Welcome to the Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place from 09-24 August 2025. Below you'll find details of 'The Front List' - a series of stellar events we're cheekily announcing in advance of the rest of our 2025 programme. Jam-packed with bestsellers, prize-winners and some of the most iconic names in literature, The Front List events will take place at McEwan Hall, in partnership with Underbelly.

These are just the first of our 2025 events, with a further incredible 600-plus still to be announced 10 June. Our main programme will take place at our new home at Edinburgh Futures Institute, Lauriston Place.

Sign up for our ebulletins or follow us on social media to be first to hear announcements and updates.

 

The Front List: Ruth Jones

Tuesday 12 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Co-creator of beloved sitcom Gavin and Stacey, Ruth Jones knows the power of a great story. Join us as Ruth discusses both her writing craft and uplifting new novel, By Your Side…
 

The Front List: Mark Kermode MK3D

Wednesday 13 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Join the UK’s favourite film critic, Mark Kermode, alongside very special guests – including Golden Globe-winning Succession patriarch Brian Cox – for a unique and energy-filled celebration of the silver screen…
 

The Front List: Nicola Sturgeon

Thursday 14 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
In this special event celebrating the launch of her warm and revealing new memoir, Frankly, Sturgeon pulls back the curtain on her personal evolution from a shy working-class child to one of Scotland’s most significant political leaders…
 

The Front List: Maggie O’Farrell

Friday 15 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Bursting onto the literary scene with her skilful debut, After You’d Gone, Maggie O’Farrell has remained an inimitable creative force ever since. Today’s event celebrates her 25th anniversary as a beloved writer with a lively reflection on her writing…
 

The Front List: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Saturday 16 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an award-winning, uncompromising commentator on race relations, truth, and justice, especially in America. He’ll discuss the urgent need for the West, and particularly America, to free itself from the myths it tells itself…
 

The Front List: Anne Applebaum & Edward Wong

Sunday 17 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
It’s hard to overstate the extent to which the Trump administration has disrupted the past 70 years’ world order. Journalists Anne Applebaum and Edward Wong are here to report on whether democracy can ever truly be safeguarded…
 

The Front List: Ally McCoist

Monday 18 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
Known to many simply as ‘Super Ally’, Ally McCoist is one of Scotland's best-known sportspeople. Today he’ll take audiences on an unforgettable journey through his sporting career, reflect on the highs (and lows) of following Scotland, and share some of…
 

The Front List: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Tuesday 19 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s feverishly anticipated new novel, Dream Count, has been a decade in the making. Adichie offers an insight into her transcendent, powerful work, and how the choices we make – or which are made for us – can cast a longer shadow…
 

The Front List: Yulia Navalnaya

Friday 22 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
Until his death in a Russian prison last year, Alexei Navalny offered the only meaningful opposition to Vladimir Putin’s leadership. Today, Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, speaks about her late husband’s powerful book and the uniquely courageous man…
 

The Front List: Asako Yuzuki

Saturday 23 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Since Butter appeared in print, bookshops have been scrambling to keep Asako Suzuki’s word-of-mouth sensation in stock. Yuzuki talks today about consumption, sexism, skewed beauty standards, and her mission to elevate the status of Japan’s women through…
 

The Front List: Ian McEwan

Sunday 24 August 13:30 - 14:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Ahead of the highly anticipated publication of his new novel, What We Can Know, Ian McEwan reflects on a truly remarkable career which has produced so many works which are at once timeless and yet always remain in close conversation with current affairs…
 

The Front List: R F Kuang

Sunday 24 August 19:30 - 20:30

  • Attend in person
  • Watch online
Yellowface author and international sensation R F Kuang isn’t one to rest on her laurels, constantly evolving her style and skill across genres and ages. Join Kuang chatting about her highly anticipated page-turning thriller, Katabasis…