By Michaela O’Callaghan, Sabeehah Saleq, Erin Evett and Rosie Burgoyne
Once Upon a Crime: Exclusive Event With Robin Stevens In Conversation With Elle McNicoll
5 August, 11:00 a.m.
Join Robin Stevens to celebrate the launch of her new book Once Upon A Crime, the latest instalment from her award-winning Murder Most Unladylike series. Stevens will be in conversation with Elle McNicoll, to discuss her exciting new release as well as the writing process behind the entire series. As if this doesn’t already sound incredible, you’ll even get the chance to put forward your own questions! Don’t miss out, get tickets here.
A Career In Publishing: Marketing
5 August, 18:00 p.m.
The next event in the series by Bloomsbury is all about marketing. Listen to Tia Ali, Marketing Manager for I.B. Tauris and Zed Books, as she discusses her experiences within the industry, skills you need to excel in marketing, and why this area of publishing could be the one for you. Book tickets here.
Cathy Rentzenbrink : In conversation With Philippa Perry
11 August, 7:30 p.m.
Author of The Last Act of Love, Cathy Rentzenbrink’s writing is largely focused on the inner workings of family life and the factors which impact it. Rentzenbrink continues the exploration of these themes in her debut fiction novel Everyone is Still Alive, a promising new title which should be on your summer reading list. In this online event, find out more about the new release from the author, as she is joined by fellow writer Philippa Perry. Get tickets here.
Edinburgh International Book Festival
14–30 August
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is one of the most prominent and established literary festivals in the UK. This year, like many others, Edinburgh Book Festival is running a hybrid programme. This will feature over 250 events and will explore themes such as migration and dazzling debuts. Not only will many of these events welcome in-person audiences, but they will all be streamed live so audiences throughout the UK can enjoy the excitement of the festival.
The festival will take place at the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh College of Art. Alongside this, over sixty of the online events have BSL interpretation and have live captions to make these events are accessible as possible. There is also a range of brilliant events and activities planned for children in the Baillie Gifford Children’s Programme. These are some of our top picks from the events:
Rethinking ‘Diversity’ In Publishing
19 August, 10:00 a.m.
This event explores the 2020 report “Rethinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing” which encouraged professionals in the publishing industry to reflect on their practices and highlighted the importance of making changes to improve the industry. This event takes a look at initiatives taken within the past year to improve diversity and discusses what more can be done to ensure changes are fully ingrained and sustainable. Book tickets for this event here.
Torrey Peters: Modern Families, Baby
14 Aug, 17:30 p.m.
At this live event listen to Torrey Peters, author of Detransition Baby, as she discusses with Heather Parry her experiences as one of the first openly trans writers to be published by one of the ‘Big Five’ publishing houses.
Maggie O’Farrell: Loves, Labours, Loss
21 August, 7:00 p.m.
Listen to this event by Edinburgh-based Maggie O’Farrell, author of Hamnet which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. This event explores how Farrell’s writing has been shaped by her experiences with a neurological condition. This is a live event, with an author Q&A.
You can find out more of the range of events at the festival here.
Books On The Hill: Festival Of Culture
14 – 15 August
The independent bookshop, Books on the Hill, is bringing the brand new Festival of Culture to our tables this year. Over two days, a variety of online and in-person events are on offer, which are held in various venues across the historic and beautiful city of St. Albans. Events include ‘An Introduction to Poetry Workshop’, ‘In Conversation with Juliet Jaques’ and ‘Children's reading with Ross Montgomery’, so there really is something for everyone! As the event is in-person, there have been precautions to ensure everyone’s safety. A full list of events can be found here, along with ticket information. Tickets range from free to £22.15.
SYP Oxford’s Summer Social Media Takeovers
SYP Oxford have recently released their summer schedule of social media takeovers aimed specifically at publishing hopefuls and new starters, kicking off with the following sessions:
9 August: Studying a Publishing MA Twitter Q&A
16 August: Jericho Writers Instagram Q&A
23 August: Mentoring Schemes Twitter Q&A