St Mary’s Cathedral Tours: free tours of Scotland’s largest cathedral, a renowned masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. 10am today and every Tuesday in August, St Mary’s Cathedral (meet inside West Door), Palmerston Place. Free. Also at 2.15pm each Friday in August.
Wester Hailes Edible Estates: Food Group. A new group open to anyone living in Wester Hailes, where you can learn about healthy eating, find out how to use the vegetables being grown in the community garden, share your own recipes and cooking tips, and improve your cooking and budgeting skills. 5-6.45pm today and every Tuesday, Clovenstone Community Centre, 54 Clovenstone Park. For more information or to register, please contact Stephanie at Edinburgh Community Food on 0131 467 7326 or email sscott@edinburghcommunityfood.org.uk.
Cutting Up Picasso: Cubism and Lee Miller’s Collage. Dr Patricia Allmer, Chancellor’s Fellow, Edinburgh College of Art, will explore Lee Miller’s collage, made in response to Picasso’s portraits of her, of other women surrealists, and of wider historical and art networks in which both artists were involved. 12.45-1.30pm, Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound. Free and unticketed. Lee Miller and Picasso continues at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery until 6th September 2015.
Edinburgh Art Festival: Luke Collins Presents Film Club: an evening of screenings curated by the Project Manager for the artists’ moving image agency LUX Scotland, shown in conjunction with Platform: 2015. 7-9.30am, Festival Hub, 9 Blair Street. Free but booking is required and may be made via eventbrite here.
Craigentinny and Meadowbank Community Council AGM: come and talk about local issues with others from the area. Craigentinny Community Centre, Loaning Road. Please contact Giacomo Modica at modicag@hotmail.co.uk for time and details. All local residents very welcome!
Edinburgh Book Fringe: daily events – all of them free (donations appreciated) – for two weeks at Word Power Books, Edinburgh’s independent radical bookshop. Today: Unscripted – actor and Eggheads star CJ de Mooi  discusses his shocking early life and his new autobiography CJ: My Journey from the Streets to the Screens. 1pm, Word Power Books, West Nicolson Street. All welcome! No booking required, but arrive promptly as space is limited.
Edinburgh Book Fringe: daily events – all of them free (donations appreciated) – for two weeks at Word Power Books, Edinburgh’s independent radical bookshop. Tonight: award-winning poet, critic, editor, writer and translator Bashabi Fraser launches her latest collection of poems Letters to My Mother: And Other Mothers. 6.30pm, Word Power Books, West Nicolson Street. All welcome! No booking required, but arrive promptly as space is limited.
Bernat Klein: A Life in Colour – Curator’s Tour. The Gallery’s Exhibitions Curator Kate Grenyer tours the current exhibition and gives an insight into the works and life of the colour theorist, artist and textile designer Bernat Klein. 5-6pm, Dovecot Studios, Infirmary Street. Free but booking is required and may be made via eventbrite here.
Curated by…. a season of films hand-picked by invited Festival regulars. Each screening will feature an in-person introduction by the curator, revealing their passion for the film and their reasons for choosing it. Today: Ian Rankin presents Rear Window (PG), Hitchock’s simple but brilliant classic, in which James Stewart bears witness to everyone’s dirty laundry across the courtyard. 9pm, Cameo, Home Street. Tickets may be purchased from the Box Office in person, by calling 0871 902 5723 or online.
Edinburgh Art Festival – Spotlight Tours of Scottish Art: People, Places, Ideas. Guided tours of the City Art Centre’s Scottish Art collection, focusing on people, places and ideas. 11am or 3pm, (meet at reception) City Art Centre, 2 Market Street. No booking required, free – suggested donation £2. Also at same times on Thursday 20th August and Saturday 22nd August 2015.
Ragged University: Genghis Khan/Independent Working Class Education. The first of this evening’s talks is Singing the Law and Riding the City: The Rule of Genghis Khan, by Donald Carrick, who will examine Khan’s reforms and conquests to engage with notions of good and evil in a historical context. How can we apply modern morality to the past? And if we can, do we apply the same standards to the present and the future? After a break for food and conversation, the second talk will be A World to Win: Learning from the Past, Making the Future, by Kenneth Venables, who will look at the rich history of working class people deciding for themselves what kind of education – and what kind of life – they want. Going back before the Plebs League (1909), people have always learned from the struggle, but not often won. Why is this? Were the obstacles insurmountable? The talk will also consider the Match Women’s Strike (1888), the Grunwick Strike (1978), and things happening today. 7.30-10pm, Leith Beer Company, 58 The Shore. Free, no need to book – just turn up; please bring an item of food to share if you can.
Francophone African Literature with Alain Mabanckou and Gustave Akakpo. Internationally acclaimed Congo-Brazzaville novelist Mabanckou and award-winning Togolese author Akakpo will discuss francophone African literature and theatre. The talk (in English) will be chaired by Lucie Campos, head of the book department at the Institut francais du Royaume-uni. 3-4.30pm, Institut francais d’Ecosse, Randolph Crescent. Free but booking is essential and may be made by calling 0131 225 5366 or via eventbrite here. Alain Mabanckou will appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with Etgar Keret on 18th August 2015. Gustave Akakpo’s play Skins and Hoods/Cie du Veilleur will be performed in English at 2pm at the Institut francais d’Ecosse every day 7th-31st August (except 17th & 24th) as part of Edinburgh Fringe Festival: for more information and to book, click here.
LGBT Language Cafe: a groundbreaking new project offering four facilitated sessions for LGBT people whose first language is not English. Each session will offer games and activities to help you improve your spoken English and the opportunity to meet other people in a safe and supportive environment. 6.30-8pm, LGBT Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street. For more information and to book your free place please contact Jules on 0131 523 1104 or jules@lgbthealth.org.uk – or just turn up on the night.
Edinburgh Art Festival: Fine Lines. A talk and tour with Christina Jansen, Director and Curator of The Scottish Gallery; Christina will give a short talk and a guided tour around the gallery’s festival exhibition Fine Lines, an international showcase of artists reflecting innovation and design in the applied arts. 4pm, The Scottish Gallery, 16 Dundas Street. Free but booking is essential and may be made by calling the gallery on 0131 558 1200.
