Portobello Book Festival: 2nd to 4th October 2026
Tickets for all events are free and available from Portobello Library
The programme for this year’s festival was officially launched at the library last night. Copies are now available to pick up from the library and you’ll find them in various places around Portobello too. Tickets will be available to collect in person from the library from 10am on Saturday morning, 12th September.
Website: www.portobellobookfestival.com
X: @portybookfest
Bluesky: @portybookfest.bsky.social
Instagram: @porty.bookfest
Facebook: Portobello Book Festival
Friday 2nd OCTOBER
Writing workshop: Building a Character
10:00 – 12:00, Library Upstairs
Novelist Adrian Ross (Sons of Great Men) leads a writing workshop inspiring you to develop your characters. Suitable for writers of all styles and at all stages of their creative journey. Bring a pen, a notepad and your imagination.
Taming The Beast: Edinburgh’s Contribution to Cancer Management
13:00 – 14:00, Library Upstairs
Pioneering cancer physician Professor John Smyth talks about the contribution of the Edinburgh Cancer Centre to developments in the treatment and management of cancer over the past 50 years. John presents an engaging and uplifting account of progress made, challenges overcome and future opportunities. Chaired by Grahame Howard, author and retired consultant oncologist
The Male Anti-Hero: Bad Boy or Good Guy?
14:30 – 15:30, Library Upstairs
Building on a long tradition of Scottish anti-heroes, author Kevan Christie (To Be Frank) talks about what makes an anti-hero, whether rogues can be truly loveable, and why Edinburgh makes the ideal setting for their stories of chaotic behaviour.
Chair: Paul Hudson
Love Comics? Graphic Novel Builder.
16:00 – 17:30, Library Upstairs
In this workshop local comic creator, Edward Ross, gets you started making your own comics full of amazing characters and hilarious stories. Edward brings his book, Graphic Novel Builder, full of tips and ideas for taking your comic creations to the next level! For age 9-12.
Meet the Author: Alex Howard
19:00 – 20:00, The Portobello Bookshop
Alex Howard, author and avid Edinburgh flat fixer-upper, discusses his latest novel The Ship’s Cat with Helen Harper (The Cat Lady Chronicles). Travel across countries and oceans, through time and history in the company of some very special cats.
Saturday 3rd October
A Spectrum of Scottish Crime
10:30 – 11:30, Library Upstairs
From gentle sleuthing in Dumfries and Galloway with Epiphanies and Robberies by David Graham Clark to the Linlithgow legal thriller Relatively Guilty by William McIntyre and tartan noir in the Hebrides with The Long Isle by Andrew Raymond, there is a flavour of Scottish crime and mystery for every palate.
Chair: Rupa Mahadevan, award-winning author.
Bookbug: featuring Maggie Byrd
11:00 – 11:30, Library Downstairs
Bookbug with Paul Hudson featuring special guest author Maggie Byrd, reading from her brilliant book Rainbow Cookies.
It’s About Time!
12:00 – 13:00, Library Upstairs
Would you turn back time if you could? Is the past always as we remember it? Would you change something in your past and how would that affect the present? Emma Steele (The Love of Our Lives) and Eleanor Tucker (Turn Back Time) explore these ideas and more in their novels which play with the concept of time.
Chair: Joanne Baird
Anne Pia in Company with Baudelaire and Georges Brassens
13:30 – 14:30, Library Upstairs
Inspired by the 19th century lyric poet, modernist and flaneur Charles Baudelaire, and the Bob Dylan/Leonard Cohen of France, troubadour/bard, George Brassens, Anne Pia draws on her Scottish roots and her lifelong connection with France to read from her acclaimed poetry collections The Sweetness of Demons and A Month O Muins – musings, imaginings and responses to two great poets in English and Scots.
Reassessing Devolution: Whither Scotland?
15:00 – 16:00, Library Upstairs
To what extent has devolution been a success? What opportunities and challenges lie ahead? James Mitchell, co-author with Henry McLeish of Unfinished Business: The Evolution of Devolution in Scotland, is in conversation with Lindsay Paterson about this book’s argument, and its continuing relevance in the light of the recent Scottish election.
Queer Edinburgh?
16:30 – 18:00, Library Upstairs
Voices from across the LGBTQ+ diaspora come together to share their thoughts on all things literary: Cameron Wyllie (Is there a Pigeon in My Room?), Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin (Ordinary Saints), Andres N. Ordorica (How We Named the Stars) and Sigrid Nielsen (Lavender Menace: Queer Books Archive). Discussing their writing, reading, research, identity and activism, this will be a wonderfully rich session.
Doug Johnstone in conversation with Mary Paulson-Ellis
19:00 – 20:30, Library Downstairs
Doug Johnstone has been a stalwart of Portobello Book Festival. He has written 20 novels in 20 years, including his Skelf series, featuring a family who run a detective agency alongside an undertaker’s business! We are delighted to mark this occasion by inviting him to discuss his career to date with Mary Paulson-Ellis, an award-winning author who, like Doug, has produced some fascinating insights into the underbelly of Edinburgh life. They are a lively pair and have written engaging and entertaining novels.
Myths and Fables
19:00 – 20:00, PortaLibri Bookshop
Join us for an evening of storytelling at PortaLibri with Janis Mackay storyteller and author (On a Northern Shore), storyteller Alice Fernbank and Svend Erik Engh (Danish Folktales), to celebrate the rich oral traditions of Scotland, Denmark and beyond. This promises to be a magical session.
Sunday 4th October
Tai Chi For Health
10:30 – 11:30, Library Downstairs
A chance to take part in a short Tai Chi class and learn about this ancient practice from Mrs Lu Lili who leads a short participatory demonstration and gives us an introduction to her husband’s book Tai Chi For Health. A meditative way to start our Sunday programme.
Inspiring Pasts
10:30 – 11:30, Library Upstairs
The Repentants by Kate Foster takes inspiration from an attempt by 18th century Scottish merchants to annex Iceland as a remote prison for the British Empire. Helen Graham’s Disappearing Acts is inspired by the life of a theatrical ancestor. Join them as they discuss blending historical events and real people into their novels.
Chair: Joanne Baird
On Lighthouses and Loss
12:00 – 13:30, Library Downstairs
Debut author Xani Byrne and prize-winning author and Edinburgh Makar Michael Pedersen discuss their novels around the broad theme of loss. Chaired by Shauna Macdonald, Scottish actor and director. All three are proud Portobello High School alumni.
From Writers to Readers
12:00 – 13:30, Library Upstairs
Readers, have you ever wondered how books get from writers’ heads into your hands? And writers, how can you make sure it’s your book that reaches an audience? With publisher representative Ann Landmann, bookseller Elise Lenzi, librarian Paul Hudson, best-selling author Helen Harper and pitching expert Sheila M Averbuch.
Tails of Scotland: the Story of Scotland’s Dogs
14:00 – 15:00, Library Downstairs
Crofter, writer and presenter Peter MacQueen brings us a heartwarming account of Scotland’s native dog breeds and tells of their place in our cultural and working landscapes. Also known as The Highland Hutter, Peter’s book and his BBC Alba series Cù Leis Thu (A Puppy for Pàdruig) are a celebration of our four-legged friends and are highlighted with his own dogs Sùla, Peigi and Flòraidh. Peter is in conversation with Aaron Baker-Jefferies, Community Engagement Coordinator of Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home.
Lighthouse Lives
14:00 – 15:00, Library Upstairs
Erin Farley’s Lighthouse Lives is a fascinating account of the experience of lighthouse keepers, their families, engineers, boat crew and trustees of the Northern Lighthouse Board, and is also a record of Erin’s interesting journey across Scotland, working as a fieldworker on Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust’s oral history project.
Chair: David Francis
Three Brothers in a Boat
15:30 – 16:30, Library Downstairs
Inspirational ocean rowing brothers Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan Maclean talk about their record breaking, non-stop and unsupported journey across the Pacific Ocean to raise over a million pounds for clean water charities. The blisters, the bravery and the mental battles of this remarkable adventure are shared with Annabel Meikle, Trustee of The Maclean Foundation.
Scars Under The Jersey
15:30 – 16:30, Library Upstairs
Sarah Rhind’s Scars Under The Jersey recounts the inspiring story of how football became a recovery tool, changing her life from one of addiction to becoming a star player in the Homeless World Cup and a Coordinator of Street Soccer Scotland. She explains how a Street Soccer Scotland programme provided valuable support and changed the direction of her life. Sarah is in conversation with David Duke MBE, CEO and Founder, Street Soccer Scotland and Street Soccer London.
The Wealth of Nations?
17:00 – 18:30, Library Downstairs
To mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, a panel considers the topic in today’s world: Gerry McCartney, co-author of Social Murder: Austerity and Life Expectancy in the UK, Eoin McLaughlin, author of The Inclusive Wealth of Nations: Prosperity, Sustainability and the Future of Economic Progress, and Angela Moohan, Founder and CEO of The Larder social enterprise and Board Member of the Poverty Alliance.
Chair: Lesley Martin
VENUES
PORTOBELLO LIBRARY
14 Rosefield Avenue, EH15 1AU
THE PORTOBELLO BOOKSHOP
46 Portobello High Street, EH15 1DA
PORTALIBRI
167 Portobello High Street, EH15 1EU
PORTOBELLO BOOK FESTIVAL is organised by a group of local book enthusiasts in collaboration with Portobello Library. Tickets are free and contributors are not paid. The festival is entirely dependent on donations to meet basic running costs. Books by contributing authors and chairs can be purchased from The Portobello Bookshop’s pop-up bookstall in the library over the course of the weekend.
We are delighted that, with the support of the Live Literature Fund, children’s writers will be visiting local schools. These events are for school pupils only.
BRUNSTANE PRIMARY SCHOOL – JUSTIN DAVIES
ST JOHN’S RC PRIMARY SCHOOL – TOM MORGAN-JONES
TOWERBANK PRIMARY SCHOOL – JONATHAN MERES
DUDDINGSTON PRIMARY SCHOOL – EMILY MACKENZIE
Portobello Book Festival 