Edinburgh Book and Fringe Festival. Friday 28th August, 2026

 

My final trip to Edinburgh this August. 

I mistimed my departure, so I arrived in Edinburgh later than intended. Heading directly to the Caley Picture House Wetherspoons from the West End tram stop, I had 40 minutes to order and eat my lunch if I were to reach the Book Festival site in time.

It was close, but I made it, ending up drenched in sweat and having to use my shirt sleeve to wipe away the sheen from my scalp. I must have looked disgusting to the kids waiting with me in the queue for Katherine Rundell.

Impossible Creatures Made Real with Katherine Rundell, 13:30 - 14:30

Event Brochure Entry

Dragons, griffins, sphinxes, centaurs – on a cluster of magical islands called the Archipelago, creatures of myth still live. Katherine Rundell’s multi-award-winning Impossible Creatures series tells the story of how an ordinary boy and a flying girl get swept up in adventures they’ll never forget. Today, Katherine shares the epic third book, The Neverfear – how did she create such a richly imagined world? And what tips does she have for budding young writers with wild imaginations?

Ticket Price: £8

I adore Katherine's fiction. Her middle-grade fantasy fiction is so vivid and imaginative. She was really the driving force to visit the capital again. This would be my first experience seeing her in person. 

Upon entry, the front section filled up quickly; lots of kids were desperate to get as close to the front as possible. I chose a seat at the end of the front row of the raked seating away from everyone else, conscious that I was still sweating profusely.

Katherine's event felt like a TED Talk given by the best primary school teacher in the world. Armed with her clicker, she stood on the stage below her giant screen and addressed us with passion and enthusiasm, introducing us to her process. Her worldbuilding often begins with the foods. The rich tastes and smells help immerse the reader in her world. In real life, she likes to research her characters' experiences as much as possible, so she learned to fly a biplane, kayaked up the Amazon, met huskies and even practised walking a tightrope.  

One story involved her characters eating a tarantula. She didn't get to taste one on her Amazon trip, so, in her book, she used the description the natives related, that it tasted of fish or prawn. Much later, she happened upon a supplier of ethically sourced tinned tarantula and tried it. Yuck! It tasted horrible, like burnt hair. She didn't amend the description in the book, though, because it was possible that fresh tarantula tasted nicer than the tinned variety.

She often incorporates a young creature into her stories, as they represent life continuing. All her book creatures are based on actual folklore creatures from around the world. When she describes them, she bases the creatures on real-world alternatives, so unicorns are like horses and gaganas are like crows.  

She asked the audience lots of questions, and the kids were all keen to answer, raising their arms straight into the air. What was especially amazing was how Katherine could take their What If? ideas and spin them off in five or six directions off the top of her head. Katherine's humour shone throughout the talk, as did her passion for writing. It was inspiring to listen to her. 

Afterwards, the kids rushed to the bookshop like a fast-moving river. The oldies, like me, couldn't keep up, walking at a more dignified pace. I ended up about halfway back in the book signing queue. It took forty minutes to reach the front, despite Waterstones' slick operation of writing the name in advance on a Post-It and sticking it like a bookmark onto the signing page. So many of the kids had questions to ask her, and nearly all of them wanted a picture. A lucky few received a card featuring one of the Impossible Creatures. They weren't handed out to adults, though. When it was my turn to get my book signed, I clammed up, content to receive her autograph and a smile.   

Writing the Darkness with Patrick Ness, 15:30 - 16:30

Event Brochure Entry

Patrick Ness is a titan of Young Adult literature. Author of modern classic, The Knife of Never Letting Go, he returns to the world of the bestselling Chaos Walking trilogy with Piper at the Gates of Dusk. Blending sci-fi, speculative fiction, and adventure, it’s a story of power, division, and hope. Hear Patrick talk about going back to a world he created nearly 20 years ago and what it takes to write award-winning science fiction.

Ticket Price £15.50

Donations: Support our Schools Programme  £2.00

The queue for Patrick Ness was not too long when I joined it at 3.10 pm. The rain was spitting again, so I was glad to be under the cover of the Courtyard tent. Patrick's audience skews older, more YA, but there were as many adults as teens present. As we filtered in, I ended up with a seat in the front-row aisle. At the very end of the row was a man holding a sleeping, four-month-old baby, which turned out to be Patrick's. 

Patrick is gay, American and remarkably urbane. He grew up closeted in a small Christian conservative town. His writing helped him form his identity. He believes spite and defiance will take you a long way in the publishing world, and even when people reject you, write anyway.

As he writes both YA and adult fiction, he was asked what the difference was. He said in YA, the protagonists push the boundaries, discovering where they lie, while adult fiction is often more about being trapped within those boundaries.

He's funny but painfully frank in his replies, admitting he's bitter about how the Chaos Walking film was handled and noting that Tom Holland never once mentioned the project's name during the press junket. He had a far better experience working with Spielberg on "A Monster Calls".

He is a staunch advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. One of the new heroes in his latest work is a trans man. He felt it was important to explore that experience. In answer to one of the interviewer's questions, he refused to use Harry Potter as the example he had used in the past, as he now regards JK as the Evil One, thanks to her using her wealth to push an anti-trans agenda.

During the Q&A, an older woman with a prim-sounding voice began her question: "In Edinburgh, we are a polite people, so I think you should apologise for those comments you made about JK-" That's as far as she got. Patrick snapped, "I'll cut you off right there." His temper boiled, and he explained to her passionately why JK's views are so harmful, especially to his readers. He stopped short of having her removed from the room, but did joke at the end that everyone was welcome to join him at the bookshop to get their books signed, "Except you", pointing to the woman in question. He apologised multiple times for losing his cool, but we understood why.

I didn't have a book to get signed, so afterwards I exited the Book Festival site to look for something for my dinner, buying a meal deal from the nearby Tesco Local.

Patrick hates doing book readings

My next show wasn't for a few hours, so I bought an ice cream (two scoops, one of lemon drizzle and one of passionfruit) and wandered over to the Pleasance to see if there was anything available starting soon that took my fancy. There wasn't. I sat on a wall, ate my wrap, used the on-site toilet facilities, and headed across to Cab Vol 1.

Felicity Ward was chatting with a pal in the booth behind me. I didn't eavesdrop; instead, I read my Kindle and scrolled through social media.

Edinburgh Fringe

18:40 (1hr) Dan Rath: Help Me Please

Cab Vol 1. Ticket Price: £14 (& 1.50 BF) = £15.50

Blurb:

You probably already know me from reading the news. In 2018, I dressed up as a sewing needle and hid inside a strawberry. There should be a French word for the moment you realize a bald dude actually has a ponytail. I'm so used to failure that success represents an existential threat. 'His mind works like no other' ***** (Chortle.co.uk). 'The speed and frequency of his jokes is dizzying… Buckle up' **** (Guardian). 'Book yesterday' **** (Age). New Faces of Comedy, Just For Laughs Montreal, 2025 Winner: Best of the Fest Sydney Comedy Festival.

Dan died on his arse tonight. The room was less than half full. The audience had largely ignored the ushers' attempts to wrangle us to the front, so we were spread out across the space, leaving many empty seats. The crowd on one side of the room laughed loudly and heartily, but it sounded forced. On my side of the room, there was mostly silence with occasional titters, creating an odd imbalance.

This threw Dan, who never managed to make his material flow. Normally, he pauses to ride the laughter, but tonight those silent pauses turned awkward. He worked hard to laugh off the bombs, mentioning how "that one usually gets a laugh". He did have some good lines, but I felt he sometimes rambled on too much after the joke, diminishing its effect, like a gymnast stumbling a couple of steps after landing. Compared to last year's brilliant show, this one felt like it was composed of castoffs that didn't fit. 

You know it isn't going well when the comedian pauses to ask an audience member where they heard about the show, and this develops into an audience survey as he randomly picks person after person to tell him, none of it eliciting any laughs.

Ouch!     

20:00 (1hr) Li Jin Hao: Falling From a Moon

Pleasance Courtyard Above.  Ticket Price: £15 (& £1.50 BF) = £16.50 

Blurb:

I'm addicted to time travel. I keep thinking of the past. I want to go back. Not too far though. Not Pangea. Remember Pangea? It was the first Brexit. This was when T-rexes were playing scissors scissors scissors. Before they added rock and paper to the game. That's when the game got heavy. Everything's heavy now. I feel the gravity. Back then things felt lighter, like being on the moon. Let's go there. Meet me on the moon. Edinburgh Comedy Awards Best Newcomer nominee 2024. ***** (Telegraph). ***** (Skinny). **** (Scotsman). **** (Observer).

I nipped out sharply from Cab Vol 1 as I only had twenty minutes before my next show at Pleasance Above. The queue had started but wasn't too long, despite the show being a sellout (and nominated for the Edinburgh Award). I ended up with a seat in the middle of the second row. 

I've seen Li a few times now. When he started out, his opening ten-minute set established his USP as a soft-spoken, otherworldly comedian with well-hidden, left-field punchlines. His debut hour expanded on this, but was still a little rough. This show brings everything together beautifully, blending the mystical with the mundane, playful and funny in equal measure. He remains in the moment, responding to the sound and movement of the audience, stepping out of the routine to comment on someone scratching their nose, sometimes copying someone's cough or a stray laugh before returning to the material. That keeps the atmosphere electric.

I liked how he used the large full-moon prop, lit in different ways, subliminally creating the effect of passing time. 

A genuinely funny and illuminating show.  

Silence of the Lambs, Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Thursday 27th August, 2026

Our trip to the theatre began with lunch at The Wild Olive Tree, within St George's Tron on Buchanan Street. It was busy, so we had to wait a short time to get a table. Their soup-and-scone combo was delicious and not expensive. They're not linked to the Theatre Royal, so no cannibal dishes were on the menu, but I could pretend the chef had added brains to the chicken, veg and barley soup.

The theatre was warm even before it filled up, matching the bright day outside. My wife had brought her fan, but I've asked her to stop calling me that.  

Sinister sounds play while we wait for the show to begin. The performance will be captioned on the screen above our heads and on the screens on either side of the stage. I made use of this feature quite a lot during the play, spotting the occasional time when the actors reworded their lines.   

     

Beforehand, I had two questions in mind: how will John Partridge compare to Anthony Hopkins as Lecter; and how will they translate the film/book onto the stage? I wasn't worried about whether it would be good, as the reviews had been most complimentary.

To answer the second one first, the staging, acting and script were clever. The story follows the film's narrative closely, though we get more Hannibal onstage than he was ever on screen. The structure of his cell is utilised well, with the back of it forming the walls of Buffalo Bill's pit. You do have to suspend your imagination slightly when one of Bill's victims is screaming to be released, with a set of stairs right beside her that lead to Bill's location (there are also the rungs of a ladder that Bill used to climb up).   

John Partridge does not attempt to copy Hopkins ' Hannibal. For one thing, the performance is more physical, making the most of Partridge's muscular body. A completely still performance wouldn't work on the stage, especially for those on the higher tiers. He still imbues the role with a calculated menace. The cat-and-mouse between him and Clarice plays out well. 

The actress playing Clarice is excellent, capturing the accent perfectly. We empathise with her position as the lone female FBI student in an organisation fuelled by testosterone. 

The second half of the play flies by, holding the attention better. 

If I were to complain, I'd say that because I knew the film so intimately, I spent more time wondering how they would achieve its scenes than following the story as it unfolded before my eyes. This familiarity reduced the show's impact. They also cut certain scenes, such as Bill's dance, and the film's most famous line about having a friend for dinner. It was still interesting to experience the film as a stage play.      

Rather freakingly, our neighbour from across the road was sitting directly behind us with her friend, having booked her tickets independently of us. What were the chances of that? More than you think, as this is now the third time we've met each other at a show at the theatre. 

But who is stalking who?

Ticket Price: 2 x £45 + £3.95 Transaction Fee = £93.95 from ATG Tickets

Production Stills (in no particular order)

Edinburgh Fringe: Tuesday 18th August, 2026

My third visit to the Fringe, prompted by a desire to see Alex Edelman's new show.  

The M74/M8 was road-spray central until about halfway to Edinburgh, making the journey less pleasant than on previous occasions. At least it's dry in the capital. Disembarking the tram at West End, I look for the EICC, get a bit lost and decide to find somewhere for lunch first, choosing The Caley Picture House on Lothian Road. A former cinema, this unusual building features tiered levels overlooking a huge wall where the screen would have been. I desire a Caledonian burger, but the app informs me they're out of onion rings and asks if I'm happy to swap the missing items for more chips. No, I'm not. I pick something else. A waiter brings my drink, then later a waitress appears carrying two plates, asking the people in the booth beside mine if they'd ordered a chicken burger. They say no. She asks me. I say, "Yes, that's mine". There are six onion rings on the plate (along with the burger and chips).  She returns to the first table and asks if they ordered the Caledonian burger. They did. It has onion rings too. WTF?

I let it go. No point in dwelling on it. I have deeper wounds to wallow over. The editorial assessment of the novel I've been working on for six years returned yesterday. Thirteen pages: one page of what works, nine of what doesn't and three pages of queries over plot points/holes. The "What Doesn't" is a painful read. I've failed to write in the close voice of a teen girl, despite me pretending for ever so long that I could. There's more criticism, but they're just nails in the coffin. The book is dead. I'm grieving.  

So with this weighing on my mind, I attend my first show of the day, and my first show not from the Comedy section of the Fringe programme.

14:30 (1hr 20mins) 11½ Angry Men

Pentland Theatre in Pleasance at EICC. Ticket Price: £25

Blurb:

Edinburgh Fringe 2003's legendary classic 12 Angry Men returns, hilariously spoofed as 11½ very angry comedians attempt to decide the fate of a boy accused of heinous murder in 1950s NYC... Will a lethal German sausage save him? Or send him sizzling to Old Sparky? The jurors: Stephen K Amos, Joe Pasquale (Fringe debut!), Tom Stade, Spencer Jones, Mark Maier, Glenn Wool, JJ Whitehead, Ian Coppinger, Terry Alderton, Phil Nichol, David Calvitto and Owen O'Neill seek a unanimous verdict while the evidence against him stinks, but can they find their way to a conviction? Director: Guy Masterson.

There is a lot of comedic talent on the stage, but the best thing about this play is the Pentland Theatre's comfortable seating. I have space to stretch out with no one around me. Billed as hilarious, this play is almost completely bereft of laughs. It's the script that should be on trial pending execution. I'd have loved to have seen the serious version of this play that the comedians performed in 2003. This version is not entirely a waste of time, but it comes close. The final moment of the play provides a lovely comic visual before the blackout, so it ends well. 

17:30 (1hr) Alex Edelman: What Are You Going to Do

Cabaret Bar in Pleasance Courtyard. Ticket Price: £15

Blurb:

Alex Edelman's last Fringe show, Just for Us, earned an Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show nomination and kicked off a journey that culminated in a run on Broadway and an HBO special – garnering him a Tony and an Emmy in the process. This summer, after stops in some of America's most prestigious theatres, he returns to the Pleasance for a two-week offering, heaving with jokes about things like seashells, an amputee hospital in Jerusalem, various deities and our personal responsibilities amidst global conflict.

As Alex arrives outside the venue, he bumps into Rosie Jones, who's just finished her show in the venue. He blows her kisses, but she insists on a hug. I'm surrounded by Americans in the queue. To be fair, Alex is American, so they are only supporting their countryman. Either that or they're here because they recognise how gifted he is as a comedian. I suspect the latter.

Inside, I find a seat beside two oldies in the second row (they got to skip the queue). The Blue Nile's "Tinseltown in the Rain" is playing, a salve reminding me my depression won't last. Oasis's Little By Little plays next. I'm getting the message. Cheer up, grumpy. 

This show is phenomenal. Even though Alex has a page of notes on the stool beside his pint of water, he delivers his material with passion, precision and pitch-perfect timing. His comic reversals are masterful, his stories fascinating. Big laughs.  

For example, while sitting at a table at a Christian Music Awards ceremony, surrounded by the pinnacle of Christian music artists, he's asked as a Jew what he thought about Jesus. Alex replies, "That Jesus is definitely in his Top 5 of Jewish magicians". Aghast, Jelly Roll says, "Top Five?" Alex responds, "Well, Harry Houdini would have been off that cross in under five minutes, juggling the nails, is all I'm saying, okay?" 

Or, as a hospital clown, Alex tried to entertain a boy with an amputated arm, only for the boy to reiterate that despite losing his arm,  Alex was still the worst thing that had ever happened to him. 

The show covers a breadth of topics, but ties up neatly at the end. What more do you want? A cure for insomnia? Yup, he's got that too.

19:30 (1 hr 30 mins) Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit 

Grand in Pleasance Courtyard. Ticket Price: £15 

Blurb:

The best night of comedy on the Fringe returns! Join us for a raucous night of laughter to raise much-needed funds for Waverley Care, Scotland's HIV and Hepatitis C charity. The Tartan Ribbon has become a much-loved staple of the Fringe each year, with this year's line-up including Larry Dean, Rosie Jones, Rhys James, Sam Nicoresti, Ayoade Bamgboye, Dane Buckley, Marty Gleeson and MC Dom McGovern. It's guaranteed to sell out, so book your tickets early!

After Alex's show, I nipped to the toilet, then joined the queue for the Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit at the Pleasance Grand, now in its thirty-fourth year. Ticket scanned, I'm given a yellow disc to return on the way in. It's a great system that allows smooth entry.

I find a fantastic seat in the third row in the middle of the middle section. Above the stage is a screen for live captioning. Host Dom McGovern, gay, camp and caustically funny, makes the most of the opportunity, repeating the C word like a machine gun for Claire the captioner to type. 

The talent performing at the benefit is top-notch. Rhys James, Larry Dean and Rosie Jones are the best-known, but everyone brings their A-game. When Ayoade Bamgboye is discussing losing her white virginity, mentioning phallic details, a baby at the back of the room cries, sending her into an embarrassing tailspin. When Dom returns as MC, he also notices the children present and immediately regrets his caption-swear tirade. Ah, the beauty of live comedy.

This was top-tier entertainment for a serious cause. AIDS may not be the deadly condition it once was, with the plan being to eradicate it in Scotland by 2035, but it still needs the funding to make this aim come to fruition. The Pleasance has raised £53k so far this year. After they count the money in the tubs, they hope to make that £60k.

21:40 (1hr) Jonathan Oldfield: Exquisite Corpse

Pleasance Courtyard Below. Ticket Price: £14.50 

Blurb:

The Oxford English Dictionary describes a corpse as (1) a body or (2) spoiling a performance by laughing. Jonathan Oldfield will be using both definitions in his highly anticipated debut show of exquisitely silly character comedy. Creator and star of BBC Radio 4's award-winning Time of the Week. BBC New Comedy Awards finalist. Director of Lorna Rose Treen and Joe Kent-Walters. You may also have seen him in Star Wars: Andor or seen those sketches online that someone sent you. 'Brilliant' (Observer). 'Always funny' (Chortle.co.uk). 'Left me snorting with laughter' (BroadwayWorld.com).

More Americans were in front of me for Jonathan's show. Inside, they didn't want to move to the end of the row, preferring to claim the aisle seats. This wasn't for accessibility needs. They just felt they deserved to choose their seats. C words (in the West of Scotland sense).

Jonathan greeted us as we entered, his arm in a sling. He informed us that this was the eighth time he had broken it, seven times between eight and thirteen. He had been at a wedding before the Fringe and fell on the dance floor. This causes him technical difficulties. The front rows have been asked to draw heads, bodies and legs for use in the show, and he can't line up the boards using his one good arm. He asks for a couple of volunteers from the front row to assist. He also needs help opening a packet of Haribo thathe'll use later in the show and a tube of crisps. The girl helping opens the packet and is allowed to take one of the sweets before opening the tube. She craps herself when a massive, spring-loaded snake bursts forth, whereupon Jonathan admits to being a bit of a prankster.

The show is a character comedy, with Jonathan performing as himself, as himself as a character, and as comedy characters, some of which he makes up from the pictures the audience has drawn.

It's a manic hour. He performs with the energy of a young Phil Nichol, and despite the chaos on display, the show is more scripted than it appears, with sound and music cues used to comic effect throughout. 

A good way to end my day. 

The walk back to the tram is lonely. Being a Tuesday night, the streets are not busy. The homeless are more evident, pitching up in doorways. I accidentally freak out an older man by matching his journey along the cobbled street behind the castle all the way along to the bus stop before the West End Tram stop. He suddenly halts at that bus stop and turns around, but I continue to the tram and don't look back. I'm sure he'll be talking about his lucky escape today.

I spotted a few celebs (?) today: Robert Peston was in the Pleasance bar area, as was Nish Kumar, pausing to take selfies with a group of fans. Outside the Pleasance, Eric Rushton made his way inside while I was queuing for Jonathan's show, and afterwards, Rosie was outside talking to someone.

On the way home, I considered alternative ways to salvage my book. Six years is too long to waste an original setting. I need to find the right voice that isn't YA. Maybe one more like my own. That story's not over.