Suitable for age 9 - 11
Saturday 9 August 10:00 - 11:00
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Welcome to The Escape – an epic new world full of puzzles and peril to beat before time runs out…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Saturday 9 August 10:00 - 11:00
- Attend in person
- Captioned
- Learning disability friendly
From much-loved CBeebies star, George Webster, comes a rip-snorting series in George and the Mini Dragon, full of fun, adventure and dragon mayhem!…
Saturday 9 August 10:15 - 11:15
- Attend in person
- Captioned
The freedom to write and sell books is fundamental to a democracy, so in these censorious times how best can we disagree without silencing?…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Saturday 9 August 11:45 - 12:45
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Get your creativity flowing as you learn how to make your stories come alive in this event by author of the Mega Robo Bros series, Neill Cameron…
Saturday 9 August 11:45 - 12:45
- Attend in person
- Watch online
- Captioned
Join us to find out what makes a former man of the cloth want to write about murder, and whether Canon Clement can solve this latest crime…
Saturday 9 August 12:00 - 13:00
- Attend in person
- BSL interpreted
- Captioned
Beloved Scottish historical fiction writer Sara Sheridan's latest novel is a swashbuckling rollick of feminist fervour and seductive suspense…
Saturday 9 August 12:15 - 13:15
- Attend in person
- Captioned
You're invited to our Open House! Bring your friends and join Festival director Jenny Niven as she takes you through highlights of the Festival…
Saturday 9 August 13:30 - 14:30
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Hollywood to Nazi Germany, Garbo to Goebbels - The Director is Daniel Kehlmann's imaginative take on the eminent filmmaker G W Pabst and the heady entanglement of art, politics, and power at the peak of the Nazi regime…
Suitable for age 6 - 9
Saturday 9 August 13:30 - 14:30
- Attend in person
- Watch online
- Captioned
In Pamela Butchart’s new book, Diary of a Future Billionaire, Ben tries to become the world’s richest ten-year-old. Expect lots of fun audience interaction in this hilarious event as Pamela shares stories that will have you laughing out loud…
Saturday 9 August 14:15 - 15:15
- Attend in person
- Captioned
The debate around freedom of expression feels more contested than ever. But the concept of freedom of expression in the arts is relatively recent, and it was only in 1968 that censorship of plays was abolished in Britain…
Saturday 9 August 14:45 - 15:45
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Evans' memoir shares how she went from the ashes of disaster to centre stage in a true story that's dark, heartbreaking, inspiring, and hilarious (often all at once)…
Saturday 9 August 15:00 - 16:00
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Hear BookTok star, Andy Darcy Theo (author of the bestselling series The Light That Blinds Us) and YA Book Prize-shortlisted Josh Silver (mental health nurse and author of Trauma/and) discuss how fantasy writing can help us better understand our mental…
Saturday 9 August 15:15 - 16:15
- Attend in person
- Watch online
- Captioned
Robert Macfarlane's radiant writing on nature, people, and place is in a class unto itself, and the Guardian has slated Is a River Alive? as the biggest publishing event of 2025…
Saturday 9 August 15:15 - 16:15
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Join the authors of these gutsy, vivacious novels for a lively discussion with Nyla Ahmad on the fearless nature of obsession and the bruising reality of teenage infatuation…
Saturday 9 August 16:00 - 18:00
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Returning for a third year, the highly anticipated Loud Poets Grand Slam Final promises to be a Festival highlight, combining music with fist-thumping, side-tickling poetry. Having qualified through a series of nationwide Slams, 12 poets compete for a £3……
Saturday 9 August 16:30 - 17:30
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Linder is one of Britain's great popculture provocateurs: a post-punk musician and widely exhibited photocollage artist. Here she'll collide in discussion with the great, Booker Prize-shortlisted feminist writer Marina Warner on subjects including…
Saturday 9 August 16:45 - 17:45
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Nell Zink joins us in Edinburgh, talking about Sister Europe: a worldly hangout novel of 21st century manners set against the backdrop of a hedonistic night out in Berlin…
Saturday 9 August 17:00 - 18:00
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Leading lights of international fiction Vincenzo Latronico and Ayşegül Savas join us with two very different novels, both subjecting millennial couples and their lives to the microscope. Latronico's International Booker-shortlisted Perfection delivers a……
Saturday 9 August 18:00 - 19:30
- Attend in person
- Captioned
Celebrate the opening of this year's Festival in this special Gala event. We'll bring you a kaleidoscope of perspectives and provocations from a diverse line-up of stellar writers including Najwan Darwish, Jenni Fagan, Amitav Ghosh, Rachel Kushner, and…
Saturday 9 August 18:30 - 19:30
- Attend in person
- Captioned
The paths we take to become who we are can separate us widely from our roots. In Alana S Portero's Bad Habit, a nameless trans woman from working-class Madrid finds community in the city's colourful underbelly. In Brian Chikwava's Shamiso, the titular……
Full 2025 Book Festival programme is announced with key theme of Repair 
