The Myths & Legends Cabaret at Edinburgh's Radical Book Fair

Three beloved, world class storytellers invite us to shift our focus onto the people who truly are the legends in our myths.

So often the myths and legends we learn are dominated by men who claim centre stage - but what of the women, what of the queers, what of the people who defy, challenge, and subvert easy classification in heteronormative binaries? What of the people whose actions and stories deserve their own tales?

Join us for a joyful, radical reimagining, an excavation of the stories that scaffold our world-views and literary imaginations...

This Radical Book Fair Myths & Legends Cabaret will blend performance and discussion, the Roxy bar will be open, seating will be dotted with candle-lit tables: the perfect way to spend a wintry friday night!

-- The Books --

Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men by Mara Gold - Rediscover legendary tales from Ancient Mythology, centred around the stories of women, perfect for fans of Mythos, Circe, Pandora and Clytemnestra in this beautifully-illustrated bold feminist retelling of ancient mythological stories, written by expert classicist Mara Gold.

Discover the goddesses, warriors, witches, and monsters who shaped and subverted womanhood from the very beginning ...

Homemaker. Virgin. Warrior. Witch. Madwoman. Monster.

The labels applied to mythological women echo throughout history. These archetypes, created in the Ancient World, still resonate today.

From the stories of the virgin goddesses Athena and Artemis, the contrasting depictions of wifely duty in Clytemnestra and Penelope, the ecstatic frenzies of the Maenads, Echidna—the so-called mother of all monsters—and the misunderstood Medusa, Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men reveals a world where powerful women were both worshipped and feared.

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Hekate by Nikita Gill - A propulsive, electrifying and enraging retelling in verse of the life of Greek goddess Hekate, child of war turned all-powerful goddess of witchcraft and necromancy, by internationally bestselling poet Nikita Gill.

Born into a world on fire, Godling Hekate has never known safety. After her parents find themselves on the losing side of the war between the ruling Titans and the new Olympian Gods, Hekate is taken by her mother Asteria to the Underworld, where Styx and Hades agree to raise her. Meanwhile, Asteria is pursued across the world by Zeus and Poseidon and, to escape their clutches, transforms herself into an island in a stormy sea.

-- Our Speakers--

Mara Gold is currently completing a DPhil in Classical Languages and Literature at St. Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Mara specialises in women’s classical reception and scholarship, in relation to modern concepts of gender, sexuality and feminism.

She also has postgraduate degrees in Modern History, Theatre and Archaeology. She is a freelance museum researcher and outreach professional, and has worked on gender, sexuality and disability projects at the V&A, Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers to name a few. As the researcher for the National Lottery Funded ‘Beyond the Binary’ project, she worked with museum objects to tell queer stories through mythology and folklore.

Nikita Gill is an Irish-Indian poet who has the attention of 750,000 Instagram followers worldwide for her work. Her work offers a shift of perspective which centres women in both Greek and Hindu myth as well as folklore. She has given a TEDx Talk, spoken at every major literary festival in the UK and been shortlisted for the Goodreads Choice Award in poetry three times, the Childrens Poetry Award two times and longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Gill has written seven poetry collections and two verse novels. Her book of fables for children, Animal Tales from India (Walker Books), and her newest verse novel for Doctor Who, The Angel of Redemption (a 2010s story) (BBC Children's Books), were both out in October 2023.

Niall Moorjani is an award winning and critically acclaimed Scottish-Indian, non-binary and neurodiverse writer, storyteller and theatre maker based between Edinburgh and London. They have perfomed all over the world, from Delhi to New York to old York. They create for both children and adults, dealing with themes queerness, anti-colonialism, myth and legend. At the core of all their work is hope, joy and kindness. Their work has been published in mutiple places, but most notably with Bloombury/ Methuen Drama, ‘Kanpur:1857’ (2025), and Lantana, Rajiv’s Starry Feelings (2023).