Creative making: Writing and zine-making with The Nature Library

The Nature Library is running a writing and zine-making workshop at the National Library of Scotland on Tuesday 27 October, from 11:00am to 12:30pm. It's a morning session, so you'll be out by lunchtime.

The theme is rain. You'll start by reading texts on the subject, and from there you'll make your own zine, drawing on writers like Mary Oliver, Amanda Thomson, John Muir and Elif Shafak. If you've never made a zine before, that's fine — it's a small, self-published booklet, and the session is designed to take you through the process from reading to making.

The workshop is facilitated by Christina Riley, an Ayrshire-based writer whose book Looking Down at the Stars: Life Beneath the Waves was longlisted for Canongate's Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing. She's part of The Nature Library, which started in 2019 as a roving collection of books popping up in public spaces across Scotland, sharing stories that put the wonders and curiosities of the natural world on the page.

It's open to all ages and requires no previous experience, so it works as well for a complete beginner as for someone who already writes. Tickets are £15, and the session runs from 11:00am to 12:30pm at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge.