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Govanhill International Festival 2025

1 – 10 August, 2025

Highlights include:

Govanhill Book Festival 2025 8/9 August

Govanhill Book Festival 2025

Irish Roots programme at Govanhill International Festival & Carnival

Hotblast

Friday 1 August – Sunday 10 August

The Hidden Gardens via Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, G41 2PE

• Tuesday – Friday, 10am-5pm / Saturday-Sunday, 12noon-5pm / Monday, closed

Hotblast is a new installation by Glaswegian artist and writer Hayley Jane Dawson. It excavates the industrial past beneath the Hidden Gardens – a terrain shaped by heat, labour and class struggle. Through cast objects, found materials and archival debris, Dawson conjures the afterlives of extraction, asking what lingers in the land, and in us.

Their work has appeared at Tate St Ives and Glasgow Zine Library. They also run the Scottish Working Class Network – a space for collective memory and resistance.

Free entry

*No age restriction. Step-free access, wheelchair accessible, accessible toilet, various seatings. Standing event. 

Installation

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: A Listening Event

Friday 1 August, 6pm-8pm

Burning House Books, 446 Cathcart Road, G42 7BZ

Join writer and broadcaster Ben Kritikos for a collective listening of The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963) – Charles Mingus’ searing, orchestrated cry of beauty, rage and refusal.

Experience a sound-world born of the Civil Rights movement, of radical Black thought, of bodies in motion and voices in struggle. After listening, there will be open space for conversation – on music as resistance, on sound as memory and on how these histories reverberate not just in the US, but here in Govanhill.

From Red White Blues: An Anthology of America’s Music, to the echoes we carry – bring your ears, your questions, your politics.

*No age restriction; however, small children are not advised to attend as this is a listening event that will require undisturbed listening for the 39-minute duration of the album. The event will have seating but this will be limited to a first come first served basis. The audience will be limited to 20.

Free but ticketed 

Music and Talk | Creative Neighbourhood Grants

The Future is Written Queer: Letter Writing for a Personal and Public Anthology

Friday 1, Sunday 3 & Sunday 10 August 

Letter writing is a deeply queer act. A way to reach toward each other – across time, distance, struggle – with care, defiance and imagination.

You are invited to write into queer liberation, love, friendship and kinship – not as fixed ideas, but as messy, tender and radical possibilities. Through letters, both personal and public, trace what connects us, sustains us and calls us into a different kind of future.

Across two beginner-friendly workshops, you’ll learn Risograph printing – a bold, eco-conscious process – to transform your words and images into vivid, tactile works. Creating a shared print project that holds queer memory and imagination on the page.

The project culminates in a public exhibition at Inkling and a time capsule anthology housed at Glasgow Zine Library.

Workshops open to all in the LGBTQIA+ community. Come to write, to print, to remember.

Inkling (at The Cooperage), Unit 3, 674 Pollokshaws Road, G41 2QE

• Friday 1 August, 6pm-8:30pm: Open Letter Risograph Print Workshop
• Sunday 3 August, 2pm-4:30pm: Personal Stationary Risograph Print Workshop
• Sunday 10 August, 11am-4pm: Exhibition

Free but ticketed

*This event is for the LGBTQIA+ community. Ages 18+, Step-free access, accessible toilet facilities, seating and standing workspace options, pronoun pins, LGBTQIA+ facilitators.

Workshop and Exhibition | Creative Neighbourhood Grants

Vocal or Version reggae dance feat Doc Murdoc (MC) and Gabby Ochoa (DJ)

The Rum Shack, 657–659 Pollokshaws Road, G41 2AB

Saturday 2 August, 8pm-1am

Celebrating Jamaican independence, Vocal or Version returns with another top night of vintage Jamaican music (reggae, ska, rocksteady, roots & soul) all on original press vinyl. On the mic, the ever-charismatic Doc Murdoc brings his signature singjay style and deep reggae knowledge. Holding it down with him is special guest Gabby Ochoa, representing Edinburgh with a serious crate of heavyweight tunes. Joining them, as always, is your host for the night, and Vocal or Version resident deejay, Shaun Galbraith.

£6-£10 ticket via Rumshack

*18+ only 

Music

BarbourFest: Mary Barbour’s 150th Birthday Celebration

Sunday 3 August, from 10am

The walking tour will commence at Barbour Statue at 51 Govan Road at 10am

Walk, listen, gather, sing. This day traces the legacy of Mary Barbour – socialist, feminist, organiser – who led the 1915 rent strikes from the streets of Govan and into history.

From early morning footsteps to late-night song, we ask: what does it mean to carry her struggle forward? What do housing justice and women’s rights demand of us now, in 2025?

• Morning / 10am-1pm: The day begins at the Mary Barbour statue, 51 Govan Road, with a guided walking tour following the paths she once frequented.

• Afternoon / 2pm-5pm: Panel discussions at Romano Lav, exploring struggles for housing justice and women’s rights – then and now.

• Evening / 7pm-10pm: Songs and poems for resistance at The Bungo – voices raised in solidarity, memory, and defiance.

A full-day gathering with breaks throughout – come for part or stay for it all.

Connect with Glasgow’s radical roots, and reflect on how Mary Barbour’s legacy continues to shape collective struggle, pride and the ongoing fight for justice.

There will be breaks throughout the full day session.

Free but ticketed 

*No age restrictions. Toilets, wheelchair accessible, accessible toilets at Romano Lav, various seating options, BSL, a hybrid event that will be live-streamed, step-free access. Possible TW: discussion of transphobia, racism, misogyny. The event will be nut-free. Rosa Scotland welcomes you to wear masks. We will provide fidget toys during the discussion. There will be a maximum of 50 participants. 

Heritage/themed Walk, Workshop and Celebration | Creative Neighbourhood Grants

On-Screen: Exploring Women’s Identities & Cultural Heritage in East and Southeast Asia – A Film & Dialogue Experience

Sunday 3 & Saturday 9 August, 10am-6pm 

Broadside, 123 Allison Street, G42 8NE

A relaxed, all-day film club with snacks, casual conversations, and shared stories. This community screening will feature films by and about East and Southeast Asian women. After each film, we’ll provide a space to reflect, draw, write, or simply enjoy the moment.

Throughout the day, the films will explore themes such as migration, memory, identity and care. There’s no expectation to speak or share – you’re welcome to take part in whatever way feels right. No experience or background knowledge is needed – just openness, respect, and a willingness to be present with others. Stay for one film, or enjoy them all – everyone is welcome.

Free but ticketed

*Accessible toilets, various seating options, film including captions, quiet space, materials in other languages, ‘active listener’. Trigger warnings will be provided for each film where applicable. The event will employ trauma-informed facilitation practices, and a quiet space will be available for attendees who may need it.​ There will be a maximum of 15 attendees per screening. Seated event. PG age ratings, no 18+ films.

Film Screening

See the full programme

Attending Events

All events at this year’s festival will take place in person across various venues. Please double-check the location of your event in advance. If an event requires a ticket, booking early is recommended as many events will fill up quickly. Key details will be emailed to you after booking. Events are either free or priced to be as accessible as possible, with pay-what-you-can and solidarity options available. For details on pricing and choosing your ticket amount, please see www.govanhillbaths.com/festival

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