Sunday 8th October, 3-4.15pm, Library Upstairs

Helen MacKinven is the author of Talk of the Toun and Buy Buy Baby. Both novels explore themes such as social class and identity, using black comedy and featuring Scots dialect. Ross Sayers’ debut, Mary’s the Name, introduces the unforgettable character of 8-year-old Mary, on the run with her Granpa following a robbery at his work. Join these authors as they discuss using dialect in their work and the delights and difficulties of having a young narrator.

Chair: James Spence

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Sunday 8th October, 3-4pm, Library

Lesley Glaister, award winning author, poet, playwright and teacher of writing shares an insight into her work and introduces her latest novel The Squeeze. Travelling between Edinburgh, Romania and Oslo, the book explores the transactions that take place between men and women with sex, money and the desire for love at its heart.

Chair: Jane Meagher

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Sunday 8th October, 1.15-2.45pm, Library

Until very recently, Scotland has been strangely silent about its involvement in slavery and, in particular, the enormous profits derived not only from slavery but also from its abolition.  Why has this silence now been broken? Three distinctive voices respond: the author and librettist, Louise Welsh; Jamaican-born Scots academic and human rights activist, Geoff Palmer; researcher and biographer, Steve Thomson.

Chair: Ian Martin

This session is currently fully booked but a very limited amount of tickets may be available just before the event. 

Sunday 8th October, 1.45-2.45pm, Library Upstairs

In 2015 a group of young people, supported by Young Edinburgh Action, planned and ran an event attended by about 60 young people from across Edinburgh to discuss gender. The result is Alex & Charlie, a story about Alex’s first day at school. Come and hear those involved talk about the process. 

Chair: Christina McMellon 

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Sunday 8th October, 12.30-1.30pm, Library Upstairs

Nathan Gale came out to his mother Shirley Young as transgender on their 20^th birthday.  In this session, mother and son discuss their book on families, gender and coping with transition.

Chair: Christina McMellon

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Sunday 8th October, 11.30am-1pm, Library Upstairs  

How does being outside in the natural environment – particularly in its wild places – affect what happens on the inside, within the human psyche? Three authors show us how they ponder such questions in their books: Robbie Nicol Canoeing around the Cairngorms; Victoria Whitworth Swimming with Seals; Geoff Allan The Scottish Bothy Bible. 

Chair: Rona Gray

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Sunday 8th October, 11am-12noon, Library Upstairs

Martin Fowler is a writer returning to his Portobello roots to talk about his work on history, prisons and what inspired him. Steve Harvey has travelled many different routes and explores the experiences that have led him to write Between Dreams: Difficult Paths and Dangerous Places.

Chair: Bill Jameson

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.

Saturday 7th October, 8-10pm at The Dalriada on Portobello Prom

After a busy day enjoying listening to the many authors taking part in the festival, why not round off Saturday by showing off your literary knowledge at a book quiz at the Dalriada on the prom? No tickets are required and it costs just £1 per person to enter. The quiz begins at 8pm and will run until approximately 10pm. It’s a good idea to get along early though as the quiz is very popular and once it’s full, it’s full!

Saturday 7th October, 5.30-6.30pm, Library

Acclaimed science fiction writer Ken MacLeod reads from the latest of his seventeen novels, and discusses how science fiction engages with science and society.

Chair: Grahame Howard

Tickets for all Portobello Book Festival events are free and can be picked up from Portobello Library in Rosefield Avenue.