Esa Aldegheri has been selected for the Edinburgh City of Literature UNESCO Creative Cities x Heritage Sites Forth Bridge Residency
As the new Writer-in-Residence at the Forth Bridge, Esa will be writing in response to the Bridge, a feat of engineering known globally for its striking red steelwork and serving as an enduring symbol of Scottish ingenuity. The residency will focus on the sights and sounds of the Forth Bridge.
Esa Aldegheri, a Scottish-Italian scholar, writer and educator, is also currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Glasgow. Her work explores refugee journeys, borders and integration, and has informed Scotland’s New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy. She’s the author of Free to Go – Across the World on a Motorbike (JM Originals, 2022), editor of There She Goes – New Travel Writing by Women (Saraband, 2025), and is also a poet.
“I am full of gladness for this adventure! The Forth Bridge has brought me inspiration and consolation over many seasons. What a joy to spend time thinking and writing about its sights and sounds as Writer-in-Residence for Edinburgh City of Literature. I look forward very much to what will come forth over the next couple of months.”
As part of her residency, Esa will be taking a boat trip to Inchcolm Island, staying at the Hawes Inn (said to be where Stevenson wrote some of Kidnapped!), and experiencing the view from the top of the Bridge – a height of 110m!
Follow along here to see what else Esa creates during her residency.
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