Meet the Publishers
10:30 am - 11:30 am
Meet three fantastic publishers and learn more about how they work with poets and what they look for. John McAuliffe of Carcanet, Ghazal Mosadeq of Pamenar Press and Edward Crossan from Birlinn will be joining forces to demystify the work of publishers and answer your questions about pitching, editing and the poet-publisher relationship.
Chaired through the ConVERSE Emerging Chairs Programme with the University of Edinburgh
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Bookbug Pushes the Boat Out
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Join us for a special festival Bookbug with children’s poet Rachel Plummer! Bookbug sessions are a firm favourite with parents and wee ones for sharing stories and poems, songs: we’ll be enjoying all the songs and rhymes you’d usually expect, plus Rachel will read some of their favourite children’s poems.
Room to Play
Across the Festival, Fri 13th Nov
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Room to Play: DIVIDUAL returns! Originally created for Hidden Door 2026, this creative technology-infused artistic installation has been reimagined for Push the Boat Out festival. Conceived as a retro-futuristic tech conglomerate that produces lifestyle technology, the exhibit features collaborative, reactive, multi-artform work that plays on themes of privacy, observation and data capitalism.
Contracts and Copyright: What Do You Need to Know?
11:45 am - 12:45 pm
Navigating the world of contracts and copyright is daunting even at its best. Amanda Holiday, from the Society of Authors’ Poetry & Spoken Word Group, Duncan Lockerbie of publisher Tapsalteerie, and Anna Jaconelli, a senior solicitor in Intellectual Property will be discussing what you need you know when negotiating with publishers.
Get TicketsPublisher Surgeries
12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Sign up for a ten-minute 1:1 with some of the fantastic publishers attending our symposium day, including publishers and editors from Carcanet, Birlinn, Pamenar Press, Art Riot Press, Tapsalteerie and Stewed Rhubarb. Don’t miss this chance to get some individualised advice and guidance on the submission and publication process.
Meet the Programmers
1:45 pm - 3:00 pm
The decisions that go into creating a festival programme are many and varied. Join Push the Boat Out director Emma Collins, freelance festival programmer Lee Randall, and Theresa Muñoz from the Manchester Poetry Library to learn more about how they work, and what you might want to consider when approaching festivals. Chaired by Peggy Hughes.
Get TicketsTranslating into Different Places, with Lorna Goodison
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Lorna Goodison’s latest publication, an astonishing new translation of The Inferno by Dante, situates Dante firmly in Jamaica and draws on the entire continuum of Jamaican speech. Join the former Poet Laureate of Jamaica for this online workshop on translating existing stories and texts into different places and Englishes, exploring the possibilities, challenges and solutions.
Get TicketsOur Voices Together
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Join acclaimed poet and children’s author Nadine Aisha Jassat for an engaging and accessible workshop for children of all ages and their families. Together we’ll have fun trying new poetry prompts to celebrate who we are, and making a collective poem from all of us to be displayed throughout the festival.
Get TicketsPurple Poetry
3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Purple Poetry creates on-the-spot typewritten poems based on a brief conversation. This could be about absolutely anything: where is your heart right now, how has life been feeling lately? Award-winning poet Heather Rose combines counselling-informed listening with her lyrical poetry style to create a typewritten poem to treasure for only £10!
Sail the Storyteller Sea
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Join the former Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho, for a fun, energetic and inspiring event packed with poetry! Joseph will be sharing his most recent poetry book for kids, Rapunzel is a Lettuce. These are poems to fire the imagination and take you and your wee ones exploring.
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Perfect for children aged 7-11Beyond the Margins
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join us to celebrate the launch of this brand-new poetry zine, and take home your own copy. Created by the people supported by the Simon Community Scotland through Streetreads, a library and community for people experiencing homelessness in Edinburgh, the zine explores their hopes and stories. With performances from group members, alongside facilitators Julie McNeill and Kevin Gilday. Refreshments provided.
In partnership with the Simon Community Scotland. With thanks to Typewronger Books
Get TicketsA Thousand Words: A Visual Poetry Workshop
4:15 pm - 5:45 pm
Join poet and artist Dan Power for a hands-on writing workshop, where we’ll be blurring the line between poem and picture. Drawing from concrete poetry and photography, this workshop will take your writing to unexpected places, revealing connections between imagery and the imaginary. Transform poems into pictures and pictures into poems as you create your own visual poetry.
Get TicketsYoung Verses with Score Scotland
5:00 pm - 5:45 pm
Join the young people from Tynecastle High School as they share poetry, spoken word music and stories created with Bee Asha and Kat Borrowdale (for Push the Boat Out) and Davie Luhanga (for SCOREScotland).
Get TicketsWords and Wine
5:45 pm - 6:55 pm
Celebrate the start of the weekend by raising a glass with us! Joe Trotter from Edinburgh’s independent wine merchants Great Grog will take you through a tempting array of wines, sharing each drink’s story and history. Drinks will be poetically paired with performances by acclaimed spoken word poet Kate Ireland.
Get TicketsLoud Poets Slam
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Make sure you cheer, clap and holler as Edinburgh’s top poets compete in the first of twelve heats for the biggest prize in UK slam poetry. Featuring Josh Cake as sacrificial poet, this will be a thumping celebration of some of the best spoken word coming out of Scotland today.
Get TicketsAn Evening with Henry Normal
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
To celebrate the publication of his fourth collected poems anthology, writer, poet and TV producer Henry Normal has concentrated his thousand or so poems into a one-hour show like a tin of Campbell’s soup in a black hole. Comedy, poetry, stories and songs – he’s managed to pack everything into the show and more.
Get TicketsHiphop night with Culture Clan
9:00 pm - 10:30 pm
A celebration of true Scottish rap music, bringing together artists from across the country. Featuring headline act Red King, alongside Kouk and A420, expect live performances, an open cypher and a night showcasing the diversity, character and creativity of Scottish rap.
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