Save the Date! Cymera Festival will return in June 2025.

Cymera is Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Writing. Each year Cymera brings writers, readers and publishing industry experts together in celebration of speculative fiction. At Cymera you’ll find author panels and book signings, writing workshops, open mics, live performances, bookish quizzes, tabletop gaming spaces and so much more. Each year the Festival is held both in Edinburgh and online, allowing genre-enthusiasts to tune in no matter where they are in the world.

Author Panels & Signings

Each year, Cymera Festival brings speculative fiction authors together to discuss their stories in a series of author panels. At Cymera you’ll find a wide variety of authors - from established genre giants, to debut authors just hitting the shelves. All in-person panels are streamed digitally for online attendees, and we also have a programme of digital-only panels, allowing authors who cannot be in Edinburgh to still join in on the fun. A book singing is held immediately after each in-person panel.

Cymera has worked with some fantastic authors over the years: Cassandra Clare, VE Schwab, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Joanne Harris, Sangu Mandanna, Charles Strosse and more!

Workshops

Looking to hone your craft? Each Cymera hosts a variety of writing workshops, helping writers with prose, characterisation, writing routines, reading aloud, querying and so much more. Cymera always in-person and digital workshops available to sign up for.

In past years, Cymera has run workshops on…

  • Writing Ghost Stories

  • Historical Fantasy: Writing Cross-Genre

  • Getting Your Book Ready for Submission

  • Create Your Own Fantasy Map

  • Writing Immersive Fight Scenes

…and so much more!

Supporting New Writers

Each year, Cymera’s Brave New Worlds programme allows new writers to read their work aloud at the start of one of our events. We also hold various Open Mic sessions, which Cymera attendees can sign up for to read their work.

Games Room

Cymera’s Games Room is a free, safe drop-in space for folks to play tabletop games of all descriptions.  Our experienced and friendly hosts will guide you through the games we have available - or feel free to bring your own games! Both board games and RPG are welcome.