An Inklings Showcase #2: Big Ideas in Small Books
WithAdèle Oliver, Heather Parry, layla-roxanne hill and Sam Gonçalves
On:23rd July 2025, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Attendance options:
We're excited to be partnering with 404 Ink for the second in a series of showcases of their many vast and insightful Inklings, which capture big ideas in small books.
Join us to hear from Adéle Oliver, Heather Parry, layla-roxanne hill and Sam Gonçalves about their Inklings as they delve into topics from UK drill to sex robots, frontline activism to the intimacy of touch, with bitesize talks and a Q&A. See the authors discuss the passion projects and roads that led them to write such thought-provoking books, at the second event in this series.
This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.
In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of one of the four featured Inklings – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of one of the four featured Inklings.
About Deeping It by Adéle Oliver:
Deeping It shines a critical light on UK drill and its fraught relationship with the British legal system. Intervening on current discourse steeped in anti-Blackness and moral panic, this Inkling ‘deeps’ how the criminalisation of UK drill cannot be disentangled from histories, technologies, and realities of colonialism, consumerism and more.
About Electric Dreams by Heather Parry:
In the future, we’ll all be having sex with robots… won’t we? Roboticists say they’re a distracting science fiction, yet endless books, films and articles are written on the subject. Campaigns are even mounted against them. So why are sex robots such a hot topic? Electric Dreams picks apart the forces that posit sex robots as either the solution to our problems or a real threat to human safety, and looks at what’s being pushed aside for us to obsess about something that will never happen.
About Look, Don't Touch by layla-roxanne hill and Francesca Sobande:
What does the command “look, don’t touch” suggest about the (lack of) freedom to feel in society? hill and Sobande reflect on society’s nurturing and obstructing of emotional expression, physical touch, and connectedness between different species and spaces as Look, Don’t Touch journeys through the music of feeling, “self-help” social media, the power of public signage, and more to call for a move away from the language of “okayness”, and a move towards collectively uplifting forms of anger, agitation, love, solidarity, release, and ultimately, feeling.
About How Does Change Happen? by Sam Gonçalves:
Mass protests and direct action have been familiar tactics against the many crises of the 21st century. Though methods vary, there’s a collective longing for meaningful and transformative action. Some are deemed too weak, others too disruptive: from Instagram tiles to cans of soup thrown on famous paintings. Through conversations with activists and organisers, Sam Gonçalves recounts stories of protest and the fight for change. These narratives reveal the opportunities and challenges that are part of the difficult work of creating change, a wrestling with the question: how does change happen?
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Adèle Oliver Author
Adèle Oliver is an artist, scholar, and linguist from Birmingham. She graduated from SOAS, University of London with an MA in Postcolonial Studies after completing an undergraduate degree in Portuguese and Linguistics. Her work, in its recognition of overlooked perspectives, identifies and amplifies side-lined voices in art and popular culture. Adèle’s intellectual commitment to unravelling histories (and subsequent epistemologies) using an acutely critical lens.
Heather Parry Author
Heather Parry is a Glasgow-based writer and editor, originally from South Yorkshire. Her debut novel, Orpheus Builds a Girl, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Fiction Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. She is also the author of a short story collection, This Is My Body, Given For You, and her first nonfiction book, Electric Dreams: On Sex Robots and the Failed Promises of Capitalism, was released in 2024 as part of 404 Ink’s Inklings series. Her second novel, Carrion Crow was published by Doubleday in February 2025. Heather writes the substack general observations on eggs, and lives in Glasgow with her partner and their cats, Ernesto and Fidel.
layla-roxanne hill Author
layla-roxanne hill is an independent writer, researcher + organiser, living + healing in scotland. she thinks + feels about many things, including anti-colonial struggle, care + belonging + the way our conditions move us to act. layla-roxanne is co-author/dreamer with francesca sobande of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland (Bloomsbury, 2022) + the freely available graphic novel + animation, Black Oot Here: Dreams O Us (2023). she is active in the trade union movement, holding elected positions within the bureaucratic machinery. layla-roxanne likes rabbit holes, finding peace + connection + to lift heavy.
Sam Gonçalves Author
Sam Gonçalves is a Brazilian writer and documentary filmmaker, based in Glasgow. His work has appeared in The National, Counterpoint, and The Skinny and he publishes bi-monthly interviews on Everything Mixtape.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.