The Picture Hooks mentoring scheme for illustrators has launched a new exhibition at the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.

Picture Hooks (‘Getting the Hang of Illustrating Children’s Books’) was set up in association with Creative Scotland to support aspiring picture book illustrators by pairing them with established professionals.

The exhibition is now open at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art before going on to tour the UK.

The Picture Hooks Illustrator of the Year has been revealed to be Kirsti Beautyman, who graduated from both Newcastle and Edinburgh Colleges of Art.

She was mentored by Helen Stephens, of the award-winning series, How to Hide a Lion.

This year the other mentors were Steve Antony, Patrick Benson, Ross Collins and Debi Gliori (a former winner of the Children’s Book Award).

The five participants - Hazel Dunn, Rachel Everitt, Anders Frang, Kirsti Beautyman and Hlin Davidsdottir - were paired with the mentors and have worked together all year resulting in the new exhibition.

Picture Hooks was established by Lucy Juckes and Vivian French,who was awarded an MBE in 2016 for her services to literature, literacy, illustration and the arts.

This year’s mentees have graduated from art colleges in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Newcastle and come from as far afield as Iceland and Denmark.

www.picturehooks.org.uk

The Traverse Theatre is taking Locker Room Talk – a theatrical work conceived as a response to the sexually aggressive comments made by then Presidential candidate Donald Trump during his election campaign – to Scottish politicians, for a special performance in the Scottish Parliament on November 9.

Created by award-winning playwright and Traverse Associate Artist Gary McNair, and directed by Traverse Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin, Locker Room Talk brings together hundreds of hours of interview material with men, interviewed in male-dominated spaces, speaking about women.

These words are then performed, verbatim, by a cast of four women, with Blythe Duff joining the cast for this one-off performance alongside Maureen Carr, Rachael Spence and Joanna Tope.

Locker Room Talk toured as a Work in Progress to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in May, and Latitude Festival in July, followed by a trio of performances at Traverse Festival in August.

www.traverse.co.uk

The Summerhall venue in Edinburgh announce the first round of successful applications to the Lab and Space strands of its Artist Development Programme, funded by Creative Scotland.

The programme begins with C&O Dance Company moving in to the Space at Cairns Lecture Theatre for a week.

They will be developing and rehearsing Duvet Day: a dance theatre piece which portrays an intimate struggle with depression.

The company will end the week with two performances of Duvet Day at Summerhall as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival on October 28 and 29.

https://www.summerhall.co.uk/summerhall-performance-programme/