Explore Events

As we can't put on our usual 900+ event Festival this year in our lovely tented village in Charlotte Square Gardens, we've curated a special online edition. From 15-31 August, enjoy events for adults and children for free. Through the magic of technology, we’ll be crossing continents and time zones to beam events from more than 30 countries straight into your home. What’s more, you’ll be able chat with fellow Festival goers via digital chatrooms and take part in Q&A sessions, and you'll even be able to meet the author and get your books signed (selected events).

All events are free and available to watch here on our website. See events below. 'Save your place' on the event page and we'll email you a reminder just before it starts.

Use one or more of the search filters below to find events.

    Browse this year's themes

    Frans Timmermans with Gordon Brown: The Way Forward for Europe

    Friday 21 August 20:30 - 21:30

    BSL Event Frans Timmermans with Gordon Brown: The Way Forward for Europe View event
    2020 has been, without doubt, a banner year for challenging our understanding of what constitutes a global problem and how equipped we are to address that task collectively. At the start of this year — what feels like an age ago — after generations...

    Why Plastic isn’t Fantastic: Dapo Adeola & Nathan Bryon

    Age 5+

    Saturday 22 August 10:00 - 10:40

    Why Plastic isn’t Fantastic: Dapo Adeola & Nathan Bryon View event
    When Rocket goes on holiday to visit her grandparents, she is shocked by the pollution that's spoiling their island home and putting local sea life at risk. CLEAN UP! is the sequel to LOOK UP!, Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award and Foyles Book of...

    Liz Hyder: In the Jaws of Bearmouth

    Age 12+

    Saturday 22 August 11:30 - 12:25

    Captioned Event Liz Hyder: In the Jaws of Bearmouth View event
    Liz Hyder’s multi award-winning debut Bearmouth is a novel so utterly original it swallows you up entirely and spits you out feeling bereft. From the first page you are transported underground, down into the world of a functioning mine and the mind of...

    Fire Front: First Nations Poetry and Power

    Saturday 22 August 13:00 - 14:00

    Fire Front: First Nations Poetry and Power View event
    Before most public events in Australia, there is a ‘Welcome to Country’ by an Indigenous elder, or an ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ by a non-Indigenous person. The ‘Acknowledgment’ is a convention that speaks to an awareness of the failure of...

    Sophie Hughes & Fernanda Melchor: Another Mexico

    Saturday 22 August 14:30 - 15:30

    Sophie Hughes & Fernanda Melchor: Another Mexico View event
    Celebrated Mexican author Fernanda Melchor’s first book translated into English, Hurricane Season, has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize. In a piece for Granta, the book’s translator Sophie Hughes reflected: ‘Melchor goes with...

    Cassandra Clare: All that Glitters is Not Gold

    Age 14+

    Saturday 22 August 16:00 - 17:00

    Cassandra Clare: All that Glitters is Not Gold View event
    Be transported into a world of Edwardian ballrooms full of glamour and gold where all is not what it seems; evil hides in plain sight and love cuts deeper than any blade as the tale of Cordelia Carstairs — a Shadowhunter, and London’s only hope...

    Isabel Wilkerson: America’s Unspoken Caste System

    Saturday 22 August 17:30 - 18:30

    Captioned Event Isabel Wilkerson: America’s Unspoken Caste System View event
    As America seemingly implodes its way toward the 2020 election, pundits and political classes continue to try to understand how the Land of the Free has found itself in such disarray. And — as it has throughout Western democracies — the conversation...

    Edwidge Danticat: ‘Death Cannot Write Its Own Story’

    Saturday 22 August 19:00 - 20:00

    Edwidge Danticat: ‘Death Cannot Write Its Own Story’ View event
    Everything Inside is Edwidge Danticat’s twenty-first book, and once again confirms her as an essential voice in world literature. Across her generous and imaginative oeuvre, Danticat has written with urgency and deep compassion. In this latest...

    Bernardine Evaristo with Nicola Sturgeon: The Triumph of Girl, Woman, Other

    Saturday 22 August 20:30 - 21:30

    BSL Event Bernardine Evaristo with Nicola Sturgeon: The Triumph of Girl, Woman, Other View event
    Following her Booker Prize win last November, Bernardine Evaristo’s writing has won deserved and long-overdue acclaim across the globe. Girl, Woman, Other charts the intersecting lives of twelve characters, from a teenager working in a supermarket to...

    Polly Dunbar & Michael Morpurgo – Owl or Pussycat?

    Families & 4+

    Sunday 23 August 10:00 - 10:55

    Polly Dunbar & Michael Morpurgo – Owl or Pussycat? View event
    Join one of Britain’s best loved story-makers, Michael Morpurgo, for an insightful event around the inspiration for his new book Owl or Pussycat? For the first time, he is joined by the fantastically talented illustrator Polly Dunbar. Together they...

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