What's the alternative?
Grassroots and community writing and book festivals to sweeten your summer (and the rest of your year)
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Strap in, friends. This might be an intense newsletter, and I’m kind of nervous.
Cards on the table, I’m not going to the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year.
‘Why? Our festivals need our support now more than ever!’ I hear the internet cry.
Well, the simple answer is that I don’t feel comfortable going after their statement* about funding in response to Fossil Free Books’ open letter earlier this year. *If you haven’t read the EIBF statement, please feel free to do so but I’m not linking it here.
If you have read the statement, you’ll probably know that it incited the harassment of authors, writers, and book workers who signed the open letter.
Authors, writers, and book workers who keep our book festivals and industry running.
Workers who exercised their right to withdraw their labour from workplaces that work(ed) with corporate sponsors with investments in fossil fuel extraction and the occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine.
It has been disheartening (to say the least) to see some of the responses from established voices in our sector. Strikes and labour withdrawal are supposed to be inconvenient and uncomfortable. They’re supposed to raise questions and be a catalyst for discussion. They’re designed to leverage our very real collective power to bring change and build a better present and future for us all - not just one select group of people.
I’m sad and disappointed in the creative sector’s response to Fossil Free Books’ open letter because I think for the most part we have a vibrant, innovative, and inclusive scene in Scotland and, once upon a time, the EIBF was a big part of this for me.
As a student, I loved going to Charlotte Square and listening to panels and discussions. I also loved knowing that I could potentially talk to up-and-coming and established writers. And I really loved being in an environment where people enjoyed books as much as I did.
But since coming back to the UK, it’s become clear to me that the creative sector isn’t made for everyone.
It’s not made for unwaged, low or no-income people. It’s not made for local writers, artists, and bookworkers who can often only ‘afford’ to go to creative events if they’re invited. It’s not made for people who want arts events and venues to stop enhancing the reputation of companies and organisations that benefit from the extraction of natural resources, the exploitation of people, their land, and communities, and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.
The arts and creative industries should be a place where we can hold space for accountability (not cancellation), ask questions about the viability of opaque models of funding (like accepting corporate sponsorship), and collectively imagine (and enact) sustainable and ethical ways of running festivals and events that don’t compromise the safety of people around the world or the planet.
I’m not saying don’t go to EIBF (or any other festival previously funded by Baillie Gifford) if that’s your jam or where you feel comfortable. Maybe you have friends who are reading, speaking, or performing at the festival and I agree supporting them is also important - because writers and creatives need support now more than ever.
But I am saying they’re not the only option, we have plenty of other community-led forums, events, and festivals we can support and be supported by.
Scotland is home to a multitude of grassroots festivals that don’t require compromising your values or abandoning your desire and hope for a better, fairer, fossil-free, and genocide-free world and book industry.
So without further to do, let’s take a look at the festivals happening across our country…
Alternative and grassroots festivals
This list is curated to spread awareness of these festivals and their work and to give you more options. I’ve included festivals that have already passed or changed up their format (some due to funding cuts) this year. I’ve also included dates for 2025 where provided.
The ALT Book Fringe is back in Edinburgh from August 9-27. Run entirely out of and by three independent bookshops in Edinburgh: Argonaut Books, Lighthouse Books, and Typewronger Books (see what they did there), the ALT Book Fringe is a community book festival designed to empower people and support thinking across borders, whether they’re physical or cultural.
ALT Book Fringe events are spread across the city with each bookshop hosting speciality events with fiction (and more) at Argonaut, queer and radical writing at Lighthouse, and poetry and translation at Typewronger. Past speakers at the Book Fringe include Reni Eddo-Lodge, Aminatta Forna, Kojo Koram, Adrienne Buller and Josie Long. With this kind of range, you know there’s something for every kind of writer and reader at the ALT Book Fringe.
This year’s programme is packed with brilliant stuff and a few highlights include F*cking up the page with Harry Josephine Giles and Nat Raha, On Mother Tongues and Diaspora Literatures, Who Gets Believed with Dina Nayeri, the Doomsday Press Bookshop Takeover, and Interpret Magazine’s Issue 12 Launch. All of the Book Fringe events are free or pay-what-you-can.
Find the full ALT Book Fringe programme here or check out the Argonaut, Lighthouse and Typewronger programmes
Founded in 2006, the Islay Book Festival returns to various locations across the island of Islay this year from August 29 to September 1. The festival has brought authors, poets and storytellers to the Hebrides for almost 20 years. Previous guests include Ali Smith, Val McDermid, Iain Banks, and Ian Rankin.
This year’s programme has a wide range of events, with highlights including a talk with Tartan Noir writers Denise Mina and Chris Brookmyre, a morning dip with Blue Scotland author Mollie Hughes, a discussion of Gaelic, poetry and translation with Niall O’Gallagher and Taylor Strickland, and a poetry walk with Alycia Pirmohamed.
Book tickets or find out more about the 2024 programme here
Writing as Resistance Festival
Powerhouse and spectacular resource providers, Writers’ HQ, has teamed up with Anglia Ruskin University and the University of Strathclyde for a month of panels, workshops, write-alongs and events exploring stories, writing and creativity as radical, political and powerful. The festival is running from September 1-30 with free and paid events on offer for newcomers and WHQ members.
WHQ is going to help you wade deep into the transformative possibilities of fiction and how stories can open portals, sow seeds of change, or lob a well-timed literary Molotov in the jaws of the machine. Things I passionately believe we need more of. Highlights from the programme include the Edinburgh Writers Retreat, From World to Word to Body with Lidia Yuknavitch, Playing with Form with Timothy J Jarvis, and Discovering Dialect with Kathy Hoyle.
Find out more about Writing as Resistance Festival here and browse the programme here
Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival is back from September 13-15 in Stirling. Established in 2012, Bloody Scotland has brought hundreds of new and established crime writers to the stage. This year the Bloody Scotland programme features writers including Irvine Welsh, Ruth Ware, Chris Brookmyre, Vanda Symon, and Erin Kelly.
This year Bloody Scotland includes a wide variety of events and panels, including Friday 13th Fright Night with Stuart Neville, Ben Aaronovitch and JD Oswald, Everyday Extraordinary with AA Chaudhuri, CM Ewan and BA Paris, AI or Die? with Jo Callaghan, Ajay Chowdhury and Katie Ellis-Brown, and How to Get Published with industry experts Sian Heap, Jade Kavanagh, Darley Anderson and GJ Williams.
Browse the Bloody Scotland programme here
The fifth WayWORD Festival is returning to Aberdeen on September 21 and September 24 to 29. WayWORD is Aberdeen’s Literary Cross Arts Festival. It is run and curated by the University of Aberdeen’s WORD Centre for Creative Writing and connects writers and creatives through collaborations, creative projects, and events. The 2024 programme brings writers and creatives from all over the country to the North East including Rachelle Atalla, Mae Diansangu, Len Pennie, and Jacob Sam-La Rose.
This year the UoA and WORD Centre have worked with students and young people to devise an exciting line-up of poets, novelists, artists, and other creatives for readings, performances, workshops, and discussion panels. Highlights from the programme include Interactive Activity a found poetry living exhibition, Gathering: Women of Colour on Nature with Louisa Adjoa Parker, Khairani Barokka, and Dr. Durre Shahwar, Women on War with Aleksandra Hnatiuk and Jen Stout, REPURPOSE ABERDEEN: Scriptwriting Workshop, and Neurodiverse Writing with Elle McNicoll and Sarinah O’Donoghue. WayWORD events are free to attend but donations are welcomed.
Browse the WayWORD programme here
The Byres Road Book Festival is being held in Glasgow’s West End from September 26 to 29 this year. This packed programme includes children’s events with Macastory Storytelling, children’s writer Juliette Forrest and author-illustrator Alison Murray, poetry with Len Pennie, Steve Logan, and Ross Wilcock, a showcase for the West End’s best up and coming poets and spoken word artists, and a talk on masculinity and memoir with Damian Barr and Michael Pedersen.
Browse the 2024 programme here
The Highlands Book Festival, Ness Book Fest, returns to Inverness from September 26-28 this year. Founded in 2016, Ness Book Fest is the Highlands Book Festival oragnised and run by the community for the community. Their events are free to attend and are held in accessible central locations to bring book festivals to regular book festival goers and those who haven’t been able to attend book festivals before.
Ness Book Fest’s annual festival has featured authors, writers, and creatives including Robin Ince, Fiona Gillan Kerr, and Mel MacKay. NBF aims to showcase and reflect the strong arts scene in Inverness and the Highlands.
Stay up to date with Ness Book Fest on Instagram and Facebook
Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival
The Edinburgh Women's Fiction Festival is a new literary festival celebrating writing for, by, and about women. They welcome anyone who finds joy in reading women's fiction - commercial, romance, historical, literary, book club, and beyond. The festival showcases authors of genres that are often overlooked, and they aim to allow readers to connect with their favourite writers.
This year's highlights from the programme include a conversation between Maggie O’Farrell (author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait) and Jenny Brown (founder of Scotland-based independent agency, Jenny Brown Associates), panels on Regency Romance with Amita Murray, Cosy Fantasy with authors Nadia El-Fassi and Lucy Jane Wood, and Modern family love and drama with authors Melanie Cantor and Georgina Moore, plus a Scotland-focused look at the Witch Trials. The Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival is running from September 27-28.
Join the Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival mailing list for more information or grab a festival pass here
Scottish International Storytelling Festival
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is the world’s largest celebration of storytelling. This year, the festival returns from October 18 to 31 and brings together a large number of Scottish and international storytellers and musicians as the seasons change drawing families and friends together in Scotland’s ceilidh tradition with community gathering and sharing tales, anecdotes, music, songs, and ballads.
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival contains a range of performances, workshops, talks, and children’s events as the best of Scotland’s storytelling talent merge with invited global guests and offer a plethora of opportunities to celebrate and discover oral traditions and cultural diversity. Last year’s programme included James Stedman’s Joyfully Grimm: Reimagining a Queer Adolescence (which you can see at this year’s Fringe festival), Rewilding Cinderella: An Eco-Storytelling Concert with Gauri Raje and more, and Bear With Me: A Polar Bear in Scotland by critically acclaimed collective Stuart Kenny, Grant Robertson, Lottie Whittingham, and Lewis Gillies.
You can browse all the past SISF programmes here
Pentlands Books Festival returns from October 23 to November 28. Established in 2015, the Pentlands Book Festival is a local festival for local people. This annual festival brings local authors together in venues across Colinton, Balerno, Juniper Green, and Currie, and it also coincides with Book Week Scotland.
This year Pentlands Book Festival features writers and creatives including Alan Bissett, Kate Foster, and Bloody Scotland co-founder Lin Anderson. This year’s programme already boasts a variety of multidisciplinary events including walking tours Scotland’s Stories with Graeme Johncock and A Very Simple Mind: On Tour with Simple Minds bassist Derek Forbes, the Moira Monologues with Alan Bissett, Shetland Sailing Mysteries with Marsali Taylor, and a discussion about creative writing with David Ford.
Tickets for Pentlands Book Festival go on sale in September, stay up to date with all PBF news here
I’m eagerly awaiting the return of the Radical Book Fair, which is usually held in November at Edinburgh’s Assembly Roxy. Last year’s programme themed Revolutionary Feeling hosted a wide range of speakers including Gary Younge, Charlie Hertzog Young, Lynne Segal, Kirsty Logan, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Arianne Shahvisi, Raquel Varela, Yasmin El-Rifae, Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan and more.
Event highlights from the 2023 programme include creative poster making workshop A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words, A Feminist Cabaret with Jj Fadaka, Titilayo Farukuoye, Lisa Fannen, Lakshmi Ajay and Aliya Davids, and a panel on reproductive rights for all, a discussion about online extremism and how to resist, and a reading group on Palestinian fiction.
Check out the 2023 programme here
Edinburgh’s International Poetry Festival usually falls in November and hosts events at Summerhall. Last year’s programme featured poets, writers, creatives and speakers, including Jeremy Corbyn, Michael Pedersen, Kathleen Jamie, Marjorie Lotfi, Kim Moore, and Iona Lee.
The PTBO 2023 programme also boasted events, including Co-Creating with AI, Dumpling Poetry with Sean Wai Keung, Preparing for your First Open Mic, the Red Bean Poetry Takeover, the Poetry Jam with Leyla Josephine, and new performances as part of the PTBO and National Theatre of Scotland Seeds commissions from Imogen Stirling, Susan Bear, Ross Mccleary, Alycia Pirmohamed, and Gwynne Bilski.
For more Push the Boat Out updates sign up for their mailing list
Scotland’s International Poetry Festival was back in 2024 from March 8-10. Established in 1998, StAnza is one of Scotland’s longest running festivals. The annual event takes place in March in St Andrews. The 2024 festival featured poets and writers including Amy Acre, Alyson Kissner, CD Boyland, Hannah Lavery, Maria Sledmere, Rachel Rankin, Roshni Gallagher, and Titilayo Farukuoye.
The programme also boasted events including exhibitions Twilling Tweeds by Adil Iqbal and In Between by Anupa Gardner, creative writing workshops with Selina Nwulu, Loud Poets, Open Book, and Fife Writers, performances, and poetry walks.
Take a look at the StAnza 2024 programme here and stay up to date about 2025 with StAnza’s mailing list
After suffering a funding knockback earlier in 2024 for both AyeWrite and Wee Write, Glasgow’s Book Festival was called off. Thanks to a generous cash donation from The Weir Charitable Trust, AyeWrite has been able to host a series of pop-up events in 2024 as they develop their funding application for 2025.
Their upcoming pop-up events include Victor and Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium with Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson on August 8 and The Black Loch with Peter May on September 16.
Sign up to AyeWrite’s mailing list for more updates about the festivals and future events
Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Writing, Cymera, returned from May 31 to June 2 this year. The 2024 programme featured writers and creatives including Rachelle Atalla, Camilla Grudova, Elle Nash, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Elspeth Wilson.
Cymera offers a hybrid programme of in-person events in Edinburgh and online events to keep the festival accessible to both local and international writers and readers. This year’s programme included plays, fiction debuts, panels, musicals, writing workshops, an open mic, reading groups, and one-to-one consultations with agents.
Cymera promises to be back in Edinburgh and online from June 6-8 in 2025. Stay up to date with Cymera Festival with their mailing list
Edinburgh’s Romance Festival returned to the city from June 14-15 this year. The programme featured creatives and writers including Kate Young, Ella Risbridger, PJ Ellis, LR Lam, and Andrés N Ordorica. Other programme highlights included Dedication & Love: A Gentle Writing Workshop with Jj Fadaka, Safer and Sexier: Pleasure Workshop with Emily King, and Spice and Sensuality: Writing Erotica with Lucy Debussy.
Catch up with First Date 2024 here and stay up to date with future First Date news by joining the Lighthouse mailing list at the bottom of their website’s homepage
The Festival of Words focuses on words whether they’re thought, written, spoken, or sung. This year’s programme boasted spoken word, storytelling, music, open mic, and creative writing events with writers and creatives including Finola Scott, James MacPherson, and Donald S Murray. Kingussie Festival of Words returns in 2025 from June 19-21.
Stay up to date with the Festival of Words on Instagram and Facebook
The Wee Gaitherin’ Poetry Festival returned to Stonehaven from August 1-3, 2024 for its fourth year. Bringing together more than 80 poets from across Scotland, Ireland and England, this year’s programme featured new and established poets and spoken word artists including Hugh McMillan, Jo Gilbert, Julie McNeill, Shasta Ali, Rowan Heggie, and Genevieve Ray.
The Wee Gaitherin’ also hosted events, including writing workshops with visiting poets Jessamine O’Connor and Karen Macfarlane, and readings in English, Scots, and Gaelic.
Browse The Wee Gaitherin’ Poetry Festival 2024 programme here
Did I miss something?
If there’s a festival that I missed or you're hosting your own writing and creative events, please submit your listing using this form and I’ll include it in future newsletters.
Thanks for reading!
There are a lot of festivals in our wee corner of the world, and I think we can all agree that there’s a plethora of community organising and creative talent out there. It feels somewhat hopeful even in the face of funding crises and a consistent devaluing of the arts by politicians.
If you’re looking to build a better, fairer scene that doesn’t entangle and implicate us all in the suffering of other people, these grassroots and community-led festivals deserve our support and offer alternatives to festivals with opaque funding policies or corporate sponsorship. These grassroots festivals instead pull us towards community wealth building that still brings talent from across the country and the world together without having to harm other people and communities.
For more insight into community-based work and how to bring about hopeful change, you can check out this newsletter from our June Coop which lists local campaigns and ways to get involved. You can also get in touch with national and international organising groups like Living Rent, Just Stop Oil and Fossil Free Books who welcome new members to their meetings regularly.
In the meantime, if you’d like to support community events, you can check out this round-up of local and Scotland-based artists bringing shows to the Fringe or subscribe to our newsletter for future events, prompts and open calls for writers.
Until next time, take care!
Naomi
P.s. If you’ve got an event coming up or you’re hosting your own open mic, book club, reading, or writing group you can submit your listings and I’ll include your events in future newsletters!
What a throughly fantastic read and a great resource! Thanks Naomi