Scottish Books Events: June 2024
With four literary festivals and a ton of launch events this month, it's gonna be a summer for book lovers
There must be something wordy in the water because there are so many book events on this month – let’s zip through them quickly. Four festivals dominate the weeks ahead: Cymera Festival, the UK’s biggest celebration of genre fiction returns 31 May to 2 June with the likes of Cassandra Clare, Joanne Harris and Camilla Grudova; Borders Book Festival runs 13 to 16 June with the likes of Natalie Haynes and Tan Twan Eng; the Village Storytelling Festival takes over the CCA on 25 to 30 June with world-class storytellers and performers aplenty; and First Date, Lighthouse Bookshop’s romance festival, comes to Summerhall (14-15 Jun) with the likes of Andrés N. Ordorica, Jenny Colgan and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.
People are also writing books (they can’t be stopped!), and there are some gorgeous book launches throughout Scotland (the books of many of which are featured in our June issue). Find Harry Josephine Giles launching her latest poetry collection Them! at The Portobello Bookshop on 6 June and at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street on 11 June; Julia Armfield launches her second novel Private Rites at The Portobello Bookshop on 21 June in conversation with Heather Parry; Jason Okundaye launches his groundbreaking account of Black queer history Revolutionary Acts at Lighthouse Bookshop on 28 May; Elle Nash launches Deliver Me at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street on 26 June; and Madeleine Docherty launches her novel Gender Trouble at Lighthouse Bookshop on 6 June.