Push the Boat Out (PTBO), Edinburgh’s International Poetry Festival, returns for its third year with a line-up featuring over 50 events and with over 80 performers, artists and speakers within the eclectic programme.
This year, the poetry of songwriting is celebrated through Hamish Hawk in solo performance and an evening of lyrical enchantment with support from Iona Zajac. Hawk will also appear alongside Karine Polwart and Inua Ellams in a special Songwriting Circle event discussing what it means to create a song through poetry. Bemz, Dave Hook and Queen of Harps will lift the lid on their songwriting process by sharing the backstory to their songs in a Song Exploder event, whilst multi-instrumentalist, Dizraeli will take a look at human creation and connection in their event, Animal Noises.
Find the drama in poetry with a series of new commissions in association with the National Theatre of Scotland and inspiration from Summerhall, as Ever Dundas and Harry Josephine Giles celebrate the building’s history with a darkly gothic night of poetry and original music composed by David Paul Jones.
The politics of poetry features, as Jeremy Corbyn and Len McCluskey posit that poetry is for the many, while Yvonne Reddick’s urgent climate poetry, Kim Moore’s feminist poetic, and the pulsing poem-stories of William Letford and Dawn Watson also are given voice.
PTBO online programme includes international poetry stars Meena Kandasamy and Tishani Doshi. Hear Cat Prince Michael Pedersen as he hangs out with his feline subjects in Maison de Moggy; Joelle Taylor and Kate Fox shake up a poetic cocktail or two; Sean Wai Keung with a dumpling and poetry workshop; Inua Ellams throws open the doors with his audience-led Search Party show and veteran of the poetry scene, John Hegley, runs an anarchic, joyous, hands-on creative session.
Director of Push the Boat Out, Emma Collins 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…
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…
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 the 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…”
Tickets can be purchased via pushtheboatout.org or from Summerhall Box Office. Prices range from 0-£20 with concessions available and free tickets for carers. PTBO also offers a Pay What You Can Can option with tiered pricing selections. The Festival Pass (£40) gives access to the majority of the programme free of charge plus reduced price tickets for the higher priced and more intimate events.
PTBO runs over the weekend of 24th-26th November in Summerhall, Edinburgh.
Tickets go on sale on Thursday 5th October – International Poetry Day.
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 