The Edinburgh International Book Festival has always been a reliable and relaxed place in which to expand one’s mental horizon at festival time. So the Festival's 2026 theme of “Changing Your Mind” is by no means a stretch, as it prepares to welcome 600 authors from 41 countries to the village-like setting of the Edinburgh Futures Institute this August.
“Our theme 'Changing Your Mind' speaks to the moment we're in,” says EIBF Director, Jenny Niven.
“At a time when opinions seem increasingly polarised and online debate is so divisive, we're creating space for thoughtful, nuanced conversations - exploring the reasons for our increasing social and political divides, and how we might change each others' minds, or at least agree to disagree, more agreeably.”
As always, you are as likely to bump into an elder statesman as a cuddly children’s character, with authors from myriad literary backgrounds mingling amiably with festival-goers in the courtyard.
Current affairs are well-represented, with guest authors this year including Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and Creative Commons trailblazer Cory Doctorow.
Blowing Minds
Homing in on the consciousness aspect of this year's theme, Michael Pollan and Anil Seth are in conversation about what remains distinctively human in a machine-driven world, and Gwen Adshead and Orlando Swayne discuss the brain’s remarkable capacity for adaptation and recovery.
Meanwhile, the Book Festival curators add a third string to the Changing Mind theme, with “Stories That Change Us” celebrating reading as a route to new perspectives.
This includes events like Daisy Fancourt and choreographer Wayne McGregor examining how the arts support wellbeing and cognition, and Claudia Rankine and Kiran Desai sharing the books that have shaped their lives and work.
“Changing your mind is a lifelong process of staying open to new ideas," says Niven. "By bringing amazing speakers and curious audiences together, around knowledge and perspectives that help us challenge our assumptions and see the world differently, we hope the Festival programme this year will help us gain a deeper understanding of both ourselves and each other.”
Greyfriars Kirk Music and Words Series
The EIBF continues to cross genres with a series of events that connect the written word with music under the banner “Scotland to the World”. It's the first time the historic Greyfriars Kirk has been an EIBF venue.
In a unique experimental pairing, Kathleen Jamie’s writing will be performed by five Japanese Noh performers, fiddler Aidan O’Rourke and piper Brìghde Chaimbeul in the mythic Song of Rona Island.
In the same series, Dutch contemporary classical collective New European Ensemble will be presenting four new pieces inspired by Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet, with the author reading alongside.
AI and all that
A focus on trust and information runs through this year’s EIBF programme, with journalists, analysts and researchers examining misinformation, data, and global narratives, including The New Yorker’s Fergus McIntosh, The News Agents podcast co-host Lewis Goodall, and journalist Yi Ling Liu
The Festival explores the AI revolution and its regulation, with pioneers in the development of AI tools and their application - including Steve Crossan, part of the original DeepMind team; Sarah Wynn-Williams, former Director of Public Policy at Facebook; and Tim Wu, inventor of the term 'net neutrality' - weighing its impact and risks
The Festival’s Young Adults programme returns for its second year, bringing together leading YA authors such as Juno Dawson, Samantha Shannon, and Holly Bourne with performance, spoken word and interactive events tailored for audiences under 30.
John Grisham
In a landmark event, one of the bestselling living writers, John Grisham, and Edinburgh’s own Ian Rankin will share the stage at the McEwan Hall. The “Front List” series of writers also includes Tom Holland, David Olusoga, Diana Gabaldon, Colson Whitehead, Kiran Desai and Kae Tempest.
Other renowned fiction writers to look out for include Maggie O’Farrell, Ann Patchett, Jenni Fagan, Colm Toíbín, Matt Haig, Louise Welsh, Nao-Cola Yamazaki, Candice McCarty-Williams, Ben Lerner, and 2026 International Booker Prize winner Yáng Shuāng-zi
BBC and Online
The BBC will use the Book Festival Spiegeltent, erected in the Futures Institute Courtyard, as a base for wider Festival coverage from 17-21 August, curating its own selection of content and voices for broadcast on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Free tickets are available through the BBC for anyone wanting to be in the audience.
Events will also continue to be livestreamed globally with a Pay What You Can model helping to widen access, alongside live and AI captioning, British Sign Language provision and events designed for audiences with learning disabilities.
Ticket Prices
Prices varied widely, depending on individual circumstances, when checked for this article. The Book Festival has a Pay-What-You-Can programme for some in-person events and uses that payment model for its webcasts.
For example, for one of the headline events, novelist John Grisham in conversation with Ian Rankin at the McEwan Hall, tickets range from £25 for income support to £35 full price, with a £100 "VIP" ticket that includes reserved seating in the Stalls, and access to a pre-event drinks reception with chair Ian Rankin and Festival director Jenny Niven.
For the talk between Cory Doctorow and Jimmy Wales, prices range from £5 for income support to £21 full price.
An In-Person conversation with Irvine Welsh about his new Las Vegas set novel Can Nothing Save Us? costs £5 for income support and £15.50 for a full-price ticket.
There are 150 or so events for children and families, with daily free shows, thanks in part to a new EIBF sponsorship with LNER. Paid kids’ events are typically £8 and £6 concession.
The EIBF’s schools programme supports around 5,000 pupils with free tickets for those in need, transport and books.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival returns to Edinburgh Futures Institute from 15–30 August 2026.