Now in its third year, Push the Boat Out is an award-winning festival bringing together wide-ranging artforms such as poetry and music in Edinburgh. This year’s mix is an ambitious line-up that blending poetry, performance and art in a vibrant celebration of words and creativity across 50 events and more than 120 artists at with four venues in the capital – The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dance Base, Dovecot Studios and the Pleasance. The festival also has a growing year-round supporting programme and a strong community ethos.

An aspect of the festival is its aim to give poetry new platforms by creating an environment where all variations of this vital art form are encouraged to grow, evolve and collide with other artforms, with a regular popular open-mic night, Rock the Boat, on the first Thursday of every month at Summerhall.

Highlights of this year’s line-up include Alexander McCall Smith, Salena Godden, Raymond Antrobus, Caroline Bird, Ella Frears, Kathleen Jamie, Imtiaz Dharker, Len Pennie (pictured) and (Edinburgh Makar) Michael Pedersen (pictured at top). Folk singer Iona Fyfe headlines a night of poetry-fused song and there will be a celebration of the life, art, and activism of Benjamin Zephaniah. People looking to develop their own practice in words and art will enjoy the free Development Day for artists.