Edinburgh International Book Festival 2026: Poetry & Performance highlights

Elsewhere, UK and Welsh Poet Laureates Simon Armitage and Hanan Issa and Scottish Makar Peter MacKay combine forces for an interrogation of national poetic identity in Poetry of the People (17 August). Armitage also reads from his new collection New Cemetery (18 August) and MacKay hosts Our Many-Voiced Country (16 August), showcasing poets in Scotland writing in diverse tongues from Catalan to Arabic, including a reading in Tamil by new MSP Q Manivannan.

Ryan Van Winkle helms various events: hosting the Edwin Morgan Trust showcase (18 August), appearing with Colin Bramwell and co-creating Citizen Collective: 26 Collective Street (both 19 August), while Len Pennie is no less busy, performing with composer Paul Leonard-Morgan in Greyfriars Kirk and as part of the Scotland to the World series, in a collaboration between novelist Ali Smith and the New European Ensemble (both 27 August). Another Scotland to the World event to look out for: a pairing of Kathleen Jamie’s writing with performance from Japan’s Noh Reimagined theatre company, alongside musicians Aidan O’Rourke and Brìghde Chaimbeul (24 & 25 August).

Hannah Lavery, Jennifer Wong and Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe present stories of family history, migration and exile (27 August), and TS Eliot Prize-winning poet and playwright Joelle Taylor makes several appearances, including a headliner to promote her new collection, Maryville, a tale of a London dyke bar and the four women who run it (29 August). Comedians Sarah Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd present a live edition of their Weirdos Book Club podcast (17 August) while their fellow Fringe regular Tim Key reads from his latest poetry collection LA Baby! (25 August). Beta Band frontman Steve Mason also diverts from his day job to talk about his memoir Failure is Always an Option (27 August).

Dave Hook, aka rapper Solareye, teams up with playwright Rob Drummond and director Orla O’Loughlin for a sneak preview of their hip-hop musical Wallace (16 August) and to discuss the process behind it. Grant McPhee marks punk’s half century with his oral history of the Scottish scene, Caledonia Screaming (28 August), in the company of a supergroup comprising Rezillos Fay Fife, Bluebells frontman Ken McCluskey and James King (of the Lone Wolves). Event chair Nicola Meighan also curates 10 Years After David Bowie: Sound & Visions, exploring his singular legacy with performances and reflections from those he touched (23 August).

It wouldn’t be the Edinburgh Book Festival without the murderous sounds of The Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, aka Val McDermid, Doug Johnstone, Chris Brookmyre, Mark Billingham, Stuart Neville and Luca Vesta, once again closing the festival in the Spiegeltent (30 August) but there’s another music/literature crossover in town as Hamish Hawk reprises his magnificent Life in a Scotch Sitting Room, Vol.0 for one night only (26 August). This affectionate tribute to Ivor Cutler’s classic autobiographical album of almost the same name was such a success story last year that it led to the Book Festival’s first ever album release.

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