Push the Boat Out brings £5 poetry nights to Edinburgh
An intimate Jackie Kay reading aboard The Fingal will open this autumn’s Push the Boat Out programme before Edinburgh’s international poetry festival moves to The Pleasance. The main festival runs from 12 to 15 November, with tickets ranging from £5 to £55 before booking fees. Free and pay-what-you-can options are also available.
The programme is aimed at poetry and arts audiences, but its first announced events stretch beyond conventional readings into live music, theatre, cabaret and electronica. Readers exploring the city’s wider literary calendar may also be interested in the Edinburgh Book Festival. Tickets for the preview and Festival Nights events are on sale through the Push the Boat Out website.
The Pleasance hosts four days of poetry and performance
Push the Boat Out 2026 will be based at The Pleasance in Edinburgh from 12–15 November. The full programme is due to be published on 1 October, so the current announcement offers an early look rather than a complete event schedule.
Festival Nights will begin with a cabaret led by award-winning poets EmmaClaire Brightlynn and Nick Makoha, accompanied by special guests. Luke Wright will draw on two decades of performance work, including material from Later Life Letter, his exploration of adoption and identity, as well as work prepared for his forthcoming 2027 live show.
Writer, poet and television producer Henry Normal will mark the publication of his fourth collected poetry anthology with an hour combining poems, stories and songs. His wider body of work includes co-creating Mrs Merton and The Royle Family.
Joelle Taylor will bring the Scottish premiere of a staged reading of Maryville to the festival. The work follows four butch lesbians across five decades of underground queer life in London, tracing its clubs, culture and resistance. Neil Bartlett directs the production, with visuals by artist and filmmaker Sweatmother.
Saturday night moves from spoken word to jazz and Afrobeat
The Saturday Night Gig pairs writer and musician Anthony Joseph with his band. Their performance brings spoken word together with jazz, Afrobeat, funk and Caribbean rhythms.
Scottish artist Bee Asha will open the gig with a set blending rap, poetry and song. The combination reflects the festival’s broader approach to poetry as a form that can share the stage with other kinds of live performance.
Push the Boat Out will close on 15 November with a newly commissioned collaboration involving musician Aurora Engine and poets JL Williams, Dean Atta and Jenni Fagan. The piece combines electronica, music, poetry, voice and performance.
Another new work has emerged from the festival’s residency with Little Sparta and the estate of Ian Hamilton Finlay. Poet Iain Morrison and visual artist Corin Sworn will present pool burn lock and sluice at Little Sparta on 27 September, followed by a further performance during the main festival.
Jackie Kay opens the preview programme aboard The Fingal
Before the Pleasance programme begins, Jackie Kay will appear at The Fingal on 31 October. The floating venue is a former Northern Lighthouse Board ship, providing a more intimate setting for readings and a celebration of Kay’s new Selected Poems publication, which spans three decades of her poetry.
The Fingal appearance is separate from the main 12–15 November festival dates. Readers planning to attend should therefore check that they are booking for the preview, an individual Festival Nights performance or the wider festival programme.
Ticket choices range from free entry to a £55 pass
Individual ticket options include free and pay-what-you-can admission, while priced tickets range from £5 to £55 before booking fees. A festival pass costs £55 and gives its holder free entry and discounts of up to 50% across events in the programme.
Creative Scotland’s published announcement does not specify performance times or accessibility arrangements. Those details should be checked when booking. Tickets for the events announced so far are available through the Push the Boat Out website, with the complete programme scheduled for release on 1 October.
Source: Creative Scotland News
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Source check How this preview was checked
Dates, venues, prices and performers were checked against the Push the Boat Out announcement published by Creative Scotland News.
- Confirmed the main festival dates as 12–15 November at The Pleasance.
- Separated the 31 October Jackie Kay preview at The Fingal from the main festival.
- Checked the stated £5–£55 ticket range, free and pay-what-you-can options, and £55 festiva...
- Flagged that performance times and accessibility information were not provided.
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- Creative Scotland News
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- Edinburgh
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- 2026-09-09 16:47
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