The Word Bank promotes a literary culture where everyone contributes to the on-going story of the city.
The Word Bank is a publishing imprint run by Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust which aims to people connect with their locality through stories, poetry, the visual arts, and ideas for sustainable urban living with a respect for the environment.
A Short History
Edinburgh’s Old Town has over 500 years of publishing history. The Word Bank, the world’s only not-for-profit community-owned publisher, with its revival of the Evergreen – The Evergreen: A New Season in the North – is contributing to this illustrious tradition. It dates from 2011 with a proposal to bring the Canongate Venture building in New St into community use as a literature and literacy centre. The building, the former North Canongate Infant’s School and home to Canongate Books and Birlinn Publishing, was threatened with demolition as part of the Caltongate development. The Canongate Venture was saved but The Word Bank had to wait another seven years for a home. Download the original proposal here.
Books
As well as the 4 volumes of The Evergreen, in 2016 the Word Bank published Scotland’s Homes Fit for Heroes by Lou Rosenburg, a history of Scottish social housing particularly in the years before, during and just after WW1. This book tells the fascinating story of the early Garden City movement in Scotland and the shift away from the tenement tradition a hundred years ago.
John Byrom’s The Care & Conservation of Shared Georgian Gardens was published in 2018, a book 30 years in the making. Published in association with Edinburgh World Heritage Trust this is a comprehensive manual which aims to ensure the long-term viability of the remaining 47 New Town Gardens.
Forthcoming Publications
In 2021 we publish Visions of Education: Tom Conlon’s Radical Voice for Change, a collection of essays by the late Dr Tom Conlon, a teacher trainer at Moray House Institute of Education (University of Edinburgh). Tom was an expert in the use of computing technologies for learning and teaching, a skilled and creative software designer, an entrepreneur and a researcher in technology enhanced learning. He believed strongly that visionary questions relating to the purpose of education and the proper place of technology should be widely and fully discussed and that technological innovation must serve proper educational purposes.
Publishing Services
The Word Bank also offers a full publishing service – editorial, design., print – at reasonable cost. We aim to help organisations and individuals produce quality publications and to support self-publishing without charging extortionate fees. Free initial consultation (up to half-a day).
Funders
Our funders include: Creative Scotland, Leverhulme Trust, Historic Environment Scotland, the Strathmartine Trust, the Saltire Society, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and the Royal Society of Edinburgh