New Writers Awards 2027: Spoken Word Shortlist
5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Cheer on Scotland’s emerging spoken word talent and discover the scene’s future headliners! Our friends over at Scottish Book Trust are joining us for an evening of short performances. As part of this year’s New Writers Awards selection process, the shortlisted Spoken Word applicants will be sharing their skills in front of a live audience.
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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
Get TicketsContracts 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 TicketsMeet 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 Newcastle Poetry Festival to learn more about how they work, and what you might want to consider when approaching festivals. Chaired by Peggy Hughes.
Get TicketsBeyond 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 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 TicketsTakeover: On the Shoreline of Infinity
10:45 am - 11:40 am
Shoreline of Infinity is Scotland’s brightest and best Science Fiction magazine, publishing stories, poetry and articles since 2015. Join us as we investigate the liminal, speculating about the future and considering the past from our vantage point of the ever-shifting sands of the present. Bram E Gieben, Medha Singh, Jeda Pearl, Lesa Ng and Rachel Plummer will be performing along with our MC Pippa Goldschmidt.
Get TicketsContested Bodies
12:45 pm - 1:40 pm
Known for compelling, innovative and original work, in recent collections Kim Moore and Charlotte Van den Broeck each explore the female body as contested landscape. Kim’s The House of Broken Things conjures an intimate atmosphere of haunted domesticity, while Charlotte’s The Inside of a Stone explores the emotional resonance between desert landscapes and womanhood.
Get TicketsIn Conversation: Karen Solie and Sarah Howe
3:00 pm - 3:55 pm
Karen Solie’s 2025 T.S. Eliot Prize winning collection, Wellwater, is described as holding “two sentiments, The world is a beautiful place / The world is a terrible place, in perfect equipoise”. Also shortlisted, Sarah Howe’s Foretokens navigates the complex inheritance of family, language and colonialism. Join them to discuss these luminous collections.
Get TicketsFetches and Folklore
5:15 pm - 6:10 pm
Join us for a double bill showcasing two of the most exciting debuts from the past year. Playful and spirited, Kym Deyn and Colin Bramwell explore and undo binaries, drawing on the doppelgangers and trickster figures of folklore to do so.
Get TicketsOur Many-Voiced Country
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
As Scots Makar, Peter Mackay has embraced a mission to celebrate the many languages written in Scotland today. In this event, he brings together Deborah Moffatt, Tim Tim Cheng, Vahid Davar, Mae Diansangu, Paul Malgrati and Jordí Larios to present new writing interweaving Gaelic and Chinese, Spanish and Persian, French and Doric.
Get TicketsIn Conversation: Anthony Joseph
1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Anthony Joseph has been celebrated as ‘the leader of the black avant-garde in Britain.’ His new collection, Haunting the Black Air, journeys between London, New York, Trinidad and beyond, moving from unabashed joy to crippling grief. Join the award-winning author for readings from and discussions about this formally daring and emotionally incisive collection.
Get TicketsBetween and Beyond Stage and Page: Documenting Spoken Word
10:30 am - 11:30 am
For many poets, spoken word is their way into writing and sharing poetry – but what if you want a spoken word piece to continue after you perform it? Join us to consider the possibilities of publishing, filmed poems and more with Mark Gallie of spoken word collective I Am Loud, Charlie Roy of Stewed Rhubarb Press, and writer and artist Julie Laing.
Get TicketsIn Conversation: Naomi Shihab Nye
3:00 pm - 3:55 pm
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye read live! Join the former Young People’s Poet Laureate for the USA, in conversation with Alycia Pirmohamed, for a mixture of readings and discussion of her work, which is by turns humorous, immediate and urgently political.
Get TicketsRock the Boat
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Join hosts Catherine Wilson Garry and Julia Sorensen for the festival edition of Rock the Boat, PTBO’s longstanding monthly poetry open mic. Sign up in advance to perform your poetry alongside a score of other open mic-ers or kick back and enjoy the vibes. With feature poets Amy B. Moreno and Sol Vardi.
Get TicketsMentorship and Support: Programmes for Emerging Poets
11:45 am - 12:45 pm
Mentorship schemes for emerging writers can be invaluable – but what exactly are they, and what support do they provide? Join Caitrin Armstrong, Head of Writing Communities at the Scottish Book Trust, Jim Carruth from the Clydebuilt Verse Apprenticeship Scheme and Nick Makoha from the Obsidian Foundation to find out.
Chaired through the ConVERSE Emerging Chairs Programme with the University of Edinburgh
Get TicketsEditing Your Own Work
1:45 pm - 3:30 pm
Good editing can make the difference between a good poem and a great one. Join Helena Nelson (HappenStance Press) and Eleanor Livingstone (poet and former festival director) for a hands-on editing workshop. Bring along a draft poem, ideally 8 – 16 lines long, and experiment with techniques to take your writing to the next level…
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