Rock the Boat – the vibrant open mic at Edinburgh Book Festival

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Worried you’ve left it too late to book tickets to see your favourite author at the Festival? Don’t be! There are still lots of brilliant events with tickets that could be yours – whether you’re into conversations on 90s music, immersive food events, beautiful words accompanied by music, Shakespearian actors, dragons, memoirs, deep chats about the imagination or the possibility of mushrooms, there are still lots of chances, and plenty of time, to get involved.

But if you need a bit of help deciding what to come to, read on. In this e-news, we’re sharing:

We’ve invited a constellation of bold thinkers from all over the world to the Festival, with writers from 35 countries across 6 continents. Today, we’re spotlighting just a selection of these incredible international writers…

 
Or why not explore some of the fascinating workshops that engage directly with the 2025 Festival theme of Repair. Learn about the concept of ‘multisolving’ with Alex Pearson – a growing movement encouraging people to work together across sectors to address multiple problems with a single policy or investment (Sun 24 Aug, 14:00-16:00). Or join Jennifer Williams, Jimmy Turner, and Jo Balfour-Oatts to consider impractical repairs of material objects (Fri 15 Aug, 16:30-19:30).
Explore the full array of workshops
This year, we’ve got an incredible sweep of events specifically geared towards under 30s:
💕  Love a good romance? Come along to hear The Flat Share and Swept Away author Beth O’Leary and Sweet Heat author Bolu Babalola chatting about the awkwardness of love | Wed 13 Aug, 16:00-17:00

🧚  Enthralled by fantasy? Check out Samantha Shannon and Imani Erriu (Fri 15 Aug, 20:30-21:30) or Josh Silver and Andy Darcy Theo (Sat 9 Aug, 15:00-16:00).

💭  Need some inspiration? Hear writer, activist, and model Munroe Bergdorf chatting about how to talk about the things that matter (21 Aug, 19:30-20:30), or Ashley Hickson-Lovence encouraging you to let loose your inner writer (Fri 22 Aug, 14:00-15:00).

✍️ Are you a poet (and you didn’t know it)? You’ll love Deborah Alma, editor of The Poetry Prescription series, who’s chatting to Nadine Aisha Jassat about the ways poetry can inspire, comfort, and heal us. Plus she’ll be ‘dispensing’ poems | Mon 11 Aug, 14:45-15:45

✨ Looking for a full day of amazing YA events? Come along to the Spiegeltent on Monday 11 August for our House of YA takeover: a full day of activities and panel events including: a celebration of female narratives with Bea Fitzgerald and Manjeet Mann (10:30-11:30), a chat with romantasy writers Lauryn Hamilton Murray and A B Poranek (15:30-16:30), and fun free activities including bookish “speed dating” (12:00-12:45), a traitors style game (13:00-13:45), and a YA book quiz (14:00-14:45).
Browse all Young Adults events
Did you know that every morning of the Festival, we have a free story-time event called Are You Sitting Comfortably? for 3-5 year olds featuring amazing authors from the programme?

With guests including amazing illustrators like Ella Okstad (12 Aug) and Jo Weaver (14 Aug), storytellers like Ailie Finlay (13 Aug), writers like Bashabi Fraser (15 Aug) and James Catchpole (20 Aug), and even poets and former children’s laureates like Joseph Coelho (21 Aug). A great way to start your morning.
Check out the full Children and Families programme
Okay, phew! That’s all… for now!

Keep up with all the latest from the Book Festival on our social media channels (@edbookfest) and we hope to see you in August!

2025 Book Festival dates: 9 – 24 August
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