Forest Happenings

13/08/2025

Christy here from the Forest open mic nights.

David Lee Morgan performed at the cafe many moons ago,
and now David has returned to Edinburgh to share a powerful poetry piece at Surgeons Hall - Theatre 3 at 14:00pm! (2pm)

The story of the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) in the context of the American and French Revolutions and the war against slavery. Fiery hot poetry from London, UK, and BBC slam champion, David Lee Morgan.
Until Saturday 16th August.

02/11/2024

Hello friends! .publications is carrying on the legacy of and . Give them a follow on instagram to see what they’re up to. Here’s more from them:

We are Forest Publications, an Edinburgh-based publisher that’s an offshoot of The Forest (2000-2024). Run by a team of volunteers, we are passionate about the arts and bringing creatives together.
We have published poetry pamphlets and anthologies, most recently ‘Origin Stories’ with and .ghosh7 and ‘Tiny Flame: Voices from Ukraine’ with
Whether you are joining us from / or are a new follower, we are excited to share our upcoming opportunities, projects, and events. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements!

16/01/2024

Origin Stories, an anthology of prose and poems edited by Olivia Thomakos and Vidisha Ghosh is launching this month! With over 30 excellent writers in our wee anthology, we wanted to give you two opportunities to come and get a taste of the full collection. 📚

29th January at Typewronger Books we will be hearing from Steve Smart, James Ternent, Ann Foy, Olivia Calderón, Alison Schultz, and Heather Dunnett 💫

31st January at Lighthouse Books we will have readings from Patrick Romero McCafferty, Tessa Berring, Elizabeth DeKok, Alice Eaves, Moira McPartlin, and Liam-Lucille Wright 🥳

We hope you’ll stop by, listen to some stories and poems, have a chat, and pick up the perfect read for the start of a new year ✨

24/01/2023

ONE WEEK LEFT TO SUBMIT

Call for Submissions - deadline 31/01/23

Origin Stories is a new anthology from Forest Publications examining creations and beginnings.
We're looking for new writing on these themes, perhaps involving a personal genesis story, the beginning of a universe, or the start of a business, job, or relationship.
We’re interested in any moment that changed the course of things.

Forest Publications is excited to see how writers will approach and interpret this topic.
We are accepting prose and poetry submissions.

Contributors for this collection do not need to reside in the UK.
The anthology will be distributed throughout the UK and promoted & marketed through Forest’s wide networks. Upon publication, Forest will organize online and/or in person launches in Edinburgh and beyond.

Forest is a recognised arts charity. All profits will go to supporting artistic projects. Forest is eager to support emerging artists, group shows, experimental work, multi-media and performance art as well as fine art. As such, contributors will not be paid. They will receive a copy of the book.

Thank you for your interest in this project! We look forward to reading your work.

Olivia Thomakos & Vidisha Ghosh (co-editors)

For submission guidelines go to https://theforest.org.uk/news.html (link in bio).

19/01/2023

A bit belated, but a big shout out to all of our 2022 artists in residence. We were really happy to host these creative people in our residency studio space at this past year and we’re looking forward to our next set of AiRs in 2023!

15/01/2023

Forest is proud to be supporting New Traces, a free screening of short films by Kiev-based Ruins Collective.

Thursday 19th Jan 6:00pm
At Agitate .shop

You're invited to join us at Agitate for a free screening of short films by Kiev-based Ruins Collective created by Oleg Isakov, Elias Parvulesco and Teta Tsybulnik, a film and art union active between 2017 and 2021. Films we'll be able to share present artists' interaction with personal and collective memories and emotions, the way they are shared and creatively interpreted and mediated through film.

We'll have some stills from the films on sale, all profits going to Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund:
https://ueaf.moca.org.ua/

''Salty Oscillations'' (2021)
''Object K from LL Group'' (2019)
''The Wind Has Swept Us in All Directions'' (2020)
''Lviv Intervision'' (2018)

The event is supported by .

Big thanks to Elias Parvulesco.

11/01/2023

From The Forest Arts]: Join us for the opening event of Open-Up-To-Right-Here, a group exhibition curated and featuring work by Agatha 🫶].

Friday 13 January
6 - 9 pm
Exhibition open 14 - 27 January (opening days and times may vary)
127 Leith Walk

Featuring work by:
Agatha 🫶]

studio
achelstanley



Produced by The Forest Arts] and
Hosted by

07/12/2022

Call for Submissions

Origin Stories is a new anthology from Forest Publications examining creations and beginnings.
We're looking for new writing on these themes, perhaps involving a personal genesis story, the beginning of a universe, or the start of a business, job, or relationship.
We’re interested in any moment that changed the course of things.

Forest Publications is excited to see how writers will approach and interpret this topic.
We are accepting prose and poetry submissions.

Contributors for this collection do not need to reside in the UK.
The anthology will be distributed throughout the UK and promoted & marketed through Forest’s wide networks. Upon publication, Forest will organize online and/or in person launches in Edinburgh and beyond.

Forest is a recognised arts charity. All profits will go to supporting artistic projects. Forest is eager to support emerging artists, group shows, experimental work, multi-media and performance art as well as fine art. As such, contributors will not be paid. They will receive a copy of the book.

Thank you for your interest in this project! We look forward to reading your work.

Olivia Thomakos & Vidisha Ghosh (co-editors)

For submission guidelines go to https://theforest.org.uk/news.html (link in bio).

18/11/2022

Invitation to submit

We are now accepting submissions to the upcoming exhibition: Open-Up-To-Right-Here at Gallery and supported by .
We are looking for artwork that engages with the liminal and the mundane, and explores oddness or beauty found in the everyday places, people, and situations that are easy to overlook.

The exhibition will centre around the film Surveillance Footage, by Agatha Scaggiante with music by Griffin Jennings. Surveillance Footage is made up of excerpts from open-source CCTV video feeds from around the world. It is full of moments that reveal the strange and the beautiful of the everyday. You can view the full film here: https://youtu.be/u9CMnPK56fQ or at the link in bio.

We are interested in analogue works for this exhibition (paintings, drawings, prints, collage, sculpture, digital art prints, etc.) We are not looking for video or audio submissions, but may consider them. We will consider both new and old work.

Important dates:

Sunday 16 December: deadline for submissions. We aim to respond to accepted artists within 2 weeks.

Saturday 7 – Sunday 8 January: work hand-in and installation.

Friday 13 January: opening event and film screening.

Saturday 28 – Sunday 29 January: de-install, work to be collected.

Email submissions to [email protected].

We welcome submissions from all people no matter their age, race, gender, s*x, s*xual orientation, religion or belief, class, cultural background, disability, etc.

12/10/2022

It’s been 2 years since we closed the doors of our cafe/venue in Sept 2020. Since then, we’ve been working on a number of projects including zines, compilation albums, and artist studio residencies. The Forest is still here - but now we are looking for community members (new and old) to bring their ideas, energy and expertise to help create the next iteration of the Forest.

We would really love to hear from you if:
- You would like to get involved in any capacity
- You have any interesting ideas what the Forest could do next
- You are part of any Edinburgh community / arts projects the Forest could collaborate with

Please write to: [email protected] with your ideas - also please share this message with anyone you think might be interested. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing what happens next!

Best wishes,
The Forest

12/10/2022