Explore the Festival programme

The Edinburgh International Book Festival takes place from 15-30 August 2026. The programme will be available in June 2026. Sign up for our ebulletins or follow us on social media to hear announcements and updates.

In the meantime, you can enjoy watching nearly 150 events from the 2025 Festival on our website. 

2024 Book Festival Highlights

EIBF_2024-08-13_image by Mihaela Bodlovic (247)
EIBF_August 14, 2024 photo credit by Kat Gollock-195_HIGHRES PERMISSION
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EIBF - Phographer- Aly Wight - Sat 10-08-24 - File-7139
EIBF_2024-08-13_image by Mihaela Bodlovic (5)

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Look, Listen & read

Peter Mackay: Meeting One’s Makar

Peter Mackay: Meeting One’s Makar

At this unique event, we introduce this trailblazing poet, academic, and broadcaster, and discovers how a son of the Western Isles became the fifth incumbent in this totemic Scottish literary role. Tha fàilte air càch!…

Maggie O'Farrell: Giving New Life to Shakespeare’s Son (2020 Event)
Maggie O'Farrell: Giving New Life to Shakespeare’s Son (2020 Event)

Surely Maggie O’Farrell’s most accomplished novel to date, Hamnet centres around the emotional life of a deeply intuitive woman, charting the terrain of her grief at the loss of a…

Michel Faber: The ‘Evil Is In The ‘Etail (2020 Event)
Michel Faber: The ‘Evil Is In The ‘Etail (2020 Event)

Reminiscent of Charles Dickens and of Lewis Carroll, Michel Faber’s fable D is a delightful sideways look at the evils of our times. He joins us to discuss Dhikilo’s wild odyssey…

The Good Conduct Medal
The Good Conduct Medal by Sandip Roy

I was eight years old when I won a Good Conduct medal at my school in Kolkata. It went perfectly with the side parting in my hair, the handkerchief in my pocket, the black-rimmed spectacles…