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Marjorie Lotfi

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Contact: [email protected]
Local authority: Edinburgh City
Languages: English
Author type: Poet, Writer
Marjorie Lotfi's headshot

I was born in New Orleans, spent my childhood in Tehran, Iran (partly during the Iranian Revolution) and lived in Washington DC, New York and London before settling in Edinburgh in 2005.

My pamphlet Refuge, poems about Iran, is published by Tapsalteerie Press. Other poems have won competitions and been published widely in the UK and US in journals, anthologies and The Scotsman, and have been performed on BBC Radio 4.

I was the Writer in Residence at Jupiter Artland, for Spring Fling and the Wigtown Book Festival. I’ve been commissioned to write new work by The University of Edinburgh, the St Magnus Festival and Talbot Rice Gallery.

I write as a part of the women’s collective 12, responding to artwork most recently at Coopers Gallery and Cample Line. I am also one of the 2019 Scottish Book Trust Ignite Fellows.

In addition to writing, I founded The Belonging Project, examining and exploring the immigrant experience in over 75 workshops delivered by me in schools, community projects and prisons. I’m also Co-Founder of the reading charity Open Book, with over 130 workshops a month across Scotland, and am the Chair of the Board for the Wigtown Book Festival.

(Photo credit: Heshani Sothiraj Eddleston)

Websites featuring the author

Local authorities will visit

Aberdeen City; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; Clackmannanshire; Dumfries and Galloway; Dundee; East Ayrshire; East Dunbartonshire; East Lothian; East Renfrewshire; Edinburgh City; Falkirk; Fife; Glasgow City; Highland; Inverclyde; Midlothian; Moray; Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles); North Ayrshire; North Lanarkshire; Orkney Islands; Perth and Kinross; Renfrewshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland; South Ayrshire; South Lanarkshire; Stirling; West Dunbartonshire; West Lothian

Events will deliver

Bibliotherapy; Chairing events; Mentoring; Panel event; Performance; Professional development, CLPL or CPD; Reading; Residency; Talk; Workshop

Audience will work with

Adult learners; Care-experienced people; Carers; English as an additional language (EAL); Intergenerational learning; Adults with additional support needs; People experiencing mental health problems; People living with dementia; Prisoners & young offenders; Reluctant readers; Vulnerable young people (under 18); Vulnerable adults; Vulnerable older people; Young people in the community (e.g. Youth clubs, Guides, Scouts)

Topics of work

Activism & protest; Adventure; Ageing; Characters of colour & BAME characters; Childhood; Class & society; Coasts, seas & oceans; Death, grief & bereavement; Editing & editing your own work; Emigration & immigration; Family; Food; Friendship; Gender equality; Health including mental health & wellbeing; Human rights; Nature; Poverty; Religion & beliefs; Seasonal books; Urban communities; Wars & conflicts

Age groups published for

Children; Teens; Adults

Age groups will work with

0-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-11; 12-14; 15-18; 18+

Audience size

0-10; 11-30; 31-100; 100-500; 500+