Scottish Books Events: November 2024

There's two big literary festivals arriving in Edinburgh this month: Push the Boat Out and the Radical Book Fair. Elsewhere, the likes of Eliza Clark and Hannah Lavery launch new books

Preview by Anahit Behrooz | 29 Oct 2024
  • Jackie Kay

There’s two big literary festivals in Edinburgh this month. First up, poetry festival Push The Boat Out (22-24 Nov) returns to the city, this time across four different venues – Pleasance, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dovecot Studios and Dance Base. We’re especially excited about our sponsored events that we picked from an embarrassment of riches: poetry performance Disrupting the Narrative, folk music extravaganza Iona Fyfe and Friends, and a celebration of Benjamin Zephaniah with the likes of Raymond Antrobus and Salena Godden. Over at Assembly Roxy, meanwhile, Lighthouse Bookshop hold their annual Radical Book Fair (21-24 Nov). Themed around From Where We Stand, exploring thirty years of a radical bookshop on West Nicolson Street, find sessions on reshaping the arts, international solidarity, and a queer SWANA cabaret.

Elsewhere, there’re plenty of book launches at The Portobello Bookshop: Eliza Clark launches She’s Always Hungry (27 Nov), Hannah Lavery launches Unwritten Woman (28 Nov), and Jackie Kay appears for a special Book Week Scotland event (20 Nov). And if you’re in Glasgow, you can find Eliza Clark at Waterstones Argyle Street on 28 November, and Jeff VanderMeer also at Argyle Street launching Absolution (8 Nov), the unnerving follow up to Annihilation. Over at Mount Florida Books, Juana Adcock launches their poetry collection I Sugar the Bones (3 Nov). And speaking of poetry, head to thi wurd at Glasgow University Union on 22 November for readings, live music, a short film, visual art and a stall selling books, magazines, literary totes and more, and to Glasgow Zine Library on 13 November for a poetry open mic night.