Join us for this amateur production of Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs.

Following their sell-out shows of Guards! Guards! (2023) and Men at Arms (2024), Strawmoddie Theatre are back!

Someone is killing Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh- Morpork. No one knows who, no one knows why and, worst of all, no one knows how he just gets weaker and weaker.


But its not just Vetinari across the city, people are being murdered, but theres no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene. Commander Vimes, Head of the City Watch, is a man who hates clues. He and his team must question everyone the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. In a city teeming with vampires, werewolves, dwarfs with attitude and golems, Vimes must solve the crimes and save the Patrician.

Venue: Theatre

Running Time: approx 2 hours 45 minutes including interval

Tickets: £18/£15 concession plus 50p booking fee per ticket.

Performance dates and times

Thursday 5th June: 7:30pm

Friday 6th June: 8:30pm

Saturday 7th June: 8:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 5pm

Please note that the venue has unreserved bench seating. Please arrive in good time to secure seats.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Historical fantasy combines what I see as the best parts of historical fiction and fantasy, but it is neither wholly one nor the other, and comes with a unique set of challenges. This worldbuilding workshop offers an in-depth and inspiring practical session for authors who seek guidance on how to integrate elements of both genres into their work.

The topics you will cover include:

•  Finding the right historical era for your story

•  Incorporating fantastical elements into well-known or recognisable settings

•  Using existing myth and folklore as inspiration

•  Beyond the desk: different methods of research

•  Writing inclusively within a historical context

•  How to build a believable atmosphere without resorting to archaic or anachronistic anguage

•  Finding story in the landscape

•  Engaging with contemporary issues in historical settings

This workshop takes the form of a presentation, making use of group discussion and active writing exercises to help put theory into practice. The aim is for participants to leave not only with new ideas, but a better understanding of how these genres can effectively and imaginatively intersect.

Your Workshop Leader

Lucy Holland is the author of The Times bestselling Sistersong, which was a finalist for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award and the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 2022. Her second historical fantasy novel, Song of the Huntress, is published by Pan Macmillan in 2024. As Lucy Hounsom, she wrote the Worldmaker Trilogy. She worked twelve years in corporate account sales for Waterstones Booksellers before becoming a full-time author. Lucy co-hosts the intersectional feminist podcast ‘Breaking the Glass Slipper’, which won Best Audio in the 2019 British Fantasy Awards. She lives in Devon.

Follow Lucy on X, Bluesky and Instagram @silvanhistorian and on her Facebook page

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

 Tickets: £14 / £12 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in Zoom meetings. Workshops are not recorded.

Writers will have the invaluable opportunity to talk directly to an agent from a literary agency or an editor from a SFFH publisher about their work, seek advice about any stage of the writing process, and receive direct feedback on pitches and ideas.

Meet our Agents

Stevie Finegan from Zeno Agency

Laura Bennet from the Liverpool Literary Agency

Meetings will be 15 minutes long, and there will be a £25 fee.

Please select which Agent you’d like to speak to on booking. Please note spaces are limited.

By booking tickets for this event, you are committing to submitting your submission letter and the first 2000 words of your novel (or less) by Monday 12.05.2025

Please send your material to admin@cymerafestival.co.uk

Booking Deadline Monday 12th May 2025.

Please note that our Agent One to One sessions book out very quickly.

Meeting will take place in the Cheviot and Braid rooms.

Sometimes you just want to do your job, get through the day, and not get blamed for murder. Unfortunately for these characters, magic and mayhem have other plans.

In The Legacy of Arniston House, the fourth installment of T.L. Huchu’s Edinburgh Nights series, Ropa Moyo is trying to move on from Scottish ghost-hunting to a more respectable gig with the English Sorcerer Royal. But when her gran turns up dead and Ropa’s the prime suspect, she’s pulled back into a tangled web of cults, necromancy, and ancestral secrets that refuse to stay buried.

In debut author J.J. Marr’s The Cards You’re Dealt, Tessa Gamble grew up believing in the Game—the card draw that determines your rank and future in the Cassino Region. But when she realizes the deck is stacked for the elites, she decides to flip the table entirely. It’s a deadly game of power, privilege, and protest, and Tessa is all in.

In The Vengeance by Emma Newman, Morgane was raised on a pirate ship by a legendary captain—who turns out not to be her mother after all. When Morgane leaves the only life she’s ever known in search of answers, she uncovers a world of monsters, political intrigue, and buried truths. She may be the heir to a deadly legacy, but she’s not giving up her sword without a fight.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Some horrors come from ancient folklore. Others crawl out of your fridge.

In Fever House, Keith Rosson unleashes a fast-paced, genre-defying horror-thriller where a severed hand drives anyone nearby into uncontrollable violence. When small-time enforcer Hutch Holtz finds it chilling in a client’s fridge, chaos descends on Portland. Hunted by shadowy government agents and caught in the spiraling violence, Hutch and a reclusive former rock star must face not only the hand’s power, but the terrifying secrets buried in their own pasts.

Ronnie Turner’s Small Fires draws you into a fog-drenched island where secrets fester like open wounds. Fleeing the brutal murder of their parents, sisters Lily and Della seek sanctuary in a place that’s anything but safe. Bitter legends twist through the land, strange rituals loom, and as the line between reality and nightmare thins, Lily begins to wonder what’s more dangerous: the island’s whispers—or her own sister.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Magic is messy, monsters are everywhere, and fitting in was never really the goal.

In The Outcast Mage, Annabel Campbell introduces us to Naila, a young woman barely holding on to her place at the Academy in the glittering city of Amoria. When her magic begins to spiral out of control and she’s nearly exiled, her only lifeline is the most powerful mage in the realm—who just might be her greatest danger. With civil war on the horizon and power she barely understands stirring within her, Naila has to choose: control her fate, or let it consume her.

Genoveva Dimova’s Monstrous Nights throws readers back into the Slavic-folklore-inspired chaos of Chernograd, where Kosara now holds twelve stolen witch shadows and magic is breaking all its own rules. Between midsummer snowfalls, murder investigations, and monsters slipping between worlds, Kosara must confront the truth behind her power—and the cost of wielding it.

Elspeth Wilson’s These Mortal Bodies follows Ivy, a neurodivergent student who’s ready to reinvent herself at a prestigious university far from home. But as she’s drawn into secret societies, supernatural legacies, and a past she thought she’d left behind, Ivy finds that belonging can be more dangerous—and more transformative—than she ever imagined.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

There is something monstrous about capital, something alive and creeping about it. It’s been compared to a parasite, a vampire, a zombie-maker; one that transforms human lives into dead labour, and marshals all creative, free-thinking individuality into the long trudge that is work, money-making, aspiration.

For the latest book in its acclaimed horror series, Comma Press has invited ten authors to explore this emergent, monstrous property of capital through supernatural and surreal means.

Thus, we see characters disappearing into algorithm-driven spending addictions, property development spreading like a virus across cityscapes leaving buildings empty and people homeless, and citizens so addicted to the ‘news drug’ that promises everything is about to change that nothing does. We may think of capitalism as the ghost in the machine, driving things forward. But what happens when we become the ghosts?

In conversation with editor Ra Page, contributor Sanjida Kay will share their take on The Monster, Capital.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Dragons, destiny, and a dash of tea—two heartwarming adventures filled with magic, mischief, and the unexpected families we find along the way.

In The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong introduces Tao, a fortune teller who specializes in small predictions—but finds herself swept up in a much bigger journey. Joined by a roguish thief, an ex-mercenary, a baker, and a slightly magical cat, Tao sets out to find a lost child and maybe, just maybe, a new family worth risking her heart for.

In Tea You at the Altar, Rebecca Thorne brings us back to the comforting (and chaotic) world of Tomes & Tea. Sapphic soulmates Kianthe and Reyna are finally tying the knot… if they can survive wedding crashers, parental interference, rampaging baby dragons, and a secret plot to overthrow the queen. It’s the biggest event of the year—assuming they make it to the altar alive

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Join us for this amateur production of Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs.

Following their sell-out shows of Guards! Guards! (2023) and Men at Arms (2024), Strawmoddie Theatre are back!

Someone is killing Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh- Morpork. No one knows who, no one knows why and, worst of all, no one knows how he just gets weaker and weaker.

But its not just Vetinari across the city, people are being murdered, but theres no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene. Commander Vimes, Head of the City Watch, is a man who hates clues. He and his team must question everyone the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. In a city teeming with vampires, werewolves, dwarfs with attitude and golems, Vimes must solve the crimes and save the Patrician.

Venue: Theatre

Running Time: approx 2 hours 45 minutes including interval

Tickets: £18/£15 concession plus 50p booking fee per ticket.

Performance dates and times

Thursday 5th June: 7:30pm

Friday 6th June: 8:30pm

Saturday 7th June: 8:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 5pm

Please note that the venue has unreserved bench seating. Please arrive in good time to secure seats.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Test your Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror knowledge in our Cymera quiz.

Teams of up to five people can take part.

Entry is free.

Venue: The Pleasance Bar

What happens when we read? What is it that we get from losing ourselves in a novel?  Does reading actually improve our wellbeing? 

Join a special guest for this special event for Cymera, as they explores the impact of being a reader by sharing some of her favourite books and the influence they have had in her life.

They will be in conversation with Philippa Cochrane who is the Head of Reading Communities at Scottish Book Trust. We will also be joined by Dr Sarah McGeown from the University of Edinburgh who will share some of the fascinating insights into these questions from the ongoing Reading and Wellbeing research project.

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £5.50/£3 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Join author Lyndsey Croal for a workshop on writing within restricted and isolated settings, with top tips and tricks for building tension and suspense. We will look at published excerpts, including settings like spaceships, deep sea, or cave structures, or settings where the character may feel trapped for another reason, and explore how the writers have built this atmosphere. We will then look at lessons learned to build your own stories. During the workshop, attendees will be guided through exercises and prompts for introducing misdirection, creating unsettling scenes, building twists, and writing unreliable narrators, while keeping your readers hooked. This will primarily be focussed on horror, gothic, and sci fi texts, but should be helpful to anyone looking to build unease and atmosphere in their work.

Your Workshop Leader

Lyndsey Croal is a Scottish author of strange and speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in over eighty magazines and anthologies, including with Apex, Analog, Weird Tales, Shoreline of Infinity, and PseudoPod. She’s a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awardee, British Fantasy Award Finalist, and former Hawthornden Fellow. Her novelette Have You Decided on Your Question (2023) and collection of dark science fiction tales Limelight and Other Stories (2024) are published with Shortwave Publishing. Her novelette The Girl With Barnacles for Eyes appeared in Tenebrous Press’ Split Scream Volume Five (2024), and her second collection of Scottish folklore-inspired tales Dark Crescent is published in June 2025 with Luna Press. She lives in Edinburgh with her giant cat Pippin and has a background in climate and environment policy and comms. She’s currently working on a number of longer projects in the sci fi, eco-fiction, and horror space, and is represented by Michael Mungiello at InkWell Management and Sean Berard at Untitled Entertainment (for Film/TV). Find out more via: www.lyndseycroal.co.uk 

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Braid Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

This workshop, run by Tiffani Angus, co-author of the multi-award-shortlisted Spec Fic for Newbies series, will delve into the contradictory ways that witches have been depicted in literature and pop culture and will also explore the three main elements of stories about witches and how you, as a writer, can tap into them to create a new story idea.

There will be activities! So make sure you have your laptop ready or pen and notebook to write down ideas and do some freewriting to start on a new story.

Your Workshop Leader

Tiffani Angus (PhD) is a multi BSFA- and BFS-award finalist for her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth and (as co-author with Val Nolan) Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (2023), which also made the Locus Recommended Reading List. Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2 was released in 2024, and a third volume will be out in 2026. She spent over a decade teaching creative writing at universities in the US and UK, the majority of that time as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing at ARU in Cambridge (UK). She works as a freelance editor and proofreader for private clients and SFF publishing houses, runs the typesetting/formatting business Book Polishers, and is currently at work on a novel, a novella, a short-story collection, and another scandalous new project. You can find her at www.tiffani-angus.com

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Romance, revenge, and the occasional zombie—just your average coming-of-age chaos.

In Oliver Gerlach’s graphic novel The Restaurant at the Edge of the World, seventeen-year-old Soup finds herself battling toxic kitchen culture—and her power-hungry elven boss—when she challenges him to a fantastical cooking competition with everything on the line: her home, her community, and the soul of her beloved restaurant.

In Dead Real by Poppy T. Perry, Nora Inkwell is ready to tell her best friend Ruby that she’s in love with her. Sure, there are a few obstacles—high school gossip, internalised biphobia, Ruby’s romantic detours... oh, and a zombie apocalypse. With the undead at her heels, Nora has to fight monsters, dodge drama, and maybe—just maybe—survive long enough to confess her undying love.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Our line-up will be confirmed in May.

Venue: Lomond Room

Free to attend, no ticket needed.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

This is a cross-genre workshop for writers at any level, focused on writing effective dialogue. 

Dialogue is as important in fiction as speech is to everyday life, but it can be difficult to know how to use it effectively. Through guided readings and exercises based on theories from linguistics and existing works of fiction, participants will practice writing emotive, characterful dialogue that performs multiple functions within the story, advancing plot, building tension, and developing character and worldbuilding all at the same time. 

Your Workshop Leader

Eris Young is a writer, editor and trained linguist, with degrees from UCLA and the University of Edinburgh. Their short fiction has appeared in publications including Escape Pod, GigaNotoSaurus, Small Wonders and the Immigrant Sci Fi Short Stories anthology from Flame Tree Press, and their novel-in-progress, Idomeneja, was longlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize. They are fiction editor at British Fantasy Award-winning Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland's science fiction magazine. 

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

 Tickets: £14 / £12 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in Zoom meetings. Workshops are not recorded.

Please note there is no physical space provided at the festival venue to participate in this workshop.

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Our line-up will be confirmed in May.

Venue: Lomond Room

Free to attend, no ticket needed.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Two epic trilogies. Two world-shaking finales. One unforgettable conclusion.

In The Fury of the Gods, the explosive final instalment of John Gwynne’s Norse-inspired Bloodsworn Saga, the final battle for the fate of Vigrið is at hand. Varg, now a full member of the Bloodsworn, must face the impossible: slaying a dragon. Elvar fights to hold power in Snakavik while struggling to rein in the fury of a wolf god. Meanwhile, Gudvarr and Biorr pursue their own brutal goals. All paths converge in a titanic clash that will shake the foundations of the world—and reveal the true fury of the gods.

Tasha Suri brings her acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a searing close in The Lotus Empire. With ancient magic stirring beneath Ahiranya’s surface, Empress Malini must choose between her legacy and her life. Priestess Priya holds deathless power within her—power that the mysterious yaksa beneath the waters demands in exchange for protection. Once bound by fate, now standing on opposite sides, Malini and Priya must confront sacrifice, legacy, and the burning cost of peace.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

From time travel to the end of the world, what does love look like when the future is uncertain?

In her debut adult novel Some Body Like Me, Lucy Lapinska weaves a powerful and tender tale set against the backdrop of humanity’s final days. Abigail Fuller spends her time caring for her husband—but she isn’t his wife. She’s not even human. Created in the image of the real Abigail, she’s about to gain the right to decide her own future. But if she’s not the woman she was designed to be… who is she really? A deeply moving exploration of identity, autonomy, and love that transcends definitions.

In Love and Other Paradoxes, Catriona Silvey gives us a brilliant, time-twisting romantic comedy where the future is quite literally watching. Joe is a struggling poet at Cambridge who dreams of greatness—until Esi, a time-traveling tourist from the future, arrives to witness his rise to fame. But when Esi intervenes to change a terrible event in her past, she accidentally derails history… and Joe’s heart. As he starts falling for her instead of his destined muse, the question becomes: can love rewrite fate?

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

A fun workshop designed to spark the imagination and generate a plethora of story ideas for you to explore. We all have moments when we cannot seem to generate fresh ideas, or when we are too daunted by the challenge of the next book to feel able to simply play. Whether you work with short fiction or longer forms, this workshop will introduce you to a variety of prompts and exercises that will kick-start your imagination, inspire your creativity, and help you recognise which shiny ideas have the potential to grow.

Your Workshop Leader

A conservation scientist and third culture Scot, Lorraine lives by the sea writing stories influenced by folklore and the wilderness. She is the author of a multitude of short fiction, and five novels, most recently We Are All Ghosts In The Forest. Winner of a BFA for her short fiction and the Society of Authors ADCI Literary Prize for Mother Sea, her books have also been longlisted for the BSFA, finalists for the BFA, Kavya and Saltire Awards, and twice winners of the SCKAwards. Lorraine has been stalked by wolves, caught the bubonic plague, and befriended pythons, but she now sticks to herding cats.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Writing a short story is very different to writing a scenario for a roleplaying game.

This workshop aims to examine the differences and how to embed player agency in your scenarios.

In addition, it will look at how to use historical events, locations, and people to inspire and construct entertaining and engaging plots, along with suggestions on how to get your work published.

Participants are encouraged to bring along their ideas and works in progress for discussion.

Your Workshop Leader

Multi-award-winning games designer Lynne Hardy first discovered roleplaying games at university. Over the last few decades, she has worked for Nightfall Games, Pelgrane Press, Cubicle Seven, Modiphius, and Green Ronin—amongst numerous others—as a writer, editor, or both. She also created her own steampunk pulp adventure game: Cogs, Cakes & Swordsticks. More recently, she formed part of the team responsible for updating Chaosium’s legendary Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign. Her principle duties are currently Line Editor for the ENnie award-winning Rivers of London: the Roleplaying Game and Associate Editor for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. When not creating games, Lynne gives talks and workshops on historical hand embroidery techniques.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Braid Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Our line-up will be confirmed in May.

Venue: Lomond Room

Free to attend, no ticket needed.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Agent Caro Clarke breaks down how to craft a query letter and make your submission shine.

They will go through what information to include, how to catch an agent's attention and some of the Do's and Don't's to help you on your road to pitching your writing to agents and publishers.

Your Workshop Leader

Caro Clarke is a literary agent with over thirteen years' experience in publishing – at Transworld (PRH) and at Canongate Books as a Senior Rights Manager. They were named Rights Professional of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2021. In 2019, they co-founded the Nan Shepherd Prize for underrepresented nature writers, which kickstarted a passion to demystify the publishing industry and help emerging writers to develop their craft and build their writing careers. Portobello Literary was established in 2022 to build on that work.

Writers they have worked with have won or been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Saltire National Book Awards, Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize, Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, Forward Prize, Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour, Mo Siewcharran Prize, Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, Northern Writers Award, Nan Shepherd Prize, Laurel Prize, Nature Chronicles Prize, Wasafiri New Writing Prize, Eric Gregory Award, Women in Journalism Georgina Henry award, SI Leeds Literary Award and the Frank Allen Bullock Creative Writing Prize.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

 Tickets: £14 / £12 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in Zoom meetings. Workshops are not recorded.

Please note there is no physical space provided at the festival venue to participate in this workshop.

When love collides with fate, magic, and monsters—what will you risk to hold onto it?

In Until We Shatter, Kate Dylan delivers an action-packed romantic heist fantasy where Cemmy, a desperate thief caught between warring powers, must team up with the dangerously charming Chase to steal a powerful relic hidden in a realm of shadows. Success could save her mother’s life—but falling for her partner in crime might shatter everything.

Saara El-Arifi’s Cursebound reunites readers with Yeeran and Lettle, two sisters navigating a world steeped in fae magic and deadly politics. With a queen’s love on one side and a kingdom’s wrath on the other, Yeeran must face the cost of her choices, while Lettle hunts for answers that might break an ancient curse—and mend what’s been torn apart.

In Emberclaw, the sweeping conclusion to L.R. Lam’s epic romantasy duology, Arcady must infiltrate a powerful university to prove their family’s innocence—while haunted by dreams of Everen, a dragon prince cast out by his own. With magic, grief, and destiny entwined, both Arcady and Everen must fight to reclaim their bond before an ancient force tears their world apart.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

The past is never really past—especially when memory, myth, and history collide.

In Dissolution, Nicholas Binge delivers a mind-bending technothriller about a woman who must enter her husband’s fading mind to uncover a secret buried deep in time. What begins as a personal quest becomes a race to stop reality itself from unraveling—because Stanley’s memories aren’t just vanishing... someone is erasing them.

Roisin Dunnett’s A Line You Have Traced is a sweeping, time-bending novel connecting three queer women across a century of East London. Linked by a red notebook and a mysterious presence, Bea, Kay, and Ess each face resistance, love, and hope in their own times—united by a legacy that could shape the future of the planet.

Esperance by Adam Oyebanji is a genre-blending thriller that spans oceans and centuries. When a detective investigates an impossible drowning, the clues lead to Abi—an enigmatic woman whose origins may stretch far beyond our own time. As truths about the Atlantic slave trade surface, questions of identity, legacy, and justice take center stage in this thrilling speculative mystery.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

"Writing Worlds" is a new podcast all about the process of writing speculative fiction and the inspiration that spec fic writers draw on in their creative practice.

Presented by Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory, the creative team behind the multi-award winning production company Alternative Stories, Writing Worlds features guests from the world of sci fi fantasy and horror writing and offers a blend of conversation, writing advice and silly games designed to keep you entertained and inspired.   

The episode recorded at Cymera will be all about the skill of world building and we'll have Edinburgh based author Lyndsey Croal as our special guest. 

Your Hosts

Chris Gregory and Emily Inkpen are the creative team behind the BSFA Award-winning sci-fi audio drama, The Dex Legacy. With over 350,000 global downloads and having topped charts in 6 different countries, Chris and Emily have 3 further global top 10% podcasts to their name through their production company, Alternative Stories.

Running time: 60 minutes

Venue: Lomond Room

 Tickets: Free

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Writers will have the invaluable opportunity to talk directly to an agent from a literary agency or an editor from a SFFH publisher about their work, seek advice about any stage of the writing process, and receive direct feedback on pitches and ideas.

Meet our Agents

Kirsten Lang from Zeno Agency

Meg Davis, MD of Ki Agency

Fabienne Schwizer from Ki Agency

Helen Lane from Ki Agency

Meetings will be 15 minutes long, and there will be a £25 fee.

Please select which Agent you’d like to speak to on booking. Please note spaces are limited.

By booking tickets for this event, you are committing to submitting your submission letter and the first 2000 words of your novel (or less) by Monday 12.05.2025

Please send your material to admin@cymerafestival.co.uk

Booking Deadline Monday 12th May 2025.

Please note that our Agent One to One sessions book out very quickly.

Meeting will take place in the Cheviot and Braid rooms.

When the past isn’t just present—it’s watching.

In Curdle Creek, Yvonne Battle-Felton crafts a haunting and surreal American gothic tale where rituals rule and exile becomes a journey across realms. Osira, a widow bound by the oppressive customs of her all-Black hometown, finds herself cast through time and space, forced to reckon with what her community has inherited—and what must be paid. A layered, literary horror story that asks: what do we owe to the places that raised us?

In Barrowbeck, Andrew Michael Hurley returns with a chilling folk horror set in a secluded valley teetering on the edge of oblivion. As ancient land is carved up and forgotten pacts unravel, the villagers face unexplainable hauntings and creeping dread. From possession to prophecy, Hurley’s vision is steeped in ancestral terror and the quiet horror of a world out of balance.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

When war looms and the dead won’t rest, who decides what a life is worth?

In A Song of Legends Lost, M.H. Ayinde introduces a richly imagined world inspired by pre-colonial cultures. In the Nine Lands, only nobles can summon ancestral spirits to fight—until commoner Temi accidentally calls forth a powerful one of her own. Her discovery could end a centuries-long war, but not all spirits come from the past… and some are far more dangerous.

The Antlered King by Marianne Gordon concludes the Raven’s Trade duology with a tale of sacrifice and soul-deep magic. Necromancer Hellevir once defied Death to save Princess Sullivain and the kingdom, but love has its cost. With civil war on the horizon and the afterlife demanding payment, Hellevir must choose between saving the realm—or the woman who may destroy it.

In Deathbound, Heather Palmer delivers a dark fantasy filled with deadly court intrigue and forbidden magic. When Princess Ythsie discovers she can speak to the Deathless—the cursed undead army of Eynhallow—she and her loyal bodyguard must unravel ancient secrets to save their kingdom. But amidst growing danger, romance blooms… and the cost of loyalty may be death.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Discover some of the freshest SFFH talent out there at our Open Mic.

Do you have a fresh piece of writing ready for the world to see? Then we want your reading! Poetry, a bit of a novel or short fiction, we love it all!

Readings should be no longer than five minutes

There will be two in-person open mic session over the festival weekend.

The Open Mic will take place in the Pleasance Bar at the following times

• Saturday 7th June 3pm to 3:30pm

• Sunday 8th June 1:30pm to 2pm

To read your work, please apply here

Submission deadline is Sunday 25th May 2025.

About the event

Running time: 30 minutes

Price: Free

Venue: Pleasance Bar

This event takes place in person.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Flora Macdonald – Jacobite heroine, saviour of an exiled prince, face of many shortbread tins - and ferocious zombie hunter. Join Flora for a rollicking and completely untrue adventure into Scotland’s past, featuring war, romance, a rogue royal, the undead, a cat assassin, and a Scottish schoolgirl on the best history trip ever.

A new fantasy-comedy solo show written and performed by Debbie Cannon and directed by Flavia D’Avila (Green Knight, The Remarkable Deliverances of Alice Thornton).

Contains swearing, sexual references, and scenes of messy zombie evisceration. Recommended for 15+ audiences

Venue: Lomond Room

Running Time: 60 minutes

Price: £8/£6 concession (plus 50p booking fee).

Performance dates and times

Saturday 7th June: 3:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 2:30pm

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Have you always wanted to write for games but not sure where to start? Or perhaps you're a seasoned games writer looking for industry tools, tips and tricks to make your writing stand out? This workshop offers an in-depth and inspiring practical session for writers and creatives interested in writing for video games or incorporating elements of interactive narrative into their own work.

The topics we will cover include:

• How to start writing a game
  

• Branching narrative and interactive fiction

• Worldbuilding and environmental storytelling

• Crafting great dialogue and memorable characters

• Identifying your core story

• Games mechanics

• Writing tools, tips and tricks

• Industry advice

This workshop takes the form of a presentation, with plenty of group discussion, input, active writing and creative exercises to help put theory into practice. The aim is for participants to leave with an understanding of the fundamentals of video games writing, new ideas for potential games projects, and how to make those ideas a reality.

Your Workshop Leader

STARK HOLBORN is the author of The Factus Sequence, the Triggernometry series and the groundbreaking digital serial, Nunslinger. Stark's fiction has been nominated for the British Fantasy Awards, the BSFA Awards and the New Media Writing Prize. Alongside writing novels, Stark works as a games writer on BAFTA-award winning video games projects, and is currently lead writer on dystopian detective game, Shadows of Doubt, a contributing writer on cyberpunk slice of life sim, Nivalis, and a Visiting Lecturer in Narrative at Glasgow School of Art.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Braid Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Audio drama is almost as old as radio itself and, since the rise of podcast platforms, the medium is booming. This means that writers can build global platforms/audiences at low cost and flex their creativity in the direction of series drama, gaining recognition and experience before submitting to TV production studios. This workshop will provide a practical guided tour through the process of writing for audio drama, starting with "why?" moving on to "how?" and ending with what your role will be once the scripts are written. Join BSFA Award-winning audio drama writer, Emily Inkpen, for all the tips and tricks you'll need to get started.

Your Workshop Leader

Emily Inkpen is a science-fiction novelist and writer/co-director of the globally successful BSFA Award-winning audio drama, The Dex Legacy. As Creative Director at Alternative Stories, she works with writers of all varieties, bringing their worlds to life through audio. In addition to her own projects, Emily is Social Media Officer for the British Science Fiction Association.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ

Welcome to magical academia—where the stakes are high, the demons are real, and even the PTA meetings can be lethal.

In Emily Tesh’s The Incandescent, Dr. Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy, where she teaches Invocation to chaotic sixth formers, holds the school’s demonic boundaries intact, and manages more meetings than any one magician should. Walden is great at her job—but demons are masters of manipulation, and the biggest threat to Chetwood’s legacy might not be from the outside at all.

In The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, Caitlin Rozakis introduces Vivian, whose kindergartner Aria has just been bitten by a werewolf. Suddenly thrust into a hidden world of magical schools, Vivian is juggling sacrificial daggers, demonic talent shows, and PTA politics with parents who can literally set her hair on fire. And when a prophecy of doom seems to center on Aria, surviving school drop-off may be the least of her worries.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Across the stars and back again—two titans of science fiction explore what it means to return to a world forever changed.

In Exodus: The Archimedes Engine, Peter F. Hamilton launches a bold new epic. Forty thousand years after fleeing a dying Earth, one arkship fleet finds hope in the Centauri Cluster. But the descendants of those first settlers—now powerful beings called Celestials—rule the stars with iron control. For Finn, a young dreamer born under their rule, a newly arrived arkship might hold the key to rebellion, freedom, and a new destiny among the stars.

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Bee Speaker continues the Dogs of War series in a post-collapse solar system. While Earth bled out from a thousand disasters, Mars survived. Now, engineered humans and animals—led by outlawed intelligences like the Bees—return to the planet of their ancestors. But a desperate signal draws them into a rescue mission, and what they find may be beyond even their capacity to survive.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

From galaxy-spanning war to empire-defining ambition, these authors take beloved screen legends to the page—and make them entirely their own.

In Rebel Moon: A Child of Fire, V. Castro brings Zack Snyder’s sci-fantasy blockbuster to the page with gripping urgency and depth. When the ruthless Regent Balisarius threatens a peaceful moon, a mysterious outsider named Kora must gather a band of warriors from across the galaxy. Together, they will stand against the might of the Mother World in an epic fight for redemption, survival—and hope.

C.L. Clark’s Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf dives into the heart of Arcane’s League of Legends universe. Ambessa Medarda has conquered beasts and led armies, but to ascend to power, she must win a brutal war against her own blood. With enemies closing in and her daughter Mel caught in the crossfire, Ambessa will stop at nothing to seize the future she was promised.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Join podcasters Marco Rinaldi and Tariq Ashkanani for a live recording of their writing podcast, Page One – with a special guest yet to be revealed.

On Page One - The Writer’s Podcast, Marco and Tariq talk to writers of all kinds, from bestselling authors to screenwriters to comic writers to learn about how they go about creating their stories.

Don't miss a deep dive into each guest’s writing history, including how they broke into the industry, their writing process and an exploration of their work. There might even be a sneak peek of upcoming projects!

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Lomond Room

Price: Free

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

A memoir in song by the Earl of Caladan, trusted adviser to the Padisha Emperor and beloved troubadour-warrior, the bard Gurney Halleck.

Following the success of his work on "A Child's History of Muad'Dib" Gurney will perform hits from his back catalogue and introduce never-before-heard songs from his time among the Fremen.

Sing along with little Paul Atreides on his journey to Sietch Tabr; can he tame the worm, save the world AND get the girl?

Forget everything you know about Arrakis and get ready for Dune! The Musical

About the Performer

Dan Collins is a musician, writer and amateur clown with too much time on his hands. He enjoys reading sci-fi and telling stories.

“I saw Dune! The Musical at the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, bought it on Bandcamp, then travelled to Edinburgh a few days later specifically to see it again because it was so good (then bought the CD too). Of the wide galaxy of Dune adaptations, this is certainly in the top tier. I really can't recommend it highly enough.”

Check out the original cast recording on Bandcamp

Venue: Pleasance Bar

Running Time: 60 minutes, no break

Tickets: £10/£8 plus 50p booking fee

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

From fractured empires to climate-crashed futures, resistance has never looked this good.

In Sargassa, Sophie Burnham introduces an empire on the brink of collapse, where twenty-two-year-old Selah Kleios is thrust into power after her father’s assassination. As the new Imperial Historian, she inherits not just the archives of Roma Sargassa, but also a conspiracy that threatens to upend everything she’s been taught. With an ancient atlas, a carved stone, and a resurfaced love at the center of a revolution, Selah must choose between the empire’s legacy and the truth it buried.

Ian Green’s Extremophile follows Charlie and Parker, biohacking punks surviving in a climate-ravaged London where hope is as rare as clean air. Hired by a radical environmentalist faction, they spiral into a string of jobs that escalate from petty crime to high-stakes rebellion. As London’s future teeters between ruin and resistance, Charlie must decide whether survival means selling out—or fighting back.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Magic, mishaps, and mayhem collide in these delightful romantic tales where love gets complicated—and a little bit cursed.

In Wooing the Witch Queen, Stephanie Burgis introduces us to Queen Saskia, a fearsome sorceress who’s only interested in protecting her people... and maybe flirting with the handsome librarian she’s just hired. But Fabian isn’t who he claims to be—and when secrets unravel, their budding romance may be more dangerous than any spell.

Gabby Hutchinson Crouch’s Cursed in the Lost City whisks us back to 1599 where found family, magical curses, and reluctant lovers on the run create a recipe for chaos. Fang and Lazare are trying to protect a magical child, outrun the Queen’s guard, and—if they survive—maybe admit they’re falling for each other.

And in Nadia El-Fassi’s charming debut Best Hex Ever, kitchen witch Dina is used to baking magic into her pastries—not falling for customers. But when she meets Scott, a sweet museum curator with bad luck written all over him, she must finally face the curse that’s sabotaged her love life… or risk losing her shot at real happiness.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Faith, fear, and the cost of survival—two haunting novels that ask who gets sacrificed, and what it takes to resist.

In Erin E. Adams’ chilling thriller Jackal, a young Black girl disappears during a wedding in Liz Rocher’s predominantly white hometown. As Liz digs into the town’s past, she uncovers a disturbing pattern: Black girls have been vanishing for years—and the woods seem to be watching. With time running out and no one else seeing the truth, Liz must face a creeping darkness to save the next girl... before it’s too late.

Set in 18th-century Cornwall, Gorse by Sam K. Horton follows Nancy Bligh, a young woman with the Sight and a duty to guard the fragile boundary between the human world and the fey. But as the moors bleed and the dead rise, Nancy must step into the role her village has denied her. A story of grief, magic, and the fight to believe in the old ways before they’re buried forever, Gorse is a folkloric gothic unlike any other.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Ten Years On. . .

A glorious night of science fictional words and music to celebrate ten years of Shoreline of Infinity Magazine and Event Horizon.

The line-up will be announced in May.

About the event

Running time: 120 minutes

Price: £8/£6 concession (plus 50p booking fee)

Venue: Pleasance Bar

This event takes place in person.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

History leaves shadows—and sometimes, the monsters follow.

In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones unearths a chilling horror set on the Blackfeet reservation in 1912, where a Lutheran pastor’s rediscovered diary reveals the slow, haunting testimony of a man named Good Stab—a Blackfeet vampire whose search for justice is entangled in a history of massacre and memory. Through transcribed confessions, Jones crafts a powerful and unsettling American Indian revenge tale told with his signature mastery of horror.

Nicholas Pullen’s The Black Hunger follows John Sackville, a man awaiting death in his prison cell, haunted by the memory of a forbidden love and the monstrous hunger devouring him from within. As he pens his final testament, his story spirals through centuries and across continents—from ancient Scottish stone circles to the frozen wilderness of Mongolia—unearthing an ancient evil in a gothic tale of obsession, grief, and the price of immortality.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Join us for this amateur production of Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs.

Following their sell-out shows of Guards! Guards! (2023) and Men at Arms (2024), Strawmoddie Theatre are back!

Someone is killing Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh- Morpork. No one knows who, no one knows why and, worst of all, no one knows how he just gets weaker and weaker.

But its not just Vetinari across the city, people are being murdered, but theres no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene. Commander Vimes, Head of the City Watch, is a man who hates clues. He and his team must question everyone the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. In a city teeming with vampires, werewolves, dwarfs with attitude and golems, Vimes must solve the crimes and save the Patrician.

Venue: Theatre

Running Time: approx 2 hours 45 minutes including interval

Price: £18/£15 concession plus 50p booking fee per ticket.

Performance dates and times

Thursday 5th June: 7:30pm

Friday 6th June: 8:30pm

Saturday 7th June: 8:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 5pm

Please note that the venue has unreserved bench seating. Please arrive in good time to secure seats.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

This workshop, run by Tiffani Angus, co-author of the multi-award-shortlisted Spec Fic for Newbies series, will delve into the contradictory ways that witches have been depicted in literature and pop culture and will also explore the three main elements of stories about witches and how you, as a writer, can tap into them to create a new story idea.

There will be activities! So make sure you have your laptop ready or pen and notebook to write down ideas and do some freewriting to start on a new story.

Your Workshop Leader

Tiffani Angus (PhD) is a multi BSFA- and BFS-award finalist for her debut novel Threading the Labyrinth and (as co-author with Val Nolan) Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror (2023), which also made the Locus Recommended Reading List. Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2 was released in 2024, and a third volume will be out in 2026. She spent over a decade teaching creative writing at universities in the US and UK, the majority of that time as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Publishing at ARU in Cambridge (UK). She works as a freelance editor and proofreader for private clients and SFF publishing houses, runs the typesetting/formatting business Book Polishers, and is currently at work on a novel, a novella, a short-story collection, and another scandalous new project. You can find her at www.tiffani-angus.com

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

 Tickets: £14 / £12 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in Zoom meetings. Workshops are not recorded.

Please note there is no physical space provided at the festival venue to participate in this workshop.

Destiny, power, and rebellion collide in these sweeping fantasies where ambition runs deep and the price of peace may be everything.

In Roanne Lau’s The Serpent Called Mercy, a debt-ridden slumdog and her only friend enter a brutal arena of sun-cursed beasts for quick coin. But fame comes at a cost, and in this Malaysian Chinese–inspired epic, Lythlet soon finds herself caught in a game of politics and betrayal, where the true monsters lie beyond the ring.

In Gourav Mohanty’s Dance of Shadows, the Conclave of Peace in the Tree Cities promises unity—but peace is the perfect time to plant the seeds of war. With pirate queens, plague-hunting librarians, and vengeful assassins at play, the world teeters on the edge of chaos as the Son of Darkness rises. The only way forward may just be through a heist.

In Maithree Wijesekara’s The Prince Without Sorrow, a peace-seeking prince and a pacifist witch shackled by revenge find themselves on opposite sides of a dying empire. Inspired by the Mauryan Empire, this fierce tale of curses, nature spirits, and royal downfall forces Ashoka and Shakti to choose: save their kingdom or burn it to ash.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Desire, darkness, and monstrous appetites take center stage in this trio of lush gothic tales.

In Kat Dunn’s Hungerstone, Lenore is the wife of a steel magnate, bound to a crumbling marriage and haunted by secrets from her husband’s past. When a carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into her life—pale by day, vibrant at night—Lenore is stirred by a hunger she doesn’t understand. As local girls begin to fall ill, Lenore uncovers a darkness at the heart of her household that could destroy everything she holds dear.

Sarah Maria Griffin’s Eat the Ones You Love is a twisted tale of retail work, dangerous romance, and an orchid with a taste for flesh. Shell Pine’s life is in shambles—until a job at a mall flower shop and a magnetic new coworker, Neve, offer her a new beginning. But lurking behind the blooms is Baby, a sentient plant who adores Neve and is willing to devour anything—or anyone—to keep her close.

Angie Spoto’s The Bone Diver tells the story of Kier Sealgair, the only daughter in a struggling family of Scottish seal-hunters. When a mysterious noblewoman from the eerie Erskine Manor offers her a bargain that could save her father, Kier must confront chilling rumors: five towers with unseen occupants, children who may not be human, and monsters with spine-toothed smiles. A gothic tale steeped in selkie legend and impossible choices.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Idea Generation and Character-Driven Prose with Yvonne Battle-Felton

This interactive workshop will include writing exercises, questions, and activities that aim to ignite your curiosity about your characters and help to explore the story the character want or needs to tell. Using a character you’re already writing or one you create for the exercise, we will be exploring objects, setting, and interviewing characters to reveal who the character is, what they want, why they don’t have it, what they’re willing to do to get what they want, and of course, what they’re afraid of.

The aim of the workshop is to help you generate ideas, questions, and curiosities that will drive the story and/or keep you curious enough to return to the page.

Your Workshop Leader

Yvonne Battle-Felton is a writer, academic, podcaster, and event creator living and writing in West Yorkshire, England. Yvonne’s debut novel, Remembered (Hachette UK/Blackstone US), was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2019) and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020). She’s written six titles for Penguin Random House’s Ladybird series and is Academic Director for Creative Writing at Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education. Yvonne is Sr Commissioning Editor (literary fiction) at John Murrays Press (Hachette). Curdle Creek (Hachette UK, Macmillan US), a gothic horror set in a rural town with a strict population policy of one in, one out, is her newest book.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

How to Make the Most of Scotland's Unique Character

Scotland has long been celebrated for its cultural distinctiveness: its people, landscape, history, folklore, and culture have been the basis of, or found representation in, an incredible number of novels, films, and games. This workshop will look at what makes Scotland's 'character' so unique and therefore so valuable to writers of fiction and games. We will explore how to bring Scotland alive in written work, focusing on lived experience and research as a means of achieving uniquely Scottish representations of places, people, and events, both historical and modern. And, in doing so, explore how we can use uniquely Scottish elements to enrich our fiction and games.

As author of the multi-award-winning 'Shadows Over Scotland' sourcebook for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game and the novel 'This Dying Machine' set in post-war Glasgow, Stuart will share a trove of tips and tricks for researching and incorporating Scotland's rich history and culture into works of fiction.

The workshop will call on a wide range of examples from different genres and media, but will also call on participants' experience and input throughout, seeking to make the workshop both practical and engaging.

Your Workshop Leader

Stuart Boon is a writer, university lecturer, and game designer. He is best known for game fiction, most notably "Shadows Over Scotland" (2011), which won a number of prestigious gaming awards including Best Roleplaying Supplement or Adventure at the 38th Annual Origins Awards (2012), 'Gold' Best Setting at the ENnie Awards (2012), and Best Adventure Collection at the Diehard GameFAN 2011 Tabletop Gaming Awards. Stuart's fiction to date has focused on weird and speculative fiction occasionally diving into horror and fantasy. His first novel 'This Dying Machine' is currently in edit and tells the story of a soldier's struggle to return to normalcy in post-Great War Glasgow while suffering from acute neurasthenia.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

It's never been easier to self-publish a book. Knowing how to navigate the ever-changing landscape of social media, digital marketing and advertising as well as connecting with a global audience with evolving tastes? That’s another matter entirely. This workshop will highlight some self-publishing best practices, point out the pitfalls, the risks and rewards and prepare you for the stressful but rewarding journey of publishing your own books. Why self-publish in the first place? How to foster genuine interactions with influencers/reviewers and build an online community? How to market the book, and navigate a confusing advertising landscape? How to project-manage the editing/proofreading/art direction? This workshop will leave you one step closer to doing it all your way.

Your Workshop Leader

João F. Silva was born in a small town in Portugal but after a nomadic stint across England now lives in Glasgow with his wife and elder feline co-workers. He is the author of The Smokesmiths, a gritty and character-driven epic fantasy series featuring smoke magic, fantastic creatures and ancient secrets. His debut novel Seeds of War won the Best Indie Debut of 2023 at the FanFiAddict Awards and his short fiction work has been published in Grimdark Magazine and Haven Speculative. 

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Munro Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Our line-up will be confirmed in May.

Venue: Lomond Room

Free to attend, no ticket needed.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Are you writing something out of this world (literally)? Want some advice on how to take your book to the next stage?

Our panel of experts will offer inspiration about all things SFF writing, sharing how publishing works, giving a glimpse into the writing process, and discussing the books they’ve written and loved.

 T. L. Huchu is a writer whose short fiction has appeared in publications such as Lightspeed, Interzone, Analog Science Fiction and Fact and elsewhere. His novel The Library of the Dead, the first in the Edinburgh Nights series, won Best Novel at the Nommo Awards, presented by the African Speculative Fiction Society. His work has also been short-listed for the Caine Prize and the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire. Between projects, he translates fiction from Shona into English and the reverse.

 M. H. Ayinde studied English Literature and has worked as a video games reviewer, magazine sub editor, and television researcher. Her debut novel, A Song of Legends Lost, the first in an epic fantasy trilogy, was published by Orbit Books in spring 2025. Her award-winning short fiction has appeared in FIYAH Literary Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and more. Modupe lives in North London with her family and their Studio Ghibli obsession.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £6/£3 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Over the festival weekend, we will be chatting to industry professionals in our Inside SFFH Publishing events.

What does an editor do all day? Why should you get an agent? And why you should always listen to your publicist!

Our line-up will be confirmed in May.

Venue: Lomond Room

Free to attend, no ticket needed.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

What does "home" look like in the far reaches of space? From fugitives to archaeologists, these characters are about to find out.

In Stark Holborn’s Ninth Life, notorious outlaw Gabriella Ortiz—known across the stars as Nine Lives—has finally run out of time. Crashed on a remote planet and captured by principled Deputy Air Marshall Havemercy Grey, Ortiz offers a deal: keep her alive, and she’ll tell the truth behind her many lives. But every stop on their journey proves one thing—when Ortiz starts talking, people die. A high-stakes space western where justice, memory, and myth collide.

In Gareth L. Powell’s Future’s Edge, archaeologist Ursula Morrow is trying to outrun a mistake—one that cost her everything. Now, in the aftermath of Earth’s destruction, she’s plucked from obscurity for a final mission: retrieve an alien artifact that could save the remnants of humanity. But doing so will require piracy, sacrifice, and a confrontation with the horrors she carries inside. A brutal and hopeful space opera set in the shadow of apocalypse.

In E.M. Faulds' novella Bring Me Home we encounter disaster humans and a cultish group with an enigmatic leader, set in the Australian outback and Scotland post-global warming

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Where myth meets menace and tradition tangles with tech—these stories breathe new life into the folklore of past and future.

In V. Castro’s The Pink Agave Motel & Other Stories, readers are invited into a collection where the intimate and grotesque entwine. From carnivorous deaths to seductive sea creatures and alien lovers, these stories draw on Mexican folklore and feminist fury to explore hunger, loss, and the boundaries of desire. Whether it’s solving a motel murder or transforming grief into power, Castro offers a hauntingly sensual stay readers won’t soon forget.

In Lyndsey Croal’s Dark Crescent, Scottish folklore collides with speculative fiction in a seasonal journey through selkies, sea witches, and omens that flicker in the night sky. From the cold bite of winter to the cautious hope of summer, Croal reimagines traditional tales with eco-horror, gothic dread, and feminist resilience—giving voice to monsters, grandmothers, and the land itself.

In Gustaffo Vargas’ ANTICUCHO & Other Peruvian Cyberpunk Stories, high-tech and ancient lore collide in this graphic novel anthology that fuses Peruvian culture with dystopian futures. Robots, mafias, and mythic beasts roam cyberpunk streets infused with pre-Columbian heritage, offering gritty tales of rebellion and reclamation where vultures circle above neon-lit ruins.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

This is a cross-genre workshop for writers at any level, focused on writing effective dialogue. 

Dialogue is as important in fiction as speech is to everyday life, but it can be difficult to know how to use it effectively. Through guided readings and exercises based on theories from linguistics and existing works of fiction, participants will practice writing emotive, characterful dialogue that performs multiple functions within the story, advancing plot, building tension, and developing character and worldbuilding all at the same time. 

Your Workshop Leader

Eris Young is a writer, editor and trained linguist, with degrees from UCLA and the University of Edinburgh. Their short fiction has appeared in publications including Escape Pod, GigaNotoSaurus, Small Wonders and the Immigrant Sci Fi Short Stories anthology from Flame Tree Press, and their novel-in-progress, Idomeneja, was longlisted for the Cheshire Novel Prize. They are fiction editor at British Fantasy Award-winning Shoreline of Infinity, Scotland's science fiction magazine. 

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Cheviot Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

How could we create a language system based on colour? Or a religious system based on interior design? A magic system founded on paint pigments?

Come and play with plasticine, paint and ideas as we learn skills to aid our imaginations and create convincing and original worlds. 

All materials will be provided. Any skills welcome.

Your Workshop Leader

Hannah Kelly is a fantasy writer & illustrator. In 2019 she won the Moniack Mhor Emerging Writer Prize for her speculative fiction and she is currently writing her YA Fantasy series for Victoria Hobbs at A.M.Heath. Arthur Rackham, Brian Froud and Alan Lee are her constant inspiration for worldbuilding. 

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

Venue: Braid Room

 Tickets: £19.50 / £16 (plus 50p booking fee)

 The event will be take place in-person. Workshops are not recorded.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Scots have written science fiction and fantasy since way back. 

Join Noel Chidwick and Pippa Goldschmidt for a Sunday afternoon stroll with a selection of Scottish writers of science fiction past, present, and future, and discuss what inspires them.

Includes readings.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Lomond Room

Price: Free

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

What is the driving force of your novel? How do you maintain tension and purpose and forward momentum in your novel? Uncover your novel's through-line in this workshop! A through-line is the core propulsion in your novel. This can be your character's main conflict or desire. More broadly, it might be the main, emotional question, with high stakes, that the story poses. A through-line can be embodied in a central theme, conflict, motif, etc. There can be secondary through-lines that run parallel and intertwine. We will examine examples of a through-line, look at through-lines in several speculative texts, and do exercises to identify the through-line of participants' works-in-progress!

Your Workshop Leader

Zebib K. Abraham is a writer and psychiatrist M.D. She is published in Clarkesworld, Podcastle, Fantasy Magazine, The Rumpus, Fractured Lit, JMWW, and more. She is a Reading Round Royal Literary Fund fellow for 2024-2025. She is represented by Carleen Geisler at ArtHouse Literary Agency.

This workshop is presented in collaboration with the Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN).

All SBWN events will adhere to our Safer Spaces Policy. You can learn more about our policy here. Please be mindful when booking.

This is a session for Black writers & writers of colour only.

About the event:

 Running time: 105 minutes including breaks

 Tickets: £14 / £12 (plus 50p booking fee)

By booking a ticket for this workshop, you agree to the adhere to the SBWN Safer Spaces Policy.

The event will be take place in Zoom meetings. Workshops are not recorded.

Please note there is no physical space provided at the festival venue to participate in this workshop.

Discover some of the freshest SFFH talent out there at our Open Mic.

Do you have a fresh piece of writing ready for the world to see? Then we want your reading! Poetry, a bit of a novel or short fiction, we love it all!

Readings should be no longer than five minutes

There will be two in-person open mic session over the festival weekend.

The Open Mic will take place in the Pleasance Bar at the following times

• Saturday 7th June 3pm to 3:30pm

• Sunday 8th June 1:30pm to 2pm

To read your work, please apply here

Submission deadline is Sunday 25th May 2025.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Classic myths and royal tales are reborn in these sweeping fantasy adventures of prophecy, power, and love against the odds.

In Jean Menzies’ The Lady of the Lake, Viviane leaves the lakes of the North for Camelot, where she is meant to win the heart of Prince Arthur. But it is Arthur’s sister, Morgan, who captures her eye. As Viviane’s friendship with Morgan deepens into love and her own magical powers awaken, courtly schemes and the weight of destiny threaten to tear them apart—and take Camelot with them.

Holly Race’s Six Wild Crowns brings readers to the kingdom of Elben, where six queens are all that stand between the realm and ruin. Ambitious Boleyn will start a war to win the king’s favor, while spy and assassin Seymour uncovers the kingdom’s rotting magic. In a world of dragons, sapphic yearning, and deadly court politics, uneasy allies may shift the balance of power forever.

In A.S. Webb’s Daughter of Chaos, Danae, a fisherman's daughter, is cast out after strange powers awaken within her. Pursued by gods and driven by an ancient prophecy, she joins Heracles and his crew on a perilous journey to the ends of the world. But a terrible truth lies ahead—and Danae must decide if she will follow her heart or her destiny, as the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Pleasance Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Three powerful visions of the future—part myth, part warning, and wholly unforgettable. These authors explore war, loss, memory, and what comes after the end.

In Helen Marshall’s The Lady, the Tiger and the Girl Who Loved Death, Sara Sidorova lies dying during an endless war and is given a glimpse of the future by Amba, the tiger god who devours creation. Years later, her granddaughter Irenda joins a dangerous circus where glamour conceals brutality and revenge simmers beneath the surface. Dark magic, deception, and a decades-old hunger for justice drive this haunting tale of survival and power.

Lorraine Wilson’s We Are All Ghosts in the Forest follows Katerina, a former photojournalist now living on the edge of a forest in a post-internet world haunted by digital ghosts. When a mysterious boy arrives, Katerina is forced to flee into the forest in search of answers—and a cure for the strange digital disease that stalks them both. As past and present blur, trust becomes as vital as survival.

Marian Womack’s Out of the Window, Into the Dark is a genre-blending collection that travels from library-planets and Arctic voyages to futures shaped by nostalgia, extinction, and eco-crisis. With stories full of loneliness, memory, and longing, Womack reflects on how the past and future are intertwined—and how our choices echo far beyond the moment.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Writers will have the invaluable opportunity to talk directly to an agent from a literary agency or an editor from a SFFH publisher about their work, seek advice about any stage of the writing process, and receive direct feedback on pitches and ideas.

Meet our Agents

Meg Davis, MD of Ki Agency

Fabienne Schwizer from Ki Agency

Helen Lane from Ki Agency

Lina Langlee from The North Literary Agency

Caro Clarke from Portobello Literary

Meetings will be 15 minutes long, and there will be a £25 fee.

Please select which Agent you’d like to speak to on booking. Please note spaces are limited.

By booking tickets for this event, you are committing to submitting your submission letter and the first 2000 words of your novel (or less) by Monday 12.05.2025

Please send your material to admin@cymerafestival.co.uk

Booking Deadline Monday 12th May 2025.

Please note that our Agent One to One sessions book out very quickly.

Meeting will take place in the Cheviot and Braid rooms.

Flora Macdonald – Jacobite heroine, saviour of an exiled prince, face of many shortbread tins - and ferocious zombie hunter. Join Flora for a rollicking and completely untrue adventure into Scotland’s past, featuring war, romance, a rogue royal, the undead, a cat assassin, and a Scottish schoolgirl on the best history trip ever.

A new fantasy-comedy solo show written and performed by Debbie Cannon and directed by Flavia D’Avila (Green Knight, The Remarkable Deliverances of Alice Thornton).

Contains swearing, sexual references, and scenes of messy zombie evisceration. Recommended for 15+ audiences

Venue: Lomond Room

Running Time: 60 minutes

Price: £8/£6 concession (plus 50p booking fee).

Performance dates and times

Saturday 7th June: 3:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 2:30pm

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Apocalypse? Invasion? Insurmountable odds? These battle-hardened heroes are ready.

In Sebastien de Castell’s The Malevolent Eight, former Justiciar Cade Ombra leads his crew of unstable wonderists into one last impossible mission: prevent a celestial-infernal war from engulfing the mortal realm. The fate of humanity hangs in the balance—and only the most malevolent have a shot at saving it. Filled with dark magic, sharp wit, and explosive action, this is a tale where peace might just mean killing everyone first.

In Cameron Johnston’s The Last Shield, the ancient realm of Sunweald teeters on the brink. When brutal raiders infiltrate the Palace in search of arcane relics, Commander Briar must hold the line against enemies within and without. With sacred rituals looming and betrayal in the air, this high-octane, Die Hard-esque fantasy delivers magic, mayhem, and a heroine who won’t stop until every enemy head is on a spike.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Theatre

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Villainesses, curses, and fairy-tale chaos—these stories are rewriting the rules of happily ever after.

In Sarah Rees Brennan’s Long Live Evil, Rae makes a bargain to escape her crumbling life and wakes inside her favorite fantasy series—only to discover she’s the villain, not the heroine. Surrounded by monsters, mayhem, and one infuriatingly captivating Emperor, Rae sets out to rewrite the ending with a band of misfit villains and a killer wardrobe. But when fiction starts fighting back, happily-ever-after might be the deadliest ending of all.

In Ry Herman’s This Princess Kills Monsters, Princess Melilot has had it with perilous quests, annoying stepmothers, and fiancés she’s never met. On her latest forced journey, she's rescued by twelve masked huntsmen and pulled into a kingdom of gender tests, spider-wolves, and assassination attempts. Caught between a charming sister-in-law and a love she never expected, Melilot must break the rules of the tale—or be trapped in someone else's ending forever.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Venue: Upper Hall

Price: £11/£8 concession - In Person - or £5.50 Live Stream - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in person and is broadcast via live stream.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

 This event will be followed by a book signing in the Signing Space above the Festival Bookshop.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.

Bonds of Love come in many shapes and forms - from sisterly devotion to divine service to falling for that one person you shouldn’t.

The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig is the gothic, mist-cloaked tale of Sybil Delling, a prophetess who is forced on an impossible quest with the one devilishly handsome knight whose future is beyond her sight. Gods! Destiny! Talking Gargoyles!

In Amal El-Mohtar’s solo debut The River Has Roots, sisters Esther and Ysabel are devoted to each other and the family traditions, tending and harvesting the enchanted willows and honouring an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favour of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters' bond but also their lives will be at risk.

In Ava Reid’s Fable for the End of the World, Inesa lives in a half-sunken town, scraping by with her brother—until she’s offered up by her mother to die on Caerus’s livestreamed spectacle, the Lamb’s Gauntlet. Melinoë is the assassin sent to kill her: beautiful, brutal, and in need of redemption. As one girl runs and the other hunts, they begin to wonder if there’s more to life—and to each other—than just survival.

About the event

Running time: 55 minutes

Price: £5.50 - (plus 50p booking fee)

This event takes place in Zoom Webinar.

A recording of this event will be available to catch-up on our YouTube until Sunday 13th July 2025. Ticket holders and weekend pass owners will receive the catch-up link automatically after the festival. Please keep an eye on your SPAM.

Joining us at the Pleasance? We will be showing the digital events on a big TV in the Music Room. Free with a weekend pass, or please purchase a £6 digital ticket.

Join us for this amateur production of Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, adapted for stage by Stephen Briggs.

Following their sell-out shows of Guards! Guards! (2023) and Men at Arms (2024), Strawmoddie Theatre are back!

Someone is killing Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Ankh- Morpork. No one knows who, no one knows why and, worst of all, no one knows how he just gets weaker and weaker.

But its not just Vetinari across the city, people are being murdered, but theres no trace of anything alive having been at the crime scene. Commander Vimes, Head of the City Watch, is a man who hates clues. He and his team must question everyone the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. In a city teeming with vampires, werewolves, dwarfs with attitude and golems, Vimes must solve the crimes and save the Patrician.

Venue: Theatre

Running Time: approx 2 hours 45 minutes including interval

Price: £18/£15 concession plus 50p booking fee per ticket.

Performance dates and times

Thursday 5th June: 7:30pm

Friday 6th June: 8:30pm

Saturday 7th June: 8:30pm

Sunday 8th June: 5pm

Please note that the venue has unreserved bench seating. Please arrive in good time to secure seats.

Find out more about ACCESS to our events here, and for information about TICKETS, click here.

Any other questions? Check out our FAQ.