Aye Write Glasgow’s Book Festival
Glasgow's Book Festival, Aye Write, will celebrate its 20th edition across 11 days this November, with a series of pop-up events coming before!
About Aye Write Glasgow’s Book Festival
The highly popular celebration of books will run from 6-16 November 2025, when it will mark its 20th anniversary with a packed programme featuring 130 events showcasing established authors and the next generation of writers.
The event, which takes place ahead of Book Week Scotland (17-23 November 2025), spans various genres and includes discussions and debates with 180 authors from Glasgow, Scotland and around the world.
Among the most familiar names in the wide-ranging line-up at this year’s Aye Write festival are Irvine Welsh, Jeanette Winterson, Sally Magnusson, Dougie Donnelly, Nicola Sturgeon in conversation with Josh Smith, Justin Currie and Ambrose Parry (Chris Brookmyre and Marisa Haetzman). The bill also includes John Harris, Natasha Brown, Nigel Planer, Ted Kravitz, Len Pennie, Terry Deary, Helen Lederer, Robert Elms in conversation with Stuart Cosgrove, Sarah Vine, Huey Morgan, Julie Nimmo and Greg Hemphill, and Sophie Gravia.
Having appeared at the first-ever Aye Write in 2005, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh, A L Kennedy, Quintin Jardine and Liz Lochhead will be welcomed back during its 20th anniversary year.
Genres at the 2025 Aye Write include memoirs and autobiographies, poetry, crime fiction, true crime, LGBTQI+, historical fiction, and science fiction.
The festival will also cover a range of current topics and themes, from music, sport, current affairs and politics to crafting, history and the environment.
Music fans can hear Alison Stroak, Fiona Shepherd and Jonathan Trew discuss Glasgow’s contribution to pop music during the ‘Glasgow’s Greatest Hits’ event which also offers a chance to sing with a live band.
Followers of the beautiful game can head along to a ‘What’s the Matter with Scottish Football?’ discussion with Pat Nevin and Paul Goodwin.
Broadcast journalist Sally Magnusson presents a powerful reimagining of a Norse myth in ‘The Shapeshifter’s Daughter’; Del Amitri singer Justin Currie reflects on life as a touring musician in the shadow of his life-changing Parkinson’s diagnosis in his memoir ‘The Tremelo Diaries’; and Dougie Donnelly, one of Scotland’s best-loved presenters and the former face of the BBC’s Grandstand and Sportscene shows, recalls the highlights of his life in sport, which include presenting at World Cups and broadcasting as Europe won the Ryder and Solheim Cups.
Aye Write audiences will have the chance to listen to legendary artist Ken Currie as he looks back on his life and paintings, and learn about Jim Swire’s fight for justice for the daughter he lost in the Lockerbie bombing. There will also be opportunities to hear from chefs Julie Lin and Ferrier Richardson, whose stories exemplify and share all that is great about Glasgow’s flourishing food scene.
Elsewhere, Raja Shehadeh and Penny Johnson reflect on their book ‘Searching for Palestine’s Hidden Places and Lost Memorials’; Lara Lewington’s ‘Hacking Humanity’ explains how technology can save your health and your life; Chris McQueer and James Bloodworth examine the toxic subcultures of ‘the manosphere’; and Ryan Gilbey’s ‘It Used to be Witches’ takes audiences on a treasure hunt through queer cinema past and present with a special screening of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘Teorema’ at Glasgow Film Theatre.
Aye Write will continue to give new voices and perspectives a platform, and audiences can look forward to hearing from the likes of Chris Kohler and Lisa Smith as part of the festival’s ‘Ones To Watch’ events. The ‘Ones To Watch’ series shines a light on the many up-and-coming writers making their Aye Write debut, which this year also includes Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin, Oraine Johnson and Seth Insua.
As well as the many events held to entertain and inform book lovers, Aye Write is also set up to support budding authors. Aye Write’s ‘Getting Creative’ workshops give beginners guidance on how to form a structure, develop a plot, create characters and use dialogue in novels.
More experienced writers can get involved in Aye Write masterclasses on writing style and genres led by a panel of publishing industry experts, as well as University of Strathclyde Centre for Lifelong Learning taster courses on various topics.
This year’s Aye Write will also feature the first airing of the Great Big Glasgow Poem. The poem is part of Glasgow’s 850th birthday celebrations and has been written by Glasgow residents of all ages who have each added a line to express what Glasgow means to them. The Great Big Glasgow Poem will be presented for the first time by Glasgow’s Poet Laureate, Jim Carruth, at The Mitchell Library on Saturday 15 November (4.15pm).
Where possible we will update our listings to notify of cancelled, postponed and rescheduled events, however we STRONGLY ADVISE that you check with the venue/organiser in the first instance for updates.
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