Push the Boat Out (PTBO), Edinburgh’s international poetry festival, has launched its 2026 programme bringing together over 120 artists for 75 events spanning poetry, performance, music, workshops and creative collaborations. Tickets went on sale on Thursday 1st October, National Poetry Day 2026.
The festival runs 12–15 November at the Pleasance and in satellite venues across the city. Ahead of the main festival, audiences can enjoy a special preview event with former national Makar Jackie Kay aboard Edinburgh’s luxury floating hotel, The Fingal on 31 October.
This year’s festival explores The Space Between, the liminal and transitional spaces both physical and metaphorical and also considers our Shorelines: their cultural significance, their hold on our imaginations and the current threats posed by climate crisis.
The festival’s commitment to new work culminates in The Space Between, a major showcase of three new poetry-led performance commissions created in association with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Featuring new work by Gray Crosbie and Guy Woods, Catherine Street and Nancy Burns and Sunnah Khan. Khan’s Terror Error interweaves poetry and archiving to respond to the events of 12 June 2026, when four activists were sentenced as terrorists for the first time in British history. Tits, by Gray Crosbie and Guy Woods, combines spoken word with birdsong and sound design, whilst Spatial Murmurs by Catherine Street and Nancy Burns brings together poetry, voice and film to explore a wordless experience.
The festival also features a new work from poet Iain Morrison and visual artist Corin Sworn, created through PTBO’s first residency programme in partnership with Little Sparta whilst the closing event in this year’s programme sees a striking new collaboration, especially commissioned for the festival, between musician Aurora Engine and writers JL Williams, Dean Atta and Kirsty Logan – combining music, electronica, poetry, voice and performance, promising a powerful finale to PTBO26.
The full PTBO programme can be found here and online at www.pushtheboatout.org
