The Portobello Bookshop

Upcoming events at The Portobello Bookshop

Community

Around £3.00

Shannon Chakraborty - The Tapestry of Fate

The Portobello Bookshop is overjoyed to welcome Shannon Chakraborty to Edinburgh for a discussion of her latest book The Tapestry of Fate. This is the highly-anticipated sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, an epic historical fantasy full of pirates, magic, and, you guessed it, adventure! Chakraborty is the author of the beloved Daevabad Trilogy, starting with City of Brass. Join us for a brilliant conversation between Shannon and fellow fantasy author Hannah Kaner for an insight to the spellbinding world of Amina al-Sirafi.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. Doors open at 6:45. There will be a signing after the event. Please note that there will be a three book limit for the signing.About The Tapestry of Fate:Amina al-Sirafi thinks she’s struck gold. Tasked with hunting down magical artifacts for the council of immortal peris, she can savour the occasional adventure on the high seas with her cherished criminal companions while still returning home to raise her beloved daughter.But when Raksh, the spirit of discord with whom she is reluctantly wed, provokes the council’s wrath, Amina is charged with a seemingly impossible quest: steal a spindle capable of rewriting fate from a mysterious sorceress on an island no one can escape.Forced to leave her daughter, Amina finds her mission almost immediately thrown into peril.

Thu 4 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Extra Teeth: Issue 11 Launch

We're excited to welcome the Extra Teeth team back to the bookshop to celebrate Issue 11, which is packed full of brilliant writing from some of Scotland's finest writers, both emerging and established! Join us for an evening of readings from Rachel Ashenden, Deborah Chu and Eris Young, who are all featured in this brand new issue.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home.In-person vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of Issue 11 – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per magazine. Livestream vouchers are valid until the day after the event and can be redeemed on our website against a single copy of Issue 11.About Extra Teeth Issue 11:Guest Illustrator: Agnes BomanContributors: Deborah Chu, Jacob Parker, Margaux Vialleron, Suad Kamardeen, Hamish Gray, Joni Morris, Jack Lennon, Eris Young, Chika Jones, Clare Patterson, Rachel Ashenden, Jen CallejaFeaturing some of Scotland’s best emerging and established writers, and work from exciting new writers from further afield, Issue 11 of Extra Teeth showcases features genre-defying fiction and nonfiction, featuring illustration throughout by guest illustrator Agnes Boman.

Fri 5 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Children & Family

Around £8.99

Porty Pride Story Time with Ashley Douglas

We're delighted to be welcoming author Ashley Douglas to the bookshop for a story time session in partnership with Porty Pride. She will be reading from her book The Lass and the Quine, which is the first original LGBT+ inclusive children’s book published in the Scots language.You can sign up to attend and collect a copy of The Lass and the Quine when you attend the event, and there's a free option available below as well. Ashley will be signing and dedicating copies of the book on the day.Please note that the story is aimed at children aged 5-8 but children of all ages are welcome to attend this Story Time event. They must be accompanied by a parent/guardian throughout the event.About the book:An illustrated storybook for children of primary school age based on the poem The Lass and The Quine by Ashley Douglas. It is a new Scots fairy tale that challenges those you know in a clever and enjoyable way.The story concerns ‘a lass and a quine whae are awfie different in ivery wey, but whae faw heid ower heels in luve – meetin a wheen animals o the forest alang the wey!’ It has a timeless feel, but what makes it so special is that the love story is one between a girl and a princess, not a girl and a prince.

Sat 6 Jun10:30The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Olivia Laing - The Silver Book

It's our great pleasure to be welcoming Olivia Laing to the bookshop for an event to celebrate the paperback publication of their latest novel, The Silver Book. Laing will be in conversation with Fiona Bradley, the Director of Edinburgh's Fruitmarket Gallery.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.About The Silver Book:It is September 1974. Two men meet by chance in Venice. One is a young English artist, in panicked flight from London. The other is Danilo Donati, the magician of Italian cinema, the designer responsible for realising the spectacular visions of Fellini and Pasolini. Donati is in Venice to produce sketches for Fellini’s Casanova. A young – and beautiful – apprentice is just what he needs.He sweeps Nicholas to Rome, into the looking-glass world of Cinecittà, the studio where Casanova’s Venice will be ingeniously assembled. Then in the spring, the lovers move together to the set of Salò, Pasolini’s horrifying fable of fascism.But Nicholas has a secret and in this world of constant illusion, his real nature passes unseen. Amidst the rising tensions of Italy’s ‘Years of Lead’, he acts as an accelerant, setting in motion a tragedy he didn’t intend...

Tue 9 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £5.00

Hachette Pride in Writing Evening

Hachette Pride In Writing and The Portobello Bookshop are thrilled to be hosting a pride evening event at the bookshop! This will be a celebration of LGBTQ+ authors, stories, and readers.We invite you to join us in the bookshop to enjoy refreshments, hear from some of your favourite authors, have the chance to mingle, and of course, do some late night book shopping!Your entry ticket is a voucher that is redeemable against a single copy of any of the participating author's books on the night.Authors in attendance include (additional contributors to be announced!):L.R. Lam, originally from sunny California, now lives in cloudy Scotland. Lam is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose work includes epic fantasy romance Dragonfall, the near-future space thrillers, Goldilocks, feminist space opera Seven Devils (co-written with Elizabeth May), BBC Radio 2 Book Club selection False Hearts, the companion novel Shattered Minds, and the award-winning Micah Grey series: Pantomime, Shadowplay, and Masquerade. Their short fiction and essays have appeared in various anthologies such as Nasty Women, Cranky Ladies of History, Scotland in Space, and more.Sarvat Hasin is a novelist and dramaturg from Pakistan. She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her first novel, This Wide Night, was published by Penguin India and longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

Thu 11 Jun18:30The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £5.00

Charco Press Evening

We are delighted to be twinning with Charco Press for this year's Independent Bookshop Week and we're hosting a celebration of the Edinburgh-based indie press on the evening of Saturday 13th June!As part of the celebrations we'll be welcoming you to the bookshop to enjoy refreshments, hear from some of the Charco team and their translators, have the chance to mingle, and of course, do some late night book shopping! There will be the chance to pick up limited merch including tote bags and bookmarks and signed bookplate editions of Charco titles will be on sale during the event. The £5 voucher ticket is redeemable against a single copy of any Charco title on the night.On the night we'll be joined by:Fiona Mackintosh (translator of The Adventures of China Iron).Fionn Petch (translator of Fireflies, The Distance Between Us, Fate, A Musical Offering, You Shall Leave Your Land, andThe World We Saw Burning).Iona Macintyre (translator of The Adventures of China Iron).Isabel Adey (translator of Fresh Dirt from the Grave).Carolina Orloff (translator and editor of Fate, Die, My Love, Feebleminded and La Lucha).

Sat 13 Jun18:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £5.00

An Evening with Charco Press

We are delighted to be twinning with Charco Press for this year's Independent Bookshop Week and we're hosting a celebration of the Edinburgh-based indie press on the evening of Saturday 13th June!As part of the celebrations we'll be welcoming you to the bookshop to enjoy refreshments, hear from some of the Charco team and their translators, have the chance to mingle, and of course, do some late night book shopping! There will be the chance to pick up limited merch including tote bags and bookmarks and signed bookplate editions of Charco titles will be on sale during the event. The £5 voucher ticket is redeemable against a single copy of any Charco title on the night.On the night we'll be joined by:Fiona Mackintosh (translator of The Adventures of China Iron).Fionn Petch (translator of Fireflies, The Distance Between Us, Fate, A Musical Offering, You Shall Leave Your Land, andThe World We Saw Burning).Iona Macintyre (translator of The Adventures of China Iron).Isabel Adey (translator of Fresh Dirt from the Grave).Carolina Orloff (translator and editor of Fate, Die, My Love, Feebleminded and La Lucha).

Sat 13 Jun18:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £11.67

An Evening with Colin Morgan

The Portobello Bookshop is thrilled to welcome Colin Morgan for the Edinburgh launch of his debut novel, The Ballad of Ronan McCoy. It is a beautifully written, tender coming-of-age story about friendship and first love, loss and letting go, and the hopes and fears of a young man. Perfect for fans of Douglas Stuart, Michael Magee, David Nicholls and Andrew O'Hagan, we can't wait to dive into this stunning book with the author.This event will take place in The Great Hall at Nicolson Square with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. Detailed information on how to access the venue can be found here.Please note Colin will not be doing an in-person signing at the event, but will be able to pre-sign and dedicate copies of the book. If you would like a dedicated copy, please select this option with your Book & Ticket and include the name for the dedication before adding your ticket to the basket.We would appreciate a technology free evening, so everyone can be fully present at this event. It's an invitation to switch phones off and put them away for the duration of the event, so that they're not in use for any purpose throughout. This does mean no personal photography throughout the event.About The Ballad of Ronan McCoy:Brendan's best friend, his only friend, is Ronan McCoy.

Tue 16 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Nature & Outdoors

Around £3.00

Nature Walk with Lucy Lapwing - Love Is A Toad

Want to tell your Chiffchaff from your Chaffinch? Not sure who’s voice is belting from the treetops in the morning? Join nature nerd and author Lucy Lapwing for some ‘in the field’ birdsong lessons, setting off from the Portobello Bookshop at 10am on Saturday 20th June.Taking a walk on the beach, Lucy will introduce you to the world of birdsong, giving some tips and tricks when it comes to learning the voices of different feathered songsters, as well as spotting some live birdlife as we go. Lucy will also tell you a little bit about her first book, Love is a Toad, which explores our relationship with wildlife and the natural world.Lucy will finish the walk back at the bookshop around noon where you can grab a copy of the book, and get it signed by the author herself!Please wear suitable outdoor clothing (and suncream!) and bring portable stools, blankets or cushions if you’d like to sit down as we learn. Suitable for families, including children over 7.About Love Is A Toad:Nature makes us feel things. It sparks awe, curiosity and a sense of beauty and community. But as wildlife around us declines and disappears, murkier feelings rise up: guilt, detachment and fear for nature’s plight. For many years, Lucy Lapwing wrestled with these tangled emotions.

Sat 20 Jun10:30The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Andrew Sean Greer - Villa Coco

We're delighted that Andrew Sean Greer is coming to the bookshop to celebrate the Edinburgh launch of Villa Coco. A coming-of-age novel, a love story and a tale of life-enhancing friendship: Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer showcases his wit and warmth in this magical tale set amidst the Tuscan hills.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.Please note that Villa Coco will be published on 9th June, therefore books for the Book & Ticket options will be posted out to you or made available to collect from the bookshop between then and the event on Wednesday 24th June. You can choose whether you would prefer collection or postage in the checkout options.About Villa Coco:Broke and directionless, our young protagonist takes a job in the Italian countryside as the assistant to Lisabetta – better known to her friends as Coco – a strong-willed, wealthy aristocrat of great local renown.Trained as an archivist, he thinks he’s been hired to catalogue the contents of the beautiful, crumbling mansion nestled in the green Tuscan hills.

Wed 24 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Daisy Dixon - Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art

The Portobello Bookshop is excited to welcome Daisy Dixon for an evening celebrating her book Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art. Dixon will be in conversation with art writer, editor and curator Rachel Ashenden.We've been loving the book already and we can't wait for you all to join us at this event! The discussion promises to be enlightening, provocative, and entertaining - one you won't want to miss.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.About Depraved: The Story of Dangerous Art:From a vital new voice in cultural criticism, a fearless descent into art’s dark side through the works that have shocked, divided and scandalised us most. Depraved shows how these creations – and our reactions to them – reveal the most disturbing corners of the human psyche.What makes an artwork immoral? Why do these troubling creations have such a hold on us? And how should we deal with them?We live in a moment when the dangers of art seem more prevalent than ever: artists are ‘cancelled’ for their misdeeds, public statues are toppled, images of violence and obscenity await us at the touch of a button.

Thu 25 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Brandon Taylor - Minor Black Figures

We're so excited to host Brandon Taylor in the bookshop for a discussion of his most recent novel, Minor Black Figures. Taylor is a celebrated author, known for his debut, Booker Prize nominated novel Real Life, and his 2022 short fiction collection Filthy Animals.Join us in person or online for one of this century's most accomplished authors, for a book that's been drumming up buzz since its release in March. Doors will open at 6:45pm for a 7pm start time. Brandon will be signing books after the talk.About Minor Black Figures:Over a hot summer in New York a painter falls for a priest, in this captivating modern love story from the Booker-Prize shortlisted Brandon TaylorWyeth is a newcomer to New York, a young Black painter who is trying to find his place in the contemporary Manhattan art scene. He shares a studio with his friends and earns money working for a gallery and an art restorer but he’s struggling with his portrait painting, unable to truly capture the life of his subjects.Then he meets Keating, a white former priest struggling with his faith. The two men seemingly have nothing in common, and yet Keating shows Wyeth how to see the world anew. The hot summer progresses, filled with art openings, walks around the city, and Wyeth’s search for a long-forgotten Black artist. But as the men grow closer, the differences between them become more stark, until Wyeth and Keating must decide what they are willing to risk – for art and for love.

Fri 26 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Eli Davis - The Spinster Cookbook

We're excited to welcome Eli Davis to the bookshop for the Edinburgh launch of The Spinster Cookbook. Davis will be in conversation with Roxani Krystalli.About The Spinster Cookbook:The Spinster Cookbook is a piercing exploration of what it means to cook for one in a society designed for couples and families. With sharp cultural insight, Eli Davies takes us on a culinary tour of the single woman’s kitchen, a space shaped as much by a search for freedom as by appetite.The kitchen has always been a complex space for women: a place of labour and gendered expectations, as well as a site of nourishment, care and company. But how does this change when you’re alone, not cooking for family or friends, but simply for yourself?Eli Davies explores what happens when food is uncoupled from domestic duty and romantic relationships and what it means to cook (or not) for yourself and by yourself. How does this shape your mealtimes, the way you shop for food, the kitchen equipment you use, and your relationship to cleaning up and looking after yourself?With warmth, humour and insight, The Spinster Cookbook explores shopping and leftovers, solo meals and dinner parties for one, joy and grief and the politics of living on your own. This is a book about making a home in the face of housing precarity, loneliness, heartbreak and social norms, and finding independence, pleasure and self-expression through cooking. It’s a cookbook of sorts, and a manifesto for living differently.

Tue 30 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Eli Davies - The Spinster Cookbook

We're excited to welcome Eli Davis to the bookshop for the Edinburgh launch of The Spinster Cookbook. Davis will be in conversation with Roxani Krystalli.About The Spinster Cookbook:The Spinster Cookbook is a piercing exploration of what it means to cook for one in a society designed for couples and families. With sharp cultural insight, Eli Davies takes us on a culinary tour of the single woman’s kitchen, a space shaped as much by a search for freedom as by appetite.The kitchen has always been a complex space for women: a place of labour and gendered expectations, as well as a site of nourishment, care and company. But how does this change when you’re alone, not cooking for family or friends, but simply for yourself?Eli Davies explores what happens when food is uncoupled from domestic duty and romantic relationships and what it means to cook (or not) for yourself and by yourself. How does this shape your mealtimes, the way you shop for food, the kitchen equipment you use, and your relationship to cleaning up and looking after yourself?With warmth, humour and insight, The Spinster Cookbook explores shopping and leftovers, solo meals and dinner parties for one, joy and grief and the politics of living on your own. This is a book about making a home in the face of housing precarity, loneliness, heartbreak and social norms, and finding independence, pleasure and self-expression through cooking. It’s a cookbook of sorts, and a manifesto for living differently.

Tue 30 Jun19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £3.00

Dave Eggers - Contrapposto

We're delighted that Dave Eggers is coming to Portobello on the UK tour for his brand new novel, Contrapposto. Twenty years in the making, it's a novel about art, life and the complicated beauty of both – from the author of The Circle and A Hologram for the King. Eggers will be in conversation with fellow author Doug Johnstone.This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience, as well as a livestream for attendees watching from home. There will be a signing after the event.About Contrapposto:Cricket is just a shy kid who likes drawing when he first meets Olympia. She’s older, more confident; she bullies him into some light vandalism and instantly he’s in love. When they’re together, they talk about their futures, how they’re going to travel the world, the beauty and rapture of art.Then those futures start to arrive in unexpected ways, the years and decades pile up between them, the art world seduces and disappoints and frustrates them. And they have to figure out, again and again, what it is to be an artist, and who and what to love.This is a wild and beautiful novel about two friends who believe they can change the world, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.

Fri 3 Jul19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £20.00

David Sedaris - Public Signing for The Land and Its People

We are excited to welcome David Sedaris to the bookshop for a public signing in celebration of his new book, The Land and Its People. This collection of comedic autobiographical essays has already been praised by the likes of Graham Norton, Adam Kay, and Ian McKellen. Join us on the afternoon of Sunday 5th July to pick up your copy, meet David, and get your book signed and personalised.We encourage you to RSVP or pre-order your copy of the book and a spot in the queue to help us gauge attendance. There will be books available to purchase at the signing in addition to any pre-ordered copies that you collect on the day.David will be happy to sign first-name-only dedications, and candid pictures during the signing are welcome.About The Land and Its People:In The Land and Its People, David Sedaris investigates what it means to be a traveller, a brother, a lifelong friend. Trying on the role of carer after his boyfriend Hugh’s hip-replacement surgery, he both succeeds and fails. He covers ground with his friend Dawn and challenges her to eat a truck tire. An ambivalent Duolingo bot becomes his unlikely confidante as he attempts to describe his family in a foreign language.

Sun 5 Jul12:00The Portobello Bookshop

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Community

Around £1.67

Fiction Book Club – July 2026

About our Fiction Book Club:Join us at our Book Club, led by one of our friendly booksellers! We'll be hosting a monthly discussion in the bookshop on a specially chosen title, complete with a complimentary beverage for all attendees.Our Fiction Book Club aims to highlight some of the most intriguing and compelling reads on our general fiction shelves, whether we're (re)discovering classics or diving into fresh contemporary novels. With such a broad range of subjects and perspectives, we hope there'll be something for everyone to enjoy... perhaps a new favourite book awaits.Please note that book clubs will usually take place on the first Tuesday of the month.About The Offing:One summer following the Second World War, Robert Appleyard sets out on foot from his Durham village. Sixteen and the son of a coal miner, he makes his way across the northern countryside until he reaches the former smuggling village of Robin Hood’s Bay. There he meets Dulcie, an eccentric, worldly, older woman who lives in a ramshackle cottage facing out to sea.Staying with Dulcie, Robert’s life opens into one of rich food, sea-swimming, sunburn and poetry. The two come from different worlds, yet as the summer months pass, they form an unlikely friendship that will profoundly alter their futures.

Tue 7 Jul19:00The Portobello Bookshop

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