Scottish Books Events: May 2025

It’s a decidedly sexy time to be in books, as First Date, Edinburgh’s romance festival returns for its third year. This time, Lighthouse Bookshop are pairing up with Book Lovers Bookshop – Edinburgh’s dedicated romance bookshop – for two weeks' worth of events. Head there for everything from flash fiction workshops with Jj Fadaka and late night book markets to book launches with Jean Menzies and Sareeta Domingo. Also on at Lighthouse: Maria Sledmere and Ian Macartney launch their new poetry book Languishing, cute (11 May), Laura Bates launches The New Age of Sexism (12 May), and Paula Akpan launches their highly anticipated book When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors (14 May). 

Over at The Portobello Bookshop, Katie Goh launches their memoir Foreign Fruit (8 May) and Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen launches his debut novel Muckle Flugga (20 May). For some nature writing vibes, Scotland-based author Dan Richards launches his new book Overnight (22 May) over at Mount Florida Books and David Farrier launches Nature’s Genius on 5 May at Waterstones Sauchiehall Street (5 May) and Toppings Edinburgh (9 May). And finally, Kirsty Strang-Roy is running her Write Like a Grrrl course from 1 May-5 Jun at Milk Café.