Pentlands Book Festival 2026: Programme Summary
The Pentlands Book Festival returns with an eclectic mix of voices.
Kate Atkinson, three-time Whitbread/Costa winner, and creator of Life After Life and the Jackson Brodie novels, makes a rare appearance. While Jenni Fagan, novelist, poet, screenwriter, artist, brings her distinctive literary voice to discuss The Delusions, which imagines an afterlife run by cosmic and comic bureaucracy.
For readers drawn to history and social memory, Alistair Moffat, founder of the Borders Book Festival, has decades of expertise in Scottish history and journalism; Brian McGeachan discusses his book on trade unionist Jimmy Reid; Kate Stephenson explores clothing and social history; Alley Jordan shares her work as a garden historian, and Helen Graham brings her historical fiction set in the world of theatrical artists.
Crime and mystery take centre stage with Elaine Thomson, whose historical crime fiction includes her recent ghost story Saltwater, and James Oswald, known for his Inspector McLean and Constance Fairchild series.
Debut and local talent gets a spotlight too: Mark Baillie presents his novel Salvage, exploring Scotland’s Gypsy Traveller history through a missing person mystery, while Kate Mayor and Jonathan Findlay share a session showcasing local authorship.
The festival also welcomes writers working in poetry, memoir, and travel and adventure: Esa Aldegheri, author of Free to Go, and Anne Pia, with poems that capture the renegade spirit of French troubadour George Brassens.
Adding a lighter, curious, note, Pete Lamont explores magic, psychic phenomena, and critical thinking.
Beyond author talks, Pentlands Open Studios presents an artists’ talks event, giving local visual artists a platform to share their work. The festival closes in contemplative mood at the Library of Mistakes, reflecting on lessons from history.
Across the villages of the upper valley of the Water of Leith, PBF2026 offers something to every reader.
Pentlands Book Festival: 26 Oct - 25 Nov 2026 