Brilliant Fiction
About our events
“Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own…” says the magnificent Ann Patchett. Join her, and a constellation of fiction stars, as we bring you brilliant, visionary, and inventive storytellers spinning tales of history, fantasy, romance, and more. Featuring Scottish greats and visiting writers from over 40 countries, encompassing household names and first-time novelists, we invite you to see the world anew this August.
From Scotland, award-winning novelist Ali Smith shares her exuberant new anti-war novel, Glyph; Maggie O’Farrell arrives fresh from Hamnet’s incredible awards streak with her new title, Land; Fern Brady joins us with a special preview of her debut novel, High Energy Unpleasant; and Jenni Fagan’s hugely anticipated The Delusions imagines an afterlife run by cosmic (and comic) bureaucracy.
Evelyn Clarke (AKA Cat Clarke and V E Schwab’s writing partnership) discuss sinister thriller The Ending Writes Itself, Louise Welsh returns to Glasgow’s seedy underbelly in The Cut Up, and Tom Newlands’ Something Like Happiness confirms him as a name to watch after Scottish Book of the Year-winning Only Here, Only Now.
From further afield, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s debut novel, This is Where the Serpent Lives, transplants the great Russian novel to modern Pakistan; Colm Tóibín regales us with The News from Dublin in his new collection of short stories; Claudia Rankine explores truth, art, and fiction in Triage; and Matt Haig boards The Midnight Train towards the past mistakes we’d like to erase.
Ben Lerner explores the failures of technology and memory in Transcription; Candice Carty-Williams’ vibrant Queenie returns 10 years older and no wiser in Queenie is Working on It; and million-copy-selling fantasy author Samantha Shannon unpacks her newest title, Among the Burning Flowers.
Sales of fiction in translation in the UK are booming: celebrate with literary royalty from around the world, including two of Japan’s bestselling sensations – Mieko Kawakami (Sisters in Yellow) and Nao-Cola Yamazaki (Don’t Laugh At Other People’s Sex Lives); Spain’s Javier Cercas; cult French author Édouard Louis; and a trio of 2026 International Booker Prize nominees: Yáng Shuāng-zi with Taiwan Travelogue, Germany’s Daniel Kehlmann with The Director, and Shida Bazyar with The Nights are Quiet in Tehran.
List of Events
Erica Wagner: Wash
Erica Wagner brings us Wash, one of the most critically acclaimed historical novels of 2026. Reimagining the life of Washington 'Augustus'…John Lanchester: Look What You Made Me Do
Picture settling down to watch the year’s buzziest TV show, only to realise it’s based on the toe-curling details of your own marriage.…
Kathy Lette: The Sisterhood Rules
Veteran bon vivant Kathy Lette has a knack for bringing levity to life’s curveballs. Her new novel, The Sisterhood Rules – called…
Benjamin Wood: Seascraper
A tang of sea salt in the air, and a thundering wave of acclaim – buckle up for an encounter with Benjamin Wood’s Nero Book Award-winning…
Y M Abdel-Magied & Meena Kandasamy: Putting the World to Rights
Author, screenwriter, and award-winning social advocate Y M Abdel-Magied joins poet, activist, and novelist Meena Kandasamy for a…
Doug Johnstone: Ghost Notes
Ghost Notes is the latest instalment in Doug Johnstone’s addictive series following the Skelf women: three generations of…Fresh Words: Roundhouse Collective
It’s lunchtime, but there’s no need to doomscroll over your meal deal. Be the first to discover the literary stars of the future, instead.…Kirsty Gunn, Alan Riach, and James Robertson: Scotland 1926
100 years ago, Scottish literature was crackling with new energy. In this lively panel chat, Kirsty Gunn, Alan Riach, and James Robertson…Susie Boyt: Loved and Missed
Published to critical acclaim in the summer of 2021, Susie Boyt’s Loved and Missed became a hand-sell favourite of booksellers,…John Lanchester & Alexander Starritt: Work/Life Balance
Two masters of observational fiction come together to explore why our feelings around work and money can reveal the deepest truths.…
Angus Peter Campbell: Donald and His Seven Cows
Whether in English or in Gaelic, land and memory sit at the heart of Angus Peter Campbell’s absorbing, melodic writing. In Donald and His…
Celebrating Zoë Wicomb: Writing Between Worlds
Beloved writer, teacher, and thinker Zoë Wicomb transformed South African and Scottish literature with work of extraordinary intelligence,…
Claudia Rankine: Triage
Genre-defying, multi-awarding-winning poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine returns to the Festival to discuss her remarkable new…
Cecilia Knapp & Lisa Owens: Girl, Woman, Mother?
In Lack, Cecilia Knapp writes a woman grappling with uncertainty about bringing new life into a burning world. In Natural Disaster, Lisa…
Gwendoline Riley: The Palm House
Nobody writes the humour and pathos of ordinary lives quite like Gwendoline Riley, recently awarded the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize.…
Daniel Kehlmann: The Director
Hollywood to Nazi Germany, Garbo to Goebbels – The Director is Daniel Kehlmann’s imaginative take on filmmaker G W Pabst and the heady…
Kim Sherwood: James Bond — Hurricane Room
What’s it like to write one of the world’s most famous characters? Commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate to expand on the James Bond…
Tahmima Anam & Balsam Karam: Stand Up, Fight Back
Two masters of their craft, Tahmima Anam and Balsam Karam, weave stories of resistance and solidarity in their latest novels. In Anam’s…
Tracy Borman: The House of Boleyn
In her novel The House of Boleyn, Tracy Borman, Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces, brings the Boleyns’ calculated rise and swift…
Angela Flournoy & Claudia Rankine: How Do You Write About America?
Two exquisite writers, Angela Flournoy (The Turner House, The Wilderness) and Claudia Rankine (the American trilogy, Triage), parse the…Russell Tovey: Starlings
A leading light on our screens for decades, Russell Tovey is known for roles in everything from The History Boys to American Horror Story.…
Bryony Gordon: People Pleaser
Sunday Times bestseller Bryony Gordon adds ‘debut novelist’ to her impressive skillset with People Pleaser. The hugely popular author of…Jacek Dukaj & Ursula Phillips: Ice
In Jacek Dukaj's Ice, the Tunguska asteroid has plunged the world into eternal winter, freezing not just the land but history itself. A…