Push The Boat Out festival has launched its third year of events with celebrations of local and international poetry and lyrics. Taking place from Friday 24 until Sunday 26 November at Edinburgh's Summerhall, tickets for the festival are on sale now.

The exciting line-up features over 50 events and with over 80 performers, artists and speakers, including Dizraeli discussing his new book Animal Noises, a poetry jam with spoken word performer Leyla Josephine and a live band, writer Arusa Qureshi interviewing songwriters about their lyrics, and a solo show from Edinburgh-based indie songwriter Hamish Hawk. 

Other highlights from the programme include BELONGING: A Quines Cast Special, a special live recording of the hit podcast Stellar Quines featuring poems from RJ Hunter and an extract from a new work in progress by Hannah Lavery; The Cat Prince, a celebration of poet and performer Michael Pederson’s latest collection; and a special visit from Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey to discuss their co-edited anthology, Poetry For The Many. Find the full programme here. 

Emma Collins, Director of Push the Boat Out, said, ‘In this third year, Push the Boat Out is definitely poetry placed firmly in a current tide. This year’s programme is a true showcasing of contemporary excellence. Modern, charged, alive, joyful and celebratory with events that are also vehicles for important and vital discussions. 

‘We’ve brought together over eighty of the most exciting poets from Scotland, the UK and beyond and we’ve continued to expand our notion of what poetry is, with eclectic events that celebrate words and language in their many glorious forms and in conversation with other artistic disciplines. 

‘’Poetry is everywhere, it’s the lyrics in songs, our conversations and dialogues, the rhythm of spoken word, scripts and sonnets, proclamations and points of view, the stories we tell and the history around us. 

‘That’s what Push the Boat Out is primarily about… words, how we use them, a celebration of them and what they mean to us. We’ve endeavoured to capture that in this year's programming.

‘We also strive to make Push the Boat Out as accessible for audiences as possible. BSL interpreted events are indicated within the programme and once again, in addition to our in person and online programme, we will have a programme of events free to listen to at home via our partners EHFM Radio as well as a selected live stream event that showcases newly commissioned work.

‘We've been overjoyed by the response from the incredible artists and poets who've agreed to come on board the boat this year and cannot wait to bring them all together for audiences this November.'

Push The Boat Out Festival will take place from Friday 24–Sunday 26 November at Summerhall, Edinburgh. Tickets for the festival are on sale now.