All Events

There are events for just about every age and interest at the Book Festival, bringing readers and writers together for inspiration, entertainment and discussion. Around 1000 authors appear in over 800 events, including novelists, poets, scientists, sportsmen, illustrators, comics creators, historians, musicians, biographers, Nobel and Booker prize-winners and many more besides.

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    Browse this year's themes

    Louise Doughty & Ariana Harwicz

    Radical and Right

    Thursday 17 August 10:15am - 11:15am

    Louise Doughty & Ariana Harwicz
    Hear two prize-winning authors whose work has received plaudits here and abroad. Louise Doughty follows her top 10 bestseller Apple Tree Yard with Black Water. Set against the Indonesian military dictatorship of the 1960s, it explores dark events...
    Sold Out

    Stephen Taylor

    A Fifer Worth Following

    Thursday 17 August 10:30am - 11:30am

    Stephen Taylor Sold Out
    Why not try? Darren McGarvey Darren McGarvey Trying to Escape Poverty Thu 24 Aug 8:15pm - 9:15pm

    Dads Rock

    Age 3-6

    Thursday 17 August 10:30am - 11:30am

    Dads Rock
    Dads Rock run playgroups across Edinburgh for kids and their rock-loving dads. Now, they bring their blend of stories, rhymes and songs to the Festival. Joining in with their legendary rendition of 'We Will Rock You' is obligatory. Tickets admit 1 child...

    Howard Jacobson

    Consolation of Savage Satire

    Thursday 17 August 10:30am - 11:30am

    Howard Jacobson
    This year has left many of us reeling, speechless. Following Trump's election, Man Booker winner Howard Jacobson wrote Pussy, a comic fairy tale, while gripped by ‘a fury of disbelief’. The story tells of Prince Fracassus, an idle, illiterate,...

    Jonathan Miles

    Matryoshka City Stories

    Thursday 17 August 11:00am - 12:00pm

    Jonathan Miles
    The city we know as St Petersburg (having also been Petrograd and Leningrad in the last century) has a colourful backstory. Cultural historian Jonathan Miles explores 300 years of a city which features murder, massacre and madness as well as art, love...

    Teddy Bear Life Drawing

    All Ages

    Thursday 17 August 11:00am - 1:00pm

    Teddy Bear Life Drawing
    Bring along your teddy bear for an art class with a difference. Susie Hodge, author of Why is Art Full of Naked People?, shows you how to draw your teddy bear in a variety of styles, from impressionism to pointillism.
    Sold Out

    Siân Reynolds on The Accordionist

    Reading Workshop

    Thursday 17 August 11:00am - 12:30pm

    Siân Reynolds on The Accordionist Sold Out
    Why not try? Otto de Kat & Arja Kajermo Otto de Kat & Arja Kajermo Love After War Fri 25 Aug 3:30pm - 4:30pm
    Sold Out

    Rhymetime

    Age 0-3

    Thursday 17 August 11:45am - 12:15pm

    Rhymetime Sold Out
    Why not try? Sav Akyüz: Colourful Rhythms Sav Akyüz: Colourful Rhythms Age 3-6 Sun 27 Aug 11:45am - 12:45pm

    Stef Penney

    Back to the Arctic

    Thursday 17 August 11:45am - 12:45pm

    Stef Penney
    Winner of the Costa Prize for The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney makes a welcome return to the Arctic with Under a Pole Star, in which a whaler’s daughter from Dundee leads an 1889 British expedition to northern Greenland, and falls for an American...
    Sold Out

    War Poets Collection from Craiglockhart

    First Editions, Images and Realia

    Thursday 17 August 12:00pm - 12:45pm

    War Poets Collection from Craiglockhart Sold Out
    Why not try? Nothing But the Poem on John Milton & Michael Longley Nothing But the Poem on John Milton & Michael Longley Reading Workshop Sat 26 Aug 11:00am - 12:30pm

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