Books, Talks, Poetry and Creative Writing Events.

hyndland bookshop inside

Books, talks and poetry events. Glasgow has everything on offer for lovers of literature, including major book festivals, book launches, poetry slams and spoken word open mics.

Plenty to choose from with events showcasing new talent as well as acclaimed writers and poets.

Events and New Books To Watch Out For

Bloody Scotland 2020 – Online

bloody scotland online

A note from Festival Director – Bob McDevitt ‘What began with disappointment and seemingly endless challenges has turned into a genuine opportunity to try something a bit different this year. The festival has a truly epic scale from our biggest ever panel featuring no less than 27 authors to a session that will bring five continents online […]

Read the full article: Bloody Scotland 2020 – Online

Glasgow Women’s Library Bold Types Writing Competition

Bold-Types-logo-300x202

Bold Types: Scottish Women’s Creative Writing Competition Be bold and submit your short stories and poems to Glasgow Women’s Library annual writing competition!  Following Book Week Scotland theme – FUTURE . So, cast your mind into the future and e-mail your short stories and poems of up to 1000 words (either in a Word Document […]

Read the full article: Glasgow Women’s Library Bold Types Writing Competition

A Very Quiet Street – exploring Glasgow’s history with Zoe Strachan and Louise Welsh

zoe louise woodlands

A Very Quiet Street? Exploring the hidden histories of West Princes Street and Queens Crescent. About this Event Writers Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh lead a half-mile walk along West Princes Street & Queen’s Crescent engaging with two hundred years of social and cultural history, including North Atlantic slavery, city planning, art, literature, music, crime, […]

Read the full article: A Very Quiet Street – exploring Glasgow’s history with Zoe Strachan and Louise Welsh

Edinburgh Book Festival: Richard Holloway

richard holloway the human need for stories

Richard Holloway: The Human Need for Stories  Tuesday 25 August, 2020  16:00 – 17:00  The New York Times Main Theatre Online  Free, online As one of the most beloved public thinkers of our times, Richard Holloway has often given voice to the deep feelings and concerns that so many of us struggle to articulate clearly. […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival: Richard Holloway

Celebrating Ten Years of Woodlands Community Garden

19 and 20 September, 2020 Woodlands Community Garden, 91 – 101 West Prince Street, Glasgow G4 9BY Woodlands Community Garden and online celebrating 10 years of the Woodlands Community Garden at Woodlands Workspace. A weekend of walk through, socially distanced activities to celebrate the story of the garden and highlight some of  Woodlands Community Development […]

Read the full article: Celebrating Ten Years of Woodlands Community Garden

Hannah Lavery, Govanhill Book Festival

hannah lavery

Thursday 27 August, 2020 – 7 p.m. Hannah is an award-winning poet, playwright and performer. Her poetry has been published by Gutter Magazine, The Scotsman Newspaper and others. Her first pamphlet of short fiction, Rocket Girls, was published by Postbox Press (October 2018) and her poetry pamphlet, Finding Seaglass: Poems from The Drift, was recently published by Stewed Rhubarb Press […]

Read the full article: Hannah Lavery, Govanhill Book Festival

Edinburgh Book Festival – Kirstin Innes: Who is Clio Campbell?

kirstin innes

Friday 21 August, 2020 16:00 – 17:00 The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Rarely does a novel set the Scottish literary scene abuzz in the way Scabby Queen has, counting amongst its fans figures as wide-ranging as Janice Galloway, Ian Rankin and Nicola Sturgeon. Sexy rock starlet, veteran political activist, symbol of a nation […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival – Kirstin Innes: Who is Clio Campbell?

Edinburgh Book Festival James Tait Black Prizes

james tait black prizes

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH EVENT Friday 21 August, 2020 14:30 – 15:30 The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Sponsored by The UK’s longest-running literary prizes are awarded in this special event with broadcaster Sally Magnusson, who hosts a joyous celebration of the year’s best works of fiction and biography. On the 2020 […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival James Tait Black Prizes

Stuart Cosgrove, Govanhill Book Festival

stuart cosgrove

Friday 28 August, 2020 at 7 p.m. Online on Facebook Stuart Cosgrove is a well know writer and broadcaster. His “Soul Trilogy” Detroit 67, Memphis 68 and Harlem 69 weave a wonderful story of soul music set against a backdrop of civil rights, the war in Vietnam and disaffected youth. They are particularly relevant today […]

Read the full article: Stuart Cosgrove, Govanhill Book Festival

Denise Mina, Govanhill Book Festival 2020

denise mina govhill

Monday 24, August, 2020 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Denise has published 12 novels and also writes short stories, plays and graphic novels. In 2014 she was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame. Denise presents TV and radio programmes as well as regularly appearing in the media, and has made a film about […]

Read the full article: Denise Mina, Govanhill Book Festival 2020

Govanhill International Festival 2020

ghill fest

21 until 31 August, 2020 Govanhill International Festival – now in its fourth year, is an anti-racist festival. It celebrates the contribution immigrants have made to the diversity, culture, community and the rich history of the area. Elven days of film, music, books, talks, walks, art, kids activities and more! Join in and celebrate the […]

Read the full article: Govanhill International Festival 2020

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: Uganda’s First Woman of Fiction

ed book fest online

Edinburgh Book Festival Online  Wed 19 August, 2020 14:30 – 15:30 The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online CAPTIONED EVENT Sponsored by Ugandan short story writer and novelist Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi burst onto the scene when she won The Kwani? Manuscript Project in 2013 with her first novel Kintu. Since then, she’s garnered legions […]

Read the full article: Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi: Uganda’s First Woman of Fiction

Marian Keyes – Edinburgh Book Festival Online

marian keyes ed book fest

Marian Keyes: Family Matters  Wed 19 August, 2020 19:00 – 20:00  The New York Times Main Theatre Online  Free, online Captioned event. Marian Keyes didn’t start writing until her twenties, she felt that she was ‘all washed up at 30.’ But readers have had a love affair with Keyes that has lasted over two decades […]

Read the full article: Marian Keyes – Edinburgh Book Festival Online

Philippe Sands with Ian Rankin: On the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive

philliep sand ed book fest

Edinburgh Book Festival Online 2020 Tuesday 18 August, 2020 19:00 – 20:00  The New York Times Main Theatre Online  Free, online Philippe Sands’s much celebrated memoir East West Street, which won the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize, expertly interwove the personal story of his ancestors in the Ukrainian city of Lviv with a professional interest in the establishment […]

Read the full article: Philippe Sands with Ian Rankin: On the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive

Edinburgh Book Festival Online: THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE EVENT

marieke lucas

 Mon 17 August, 2020 14:30 – 15:30 Michele Hutchison & Marieke Lucas Rijneveld: Reap What You Sow The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Sponsored by ‘Great art doesn’t just reinforce or reassure: the authors we love challenge us; they illuminate new perspectives, make us question our certainties. They discomfort us.’ From its […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival Online: THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE EVENT

Get Adventurous with Lily Dyu & Helen Skelton

edinurgh book fest helen skelton kids

Edinburgh Book Festival  Tuesday 18 August, 2020 16:00 – 17:00 Baillie Gifford Children’s Theatre Online Free, online Sponsored by AGE 8+ Would you like to race across mountains, fly into space or journey to Antarctica? Well, why don’t you? In this live event you’ll be inspired to get active and get adventurous after hearing the […]

Read the full article: Get Adventurous with Lily Dyu & Helen Skelton

Val McDermid – Portrait of a Criminal

val mcdermid portrait of a criminal

Edinburgh Book Festival Online  Sat 15 Aug, 2020 17:30 – 18:30  The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Captioned and BSL interpreter viewing options. Use the toggle on the videoplayer page to choose which version to watch. BSLEvent With Val McDermid’s iconic detective soon set to hit our screens, it couldn’t be a […]

Read the full article: Val McDermid – Portrait of a Criminal

Stuart Cosgrove ‘The Soul of Muhammad Ali’

Edinburgh Book Festival  Monday 17 August, 2020 11:30 – 12:30 The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Following on from his acclaimed Soul Trilogy about the American soul music scene in the 1960s, much-loved Scottish broadcaster and writer Stuart Cosgrove returns to the American post-war era with his highly topical new book. In Cassius […]

Read the full article: Stuart Cosgrove ‘The Soul of Muhammad Ali’

Edinburgh Book Festival The New York Times Book Review Live

new york times book review live

THE NEW YORK TIMES SERIES Sunday 16 August, 2020 17:30 – 18:30 The New York Times Main Theatre Online Free, online Sponsored by ‘There is an intimacy to reading: it’s just us and the author; our subjective response and their generous, imaginative understanding of a world that we share but may struggle to articulate. Yet […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival The New York Times Book Review Live

Edinburgh Book Festival Books for Sale

Bookshop is Now Online The Edinburgh International Book Festival Bookshop is now open for business! The Bookshop offers titles from every author in the 2020 programme and showcases a range of books from Scottish publishers. You can search by genre and title and also browse by events in the programme, making it easy to find the […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival Books for Sale

Edinburgh Book Festival Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler and Nick Sharratt

 Sat 15 Aug, 2020 10:00 – 10:50 Gruffalos, Conjurors and Teeny Weeny Genies with Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler and Nick Sharratt  Baillie Gifford Children’s Theatre Online  Free, online In the first of two bumper Book Festival shows from the award-winning author of The Gruffalo, Julia Donaldson treats you to some lively storytelling from her magical book, The Teeny Weeny […]

Read the full article: Edinburgh Book Festival Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler and Nick Sharratt

James Robertson – Live Author Event

james robertson

Wednesday 19 August, 2020 at 6 p.m. Online James Robertson with talk about writing historical fiction, taking in the ways that the past lives on in the present, finding connections across different historical eras, and writing about history in the making while living through its events. James Robertson is one of Scotland’s foremost writers, and […]

Read the full article: James Robertson – Live Author Event

Creative Writing with Marjorie Lofti Gill

open book

Tuesday 18 August, 2020- 6.30-8pm Online Creative Writing Free online session 10 places available Registration and Information This August with Open Book for a shared reading and creative writing workshop led by poet Marjorie Lotfi Gill. Together you will read and discuss passages of fiction and poetry thematically linked to Helen Mirra’s exhibition Acts for […]

Read the full article: Creative Writing with Marjorie Lofti Gill

Scottish Writers Showcase 3 – Creative Conversations

creative converations scottih writers showcase 3.

13 August, 2020, 5.30 p.m. Writing the Ground Beneath Our Feet: Gavin Francis, Mandy Haggith , Kathleen Jamie and Sue Reid Sexton chaired by Elizabeth Reeder Free Event – Register Online About this Event The third in a three event celebration of the best in new Scottish writing, co-organised by Publishing Scotland and University of […]

Read the full article: Scottish Writers Showcase 3 – Creative Conversations

Scottish Writers Showcase 2 Creative Conversations

showcase 2

Photo Credits: Claire Armstrong (Armstrong), Cailean Maclean (Campbell) Wednesday 12 August, 2020 – 5.30 p.m. Writing the Past in the Present Angus Peter Campbell, Norman Bissell, and Sarah Armstrong chaired by Colin Herd About this Event The second in a three part celebration of the best in new Scottish writing, co-organised by Publishing Scotland and […]

Read the full article: Scottish Writers Showcase 2 Creative Conversations

Scottish Writers Creative Conversation Showcase

creative conversation showcase

(Photo Credits: Kris Kesiak (Cosgrove), Chris Scott (Jassat), Anna Leader (Nayeri) Tuesday 11 August, 2020 – 5.30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Writing the Personal and the Political: Dina Nayeri, Stuart Cosgrove, Nadine Aisha Jassat and Donald S Murray, chaired by Louise Welsh About this Event The first in a three night series of Creative Conversation […]

Read the full article: Scottish Writers Creative Conversation Showcase

Researching Scotland’s Mountain Women: National Library of Scotland

mountain women nat lib

Falling between the cracks: researching Scotland’s mountain women Tuesday 15 September, 2020 5 p.m. Curator Paula Williams explores our collections to find the voices of early women mountaineers and reveal their stories in this webinar. Women’s writing and voices are often hidden and hushed in cultural heritage collections. Vanishing behind their husband’s names, publishing for […]

Read the full article: Researching Scotland’s Mountain Women: National Library of Scotland

Sonnet Youth Social Club #2

Thursday, 6 August 2020 from 20:00-21:30 With Sonnet Youth  Kevin P. Gilday The spoken word cabaret night taking the internet by storm! Featuring: One of Scotland’s best known spoken word artists Jenny Lindsay | The world’s first door-to to-door poet Rowan McCabe | comedian Elaine Malcolmson (Breaking the News) | multi-instrumentalist Kapil Seshasayee Supporting artists […]

Read the full article: Sonnet Youth Social Club #2

Book Launch: New Shoots Old Roots (2)

new shoots old roots

6pm Thursday 30th July, 2020 New Shoots Old Roots Vol. II Book Launch Livestreamed on Facebook Street Level Photoworks, in collaboration with the African and Caribbean Women’s Association (ACWA), are delighted to launch the second volume of New Shoots Old Roots – a publication that captures African and Caribbean women’s experiences of coming to and […]

Read the full article: Book Launch: New Shoots Old Roots (2)

SEE YOU IN 10 YEARS WRITING COMPETITION for Teenagers

val mcdermid scottish book trust

Open to 13 – 19 year olds Submission Deadline 31 August, 2020 Do you ever wonder where you’ll be in ten years’ time? How about being part of Scotland’s writing future? Scottish Book Trust have teamed up with author Val McDermid to give you a chance to do just that. Looking for a two-part piece […]

Read the full article: SEE YOU IN 10 YEARS WRITING COMPETITION for Teenagers

val mcdermid scottish book trust

Copyright Glasgow Westend 2009 thru 2017

Contact Pat's Guide to Glasgow West End | About Pat Byrne | Privacy Policy | Design by Jim Byrne Website Design