eventbrite page for this event

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14:30-16:00  – Inspiring Inclusion with Scottish PEN  with Louise Welsh

Central Campus; for details, see Eventbrite link

Chaired by acclaimed writer and Honorary President of Scottish PEN, Louise Welsh, this special International Women’s Day event features writers from around Scotland reading their work.

Nuala Watt was born and lives in Glasgow. She is recognised as one of Scotland’s leading young poets. Watt holds an MLitt in Creative Writing from the University of St Andrews and she studied for a PhD on the role of partial sight in poetic composition at the University of Glasgow. In 2009-10 she was a member of the Clydebuilt mentoring scheme, where she was mentored by Liz Lochhead. Her poems have appeared in Magma and Gutter, as well as on BBC Radio. Her work is included in the anthology Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back.

Amira Al Shanti is a Scottish Palestinian writer, actor and singer. Her work has been published in The Herald and the online zine Dardishi. She also wrote and starred in the short film 'Said the Dove to the Olive Tree' (Interabang Productions) and followed this up with a spoken word piece at the Take One Action Film Festival 2022. Recent performance credits include her West End debut in the world premiere of Rumi at the London Coliseum; and providing Arabic voiceover work in the National Theatre of Scotland's screenplay adaptation of Adam (BBC Scotland). Amira also recently completed a doctorate in psychology and has published work in scientific journals. She received a YWCA Scotland 30 under 30 award in 2020. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Kavya Prize for her short story 'The Witch of Womanhood'.

江莘荑 / Xinyi Jiang was born in China and studied in Nanjing and Shanghai. She was a lecturer at Fudan University before moving to the UK. She holds an MLitt from the University of Dundee, and her poems have been published in Gutter, PENNING, Poetry Scotland, Poetry South and more. She was selected as a mentee on the Clydebuilt 2023 Verse Apprenticeship Scheme.

Alice Tarbuck is an academic, writer and literature professional based in Edinburgh. She is a 2019 Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee for poetry, and her debut, A Spell in the Wild: a year (and six centuries) of Magic is published by Two Roads (Hachette). Her first poetry pamphlet, Grid, was published by Sad Press in 2018. She has chaired events for the University of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Golden Hare Books, Lighthouse Books and others.

This event is presented by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Scottish PEN and GENDER.ED.

This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Access to Eventbrite page for this event

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17:45-19:00  – 50 Ways, The University of Edinburgh International Women’s Day Lecture 2024 with Amina Shah 

Venue: G.03, 50 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9NW 

Amina Shah, National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of Scotland, contemplates her fifty years on the planet through stories of women who have inspired her, and wonders what challenges women will meet and overcome in the next half century. 

This event is presented by the University of Edinburgh, in association with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and GENDER.ED. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception. 

[45 min lecture followed by Q&A] 

Chair: Professor Sarah Prescott, Head of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 

Amina Shah FRSE is the National Librarian and Chief Executive of the National Library of Scotland. She has more than 25 years of experience across the cultural sector in Scotland, spanning the public sector, third-sector charities and higher education. She was a previous CEO of the Scottish Library and Information Council and Director of Programme at the Scottish Book Trust, and President of the Chartered Institute of Library and Informational Professionals in Scotland.  She is a member of Court at the University of Dundee, a Visiting Professor at the School of Cultural and Creative Business at Robert Gordon University, and a member of the Advisory Boards of the British Library and Common Purpose UK. She has a strong interest in the role education, culture and inclusion play in empowering individuals and communities and how organisations can work collaboratively and creatively to maximise their impact and reach. Amina lives in Wormit in Fife with her partner and four children.   

This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and to avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee everyone a place. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Accessibility: 

This event will take place in lecture theatre G.03, 50 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JU. For full information on access, please see https://www.accessable.co.uk/venues/george-square-50. The lecture theatre is accessible, with level flooring from the main entrance to the venue. Inside, the lecture theatre is stepped, with seating available on the top row without using steps. 

Access to Eventbrite page for this event