2025
Blog: Behind the Scenes: Volunteering at Paisley Book Festival 2025
As a recently graduated literature student, I stumbled across Paisley Book Festival while procrastinating writing my essays by aimlessly googling through my endlessly increasing ‘To Be Read’ list. Hailing from
Blog: From Boy to Man: James Robertson, Billy Kay & Rab Wilson
Sometimes, a festival event comes along that's so beautifully crafted, you just have to sit back and admire the sheer artistry of it. From Boy to Man was exactly that
Blog: The Writer’s Playlist: James Yorkston and Malachy Tallack with Nicola Meighan
A cosy haven amidst Saturday’s overcast drizzle, James Yorkston, a talented author and musician from Fife, joined acclaimed Shetland author Malachy Tallack, for a warm and eclectic conversation with BBC
Blog: Building Hope: Art, Architecture, and the Possibility of Abolition
Dr Kirstin Anderson, lecturer in criminology at Edinburgh Napier University, and Professor Yvonne Jewkes, one of the world’s leading authorities on prison architecture at the University of Bath, joined forces
Blog: Food for the Soul: Julie Lin, Pam Brunton, Katie Goh & The Hebridean Baker
The Paisley festival was proud to welcome back a returning favourite: Coinneach MacLeod, also known as The Hebridean Baker – which also happens to be the title of his Scottish
Blog: Stuart Murdoch & David Keenan with Vic Galloway
This year’s Book Festival set out to ignite imagination and inspire change - and Saturday’s final event delivered on that promise with flair. In a memorable conversation hosted by broadcaster
2024
Scottish Masculinities: Graeme Armstrong, Alan Bissett and Brian Conaghan
Following on from the online, lockdown iteration of the Paisley Book Festival of 2021, the subject of Masculinities is revisited again this
Andrew O’Hagan Caledonian Road
Slightly later than billed, Andrew O’Hagan enters the packed Main Hall, saying that he hates Heathrow Airport after the hours of delay he’s endured, stationary on the tarmac. He is
Red Runs the Witch’s Thread with Victoria Williamson
The true story of the Bargarran accused witches is a well-documented narrative and one that is full of mystery and intrigue. Researching the witch trials in Renfrewshire for a children’s
Rescripting the Mainstream: Len Pennie and Sarah Grant
With two ‘firebrand creatives’ Sarah Grant and Len Pennie discussing issues of identity, language, and body image, with Festival producer Louise Oliver, this was always going to be an event
The Beautiful Game: Pat Nevin
One thing I never thought possible was that an event could be both relaxed and intense. Pat Nevin is a calm but erudite human, who brims with an effervescent enthusiasm
Bards, Bans and Ballers: Tall Tales of Women’s Football in Scotland
As part of the Festival’s thematic thread on The Beautiful Game, this event was a collaboration of voices celebrating a long, colourful and varied history of women’s football. Poet Julie
2023
Kirstin Innes in Conversation with Alice Langley: The Pram in the Hallway
The discussion was led by Alice Langley, who kindly stepped in at the eleventh-hour to chair this wonderful event with Kirstin Innes. Alice, a writer
Paisley Presents – Poets in Paisley
Donna Does it Again! The curator of this evening’s events is the ‘ubiquitous’ Donna Matthew, a Paisley poet who is forging
Paisley Presents… A Spoken Word Extravaganza – Gray Crosbie, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir and Titilayo Farukuoye
This, the first of the weekend’s ‘Paisley Presents’ series is a spoken work extravaganza. The event stared even later than its already late billing, due
A record-breaking chapter for Paisley Book Festival comes to a close
This year’s Paisley Book Festival has come to a close after attracting record numbers to enjoy some of the best of Scotland the
A Love Letter to Friendship with Jackie Kay and Michael Pedersen
‘Grief’ is becoming something of a recurring theme at this year’s book festival. Love and loss were central to the discussions that took place, in
Have you felt this too? – Leyla Josephine & Hannah Lavery
This was an intimate session in the upstairs room of the UWS Union where Host Eilidh Akilade spoke with multi award winning poets Leyla Josephine and
2022
Sensational Paisley Book Festival line-up announced with support for those impacted by the cost of living crisis
Some of Scotland and the UK’s leading authors will descend on Paisley in 2023, with Paisley Book Festival’s first full programme of in-person discussions and events since the
Kerry Hudson and her approach to PBF 2023!
When I applied to be the Writer in Residence for Paisley Book Festival I asked myself one question, what would I have wanted from a visiting
Janet Coats Memorial Prize Young People 2023!
JANET COATS MEMORIAL PRIZE YOUNG PEOPLE 2023 The theme of this year’s Paisley Book Festival is Remake and Rebel What does this theme make you
The Janet Coats Memorial Prize is back for 2023!
JANET COATS MEMORIAL PRIZE YOUNG PEOPLE 2023 The theme of this year’s Paisley Book Festival is Remake and Rebel What does this theme make you
Award-winning Kerry Hudson is our new Writer in Residence for 2023!
Award-winning author to bring the joy of literature and writing to communities as part of Paisley Book Festival Award-winning author, Kerry Hudson, will look to inspire
New programmers appointed to Paisley Book Festival
Paisley Book Festival is set to return next year with two new programmers bringing the cream of the literary crop to the town for the
2021
Seasons Greetings and a Hopeful New Year
As 2021 draws to a close, we’d like to thank everyone who has engaged with and supported the Paisley Book Festival. This year has not been without its
Paisley Book Festival launches 2022 programme with 50-plus events
PAISLEY Book Festival has launched its rich programme of more than 50 events for its 2022 edition. The annual festival, which includes workshops, author events and book launches, will run
Stories Mak Us at the Paisley Book Festival
We are delighted to launch the programme of events for the third annual Paisley Book Festival consisting of more than 50 unique events running between 17-26 February 2022!
Paisley Is No Longer Just A Name On A Sign
By Didi Miller Paisley has always been the area near the airport, the name I would see on a road sign at 5am through a rainy taxi window.
Libraries are Still the Seeds that Foster a Lifelong Love of Reading
By Loretta Mulholland Even though I'd always considered them a treasure trove of facts and imagination, libraries had changed a lot since the days of my childhood by
Poetry Is A Part Of Our Human Experience
By Natalie Jayne Clark There are three bits of tangible evidence remaining to me that I was indeed a kid with cancer: two photographs where I am modelling