The Festival kicks off TOMORROW!
|
|
| The twinkle lights are up, the books are on the shelves, the food trucks have pulled up – oh yes, the Book Festival site at Edinburgh Futures Institute is almost ready for all the amazing authors, artists, costume characters, musicians, thinkers, dreamers, and, most importantly, YOU – our wonderful audience – to start arriving from Saturday (i.e. 9th August – i.e. tomorrow! Eeek!).
If you still haven’t decided what to come along to yet, we’ve got you! This e-news will give you plenty of events to pick from:
|
|
| And if that isn’t enough, we highly recommend you keep checking back on our ‘Recently Added Events’ page for new and exciting things appearing (like ‘An Evening with David Olusoga’ on Sat 16 Aug, or some amazing free workshops in the Makerspace on Tue 19 Aug). |
|
Get inspired: events to fill you up
|
|
| There’s nothing better than an event that sparks your curiosity, or leaves you feeling buoyant with hope. Here are just a few events that we reckon you’ll be thinking about long after the lights come up… |
|
| 🌎 Meet Monica Feria-Tinta, the pioneering British-Peruvian lawyer at the forefront of the climate justice movement, talking about her work to help repair the relationship between people and the planet | Mon 11 Aug, 17:45-18:45
🚀 Be transported as Kelly Weinersmith (co-author of the fascinating – and funny – Royal Society Science Book Prize-winning A City on Mars) asks one of humanity’s biggest questions: will we (and how would we, and should we actually maybe not) ever live in space? | Tue 12 Aug, 18:30-19:30
🦄 Experience Scotland’s sparkling literary landscape with writers including Eilidh Akilade, Cal Flyn, Katie Goh, and Graeme Macrae Burnett | Wed 13 Aug, 13:45-15:00
🧵 Hear community textile artist Clare Hunter and woodworker Callum Robinson talking passionately about the cultural and personal significance of craft, and how it can enable us to see the world in new ways | Wed 13 Aug, 10:30-11:30
✍️ Get hands on in this Renga poetry workshop with Karen McCarthy Woolf, foraging in nature for inspiration before creating collective poems together | Thu 14 Aug, 10:30-12:30
🪡 Hear local writers and poets who’ve responded to our 2025 Festival theme of Repair sharing a patchwork of ideas on how to make the world a better place | Various dates between Mon 11 – Wed 20 Aug, 19:15-20:15 (this event is Pay What You Can) |
|
Say hello to the Repair Sheds
|
|
| Located in the Courtyard beside the Bookshop, the Repair Sheds are the place to mend, learn, and share stories of restoration. Run daily by amazing community groups and facilitators, the Sheds are where our Festival theme of Repair comes to life. (And aren’t they cute?!) |
|
| Drop by each day to take part in free Repair-related activities, featuring everything from practical workshops where you’ll get to fix things (like Japanese textile repair techniques with the Edinburgh Remakery, or bicycle maintenance with The Wee Spoke Hub), to unique creative experiences (like 15 minute drop-in sessions with the Poetry Pharmacy where you’ll be offered a personalised poetry prescription). |
|
Beyond the book: music and performance events
|
|
| Get swept up in the energy of live music and performance at the Book Festival:
🎤 Join Grrrls Aloud: 1995: a lively panel chaired by Nicola Meighan, on the weekend Oasis fill the city, about how the mid-90s wasn’t all blokes and Britpop, featuring live music from Hen Hoose Collective’s Cariss Crosbie (Sun 10 Aug 21:00 – 22:30).
🎼 Or see (and hear) a song getting written live on stage as Dan Wilson (aka Withered Hand) joins Joe Dunthorne and Ella Frears for ‘Stress Test – Live’ (Mon 11 Aug, 20:00-21:30).
🎵 Or, for a beautiful performance about the warmth and nostalgia of queer first love, join cellist and poet Simone Seales and multidisciplinary artist Mele Brooms (Wed 13 Aug, 20:00-21:30).
🎻 Or hear James Runcie offering his poignant reflections on loss, memory, and what it means to love again alongside gorgeous music from violinist Fenella Humphreys (Thu 21 Aug, 17:00-18:00). |
|
| *Photograph above featuring New Myths (i.e. storyteller Kirsty Logan, folksinger Kirsty Law, and harpist Esther Swift) at last year’s Festival. |
|
Lean in: conversations to make you think
|
|
| In our era of 24-hour news cycles and short-form content, the Book Festival is the perfect space to really lean into issues and ideas that need time to breathe. Listen to and engage with in-depth conversations between writers and thinkers who have put the work in to bring you good information on the things that matter. Here are just a few events happening soon we think deserve your attention… |
|
| 📢 A panel discussion featuring Richard Sennett, Baroness Thangam Debbonaire, and Rowan Williams on the fragile but crucial artistic right to freedom of expression | Sat 9 Aug, 14:15-15:15
🌱 MacArthur Genius fellow and Yale environmental historian Sunil Amrith talking to David Farrier about the ways 500 years of human development has driven environmental change | Sun 10 Aug, 12:00-13:00
🚑 A no-nonsense conversation with Edinburgh University’s Personal Chair of Global Health Devi Sridhar about why we need to hold governments to account on the policies that affect our health | Mon 11 Aug, 11:00-12:00
🐇 A panel featuring Deborah Baker, Gabriel Gatehouse, and Leor Zmigrod on how to find good information amid the maelstrom of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and dark impulses of modernity | Mon 11 Aug, 15:00-16:00
❤️🩹 Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller talking about the unforgettable stories of hope, life, loss, survival, and of communities determined to resist and prevail in Gaza | Mon 11 Aug, 17:00-18:00
🖊️ Multi-award-winning journalist Barbara Demick inviting you to join in a discussion on how the rise of authoritarianism makes journalists’ role of providing good information both more perilous – and crucial | Tues 12 Aug, 12:00-13:30 |
|
| Did you know that – to make the Festival accessible to more book lovers – we have loads of amazing free and Pay What You Can (PWYC) events again this year. |
|
| Check out our Fresh Words series, for instance, which showcases up and coming writers who have been picked by leading talent spotters like Scottish Book Trust, the Kavya Prize, and the Woman’s Prize Trust Discoveries programme. Or the fascinating panel discussion all about how to create a more inclusive future, with Julie Farrell, Elizabeth Kellingley and Cat Mitchell. Or, start your morning off with First Edition – where leading journalists (people like Ahmed Alnaouq, co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers, Michael MacLeod, founder of the wonderful Edinburgh Minute) look at the day’s breaking news over a cup of coffee. |
|
Family fun: events for kids
|
|
| This year we’ve got so many great events for kids and families – including a brand new Kids Zone on Level 1 with loads of free daily activities – whatever your young people are into. Science, stories, unicorns, or clowns, there’ll be something amazing for each curious mind. (And yes, Pikachu is returning). Here are just a few events coming up soon: |
|
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle with Polly Faber
Sun 10 Aug, 10:00, For ages 6-9
In this event with Polly Faber, author of Recycling Day, kids can learn why recycling is important, what happens after we recycle, and the impact this all has on our planet. There’ll be fun and games, and brilliant ideas for how we can reuse stuff to make totally not-rubbish things. |
|
|
Food, Friendship, and Fun with Selina Brown
Sun 17 Aug, 11:15 – 12:15 | For ages 3-5
In this funny, interactive event all about food, author Selina Brown and illustrator Max A Oginni take you though a journey that celebrates friendship and different cultures with their book, My Rice is Best. |
|
|
Dream Big with Rob Biddulph
Sat 16 Aug, 10:00-11:00 | For age 3-5Rob Biddulph is the genius behind the phenomenal, viral sensation that is DRAW WITH ROB and today he’s sharing his brand new activity book in that series Fantastic Food! Pencils at the ready, this will be a fun packed event for all the family, perfect for budding artists. |
|
|
Coorie Doon with Jackie Kay & Jill Calder
Sat 16 Aug, 10:00 – 11:00 | For ages 6-9
Acclaimed poet and former Makar of Scotland, Jackie Kay, and renowned Scottish artist, Jill Calder, share their beautiful book, Coorie Doon. Wee and big bairns alike will be invited to draw their memories and hopes for the future and share some songs together. It’s going to be beautiful. |
|
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
