Taking place in Edinburgh’s Summerhall this week, Push The Boat Out features a packed programme of panels, spoken word, music, and film that interrogate our definition of the form while spotlighting today’s most exciting voices. Poetry now finds its way into all kinds of multidisciplinary forms, whether in film poems, hip hop, a digital interface, or something else entirely. These experiments raise urgent questions about the world we live in, and bring new insights on identity, language and our relationship with the natural and virtual worlds. Push The Boat Out was founded by Neu! Reekie co-director Kevin Williamson and Creative Scotland’s former Literature Officer Jenny Niven to consider these themes, which it returns to this year with new vigour. Here’s a quick rundown of some of our top picks from this year’s programme. 

^{Top: Jenny Niven, Will Naameh and Janette Ayachi at Push The Boat Out's launch (picture: Max Crawford);
Above: Roger Robinson}

Roger Robinson: Home Is Not A Place
TS Eliot Prize-winner Roger Robinson discusses his latest book Home Is Not A Place, co-authored by photographer Johny Pitts, which narrates Black British histories from around the UK. Compiled from the front seats of a red Mini Cooper driven along the British coast, this multidisciplinary book unpacks ideas of home through poetry, photography and essays.
Saturday 5 November, 2.30pm.

Installation: Particle Poem Collider
If artificial intelligence advocates are to be believed, then the poets of the future will be robots. In this collaboration between Ray Interactive and Pip Thornton, poetry by festival participants is fed to an AI, which then produces a pamphlet of its own. Will any good writing emerge amongst the drivel? And who gets the credit: poet or machine?
All weekend.

Truth Prevails: Poetry Across Frontiers
As our common reality collapses at the behest of algorithms and polarising politics, can poetry still claim to portray fundamental truths? Six poets from Scotland (Alycia Pirmohamed, Rob A Mackenzie and Niall O'Gallagher) and the Czech Republic (Olga Stehlíková, Ondřej Lipár and Jitka Bret Srbova) discuss speaking truth to power in a post-truth world. 
Friday 4 November, 4.30pm.

^{Dave Hook (picture: Kerstin Hollube)}

Rap Is Poetry: The Big Debate (Or Is It?)
Rap is increasingly being recognised for its powerful social critiques and turns of phrase, but does that mean it’s poetry? For some, it deserves to be its own artform, with distinct styles and conventions. Rappers Dave Hook and Bemz, spoken-word artist and rapper Bee Asha Singh, and poet Colin Herd share their thoughts.
Saturday 5 November, 1.30pm.

Through The Looking Glass: Eco-Poetry From The Personal Perspective
Wrestling nature poetry from the Romantics and the pastoral is an exciting new generation of poets who are redefining how we capture the natural world. Eco-poetics fuse with sci-fi, climate change and anti-racism in this discussion between Suzannah Evans, Samuel Tongue and Caleb Parkin.
Saturday 5 November, 11am.