More than 120 artists announced for Edinburgh poetry festival

More than 120 artists will take part in this year’s Push the Boat Out poetry festival as it returns to Edinburgh with 75 events across four days.

The capital’s international poetry festival will run from 12 to 15 November at the Pleasance and venues across the city, with its 2026 programme exploring the theme of “The Space Between”.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday, 1 October, to coincide with National Poetry Day.

This year’s programme will span poetry, live performance, music, workshops and new artistic collaborations, with appearances from writers and performers from Scotland and around the world.

Ahead of the main festival, former Scots Makar Jackie Kay will appear at a special preview event aboard The Fingal on 31 October.

A major focus of the programme will be three new poetry-led performance commissions created in association with the National Theatre of Scotland.

They include Terror Error by Sunnah Khan, which combines poetry and archive material in a response to the events of 12 June 2026, when four activists were sentenced as terrorists in what festival organisers describe as a first in British history.

Gray Crosbie and Guy Woods will present Tits, combining spoken word, birdsong and sound design, while Catherine Street and Nancy Burns’ Spatial Murmurs brings together poetry, voice and film.

A new work from poet Iain Morrison and visual artist Corin Sworn has also been created through Push the Boat Out’s first residency programme in partnership with Little Sparta.

The festival will close with a specially commissioned collaboration between musician Aurora Engine and writers JL Williams, Dean Atta and Kirsty Logan, combining electronica, poetry, voice and performance.

Other highlights include an opening night cabaret headlined by Luke Wright, alongside Nick Makoha, EmmaClaire Brightlyn and rapper RamZee.

Joelle Taylor’s Maryville, exploring 50 years of lesbian counterculture, will receive its Scottish stage premiere, while poet, writer and television producer Henry Normal will appear with his latest collection.

Award-winning writer and musician Anthony Joseph will perform with his band at the festival’s annual Saturday night gig, supported by Edinburgh poet and rapper Bee Asha.

Joseph will also run a creative writing workshop and discuss his latest collection, Haunting the Black Air.

This year’s programme will also look towards Scotland’s coastline, with a series of events exploring shorelines as places of inspiration as well as the threats they face from climate change.

Artist and beachcomber Emily Dubious and poet Lisa Fannen will lead a creative writing workshop on Portobello beach, while poets Garry Mackenzie and Alycia Pirmohamed will explore migration, memory and changing coastlines.

The Edinburgh Sea Shanty Co. will also host an afternoon of traditional and original sea shanties.

Scots Makar Peter Mackay will curate Our Many-Voiced Country, celebrating writers working across Gaelic, Chinese, Spanish, Persian, French and Doric.

International poets taking part include Naomi Shihab Nye, Fady Joudah, Lorna Goodison, Kwame Dawes, Ulrike Draesner, Don Mee Choi and Grace Yee.

Festival director Emma Collins said: “Push the Boat Out 2026 invites audiences to step into The Space Between, the places where ideas, experiences and possibilities meet, and to stay with and celebrate the uncertain and undefined.

“With intimate readings, ambitious new commissions, spoken word, late-night gigs, and workshops, this year’s festival invites audiences to discover poetry in unexpected places and forms.”

Elsewhere, food writer Ella Risbridger will host a Poetry Tasting Menu at Edinburgh’s Valvona and Crolla, pairing poetry with a two-course meal, while a Words and Wine event will combine wine with performances from spoken word poet Kate Ireland.

The programme will also examine poetry as protest, including events featuring Hannah Lavery, Don Mee Choi, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Kim Moore and Charlotte Van den Broeck.

For the first time, Push the Boat Out will also stage events specifically for children and families, including an appearance from former Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho and a special Bookbug story and song session.

Councillor Margaret Graham, Edinburgh’s Culture and Communities Convener, said: “Edinburgh’s reputation as a city of culture is something we should be proud of and Push the Boat Out is a brilliant example of that spirit in action.

“The 2026 programme brings together a wide range of events, from poetry and performance to music, art, and workshops, offering something for audiences of all interests.”

The festival will also include industry events covering publishing, copyright, contracts, editing and mentorship, alongside one-to-one sessions with independent publishers.

Push the Boat Out runs from 12 to 15 November 2026, with tickets on sale from Thursday, 1 October.