Push the Boat out: Edinburgh's International poetry festival 2023!

This coming weekend 24-26th November sees the return of Push the Boat Out, Edinburgh's international poetry festival.

The Lighthouse team will be on site at Summerhall with a stall overflowing with poetry, featuring all the poets in the programme and so much more.

We've already spent far too long circling everything we want to see in the gorgeous line-up and as impossible as it is to single out all our faves here are a few we are especially excited to catch:

• Cocktail Hour with the utterly beguiling Kate Fox who is hilarious and talented and generous in equal parts, don't miss it! Friday 24th, 5.30pm Tix HERE (there is also a Cocktail Hour with Joelle Taylor!)
• Jane Clarke - the Irish Poet who blew us away at StAnza earlier in the year, shares the stage with the Edinburgh-based (and very brilliant) Patrick Errington. Her work and performance are enthralling, captivating experience, get yourselves along! Saturday 25th, 3,30pm Tix HERE
• Who cares? is a writing workshop with John Glenday (no writing experience necessary). John offers up a chance to tap into (y)our humanity and explore connections and compassions - This workshop is particularly aimed at care-givers, the care-experienced, those working in the caring industries and indeed anyone keen to explore their relationship with others. Saturday 25th 11am Tix HERE
• Also for the (would-be) writers, bookshop favourite Meena Kandasamy is doing a virtual workshop too, what a coup! Saturday 25th at 12, details HERE
• Stellar Quines! The feminist stage show/podcast has a PTBO special and it is gonna be LUSH as usual. Sunday 26th at 6.15 tix HERE
• How can our individual poetic voices can come together to create a collective cultural memory which acts as an alternative history and document of our society? PTBO has got the fab Francesca Beard doing a workshop spin off from their film screening of Hair and it sounds delightful. Sunday 26th 1pm Tix HERE
• At 8pm on opening night there is also the promise of something truly weird and wonderful, haunting and arresting and utterly enthralling and that's A Summerhall Tryptich with Ever Dundas, Harry Josephine Giles, Iona Lee and David Paul Jones. Friday 24th 8pm tix HERE.

aaaaaand then there are our always favourites/extended bookshop family appearing: Annie Rutherford, JJ Fadaka, Catherine Wilson Garry, Éadaoín Lynch and Michael Pedersen,

Oh gosh and there is SEEDS! Which looks amazing! (HERE, look here) Ok now we really will stop.

In case you'd like to get ahead with browsing, or can't make it down in person, here's a selection of books by authors appearing throughout the three days of events! 30 books for three days - but make sure to head HERE for the ful programme.