Festival Warm-Up
We are Nature Collective x Envirolution
Saturday 5th September 2026 – Seaton Park
Taking to the main festival stage at Envirolution, hear new poetry and prose by members of We Are Nature Collective from their latest ‘artefact’ publication commissioned by WayWORD. The collective is a women-led creative group rooted in North East Scotland who walk, listen and create together, exploring the threads between people, place, and planet.
Nan Shepherd Event: Alycia Pirmohamed’s Shorelines
2.00pm, Sunday 6th September 2026 – Cowdray Hall
The Ocean and the Bones with Genevieve Carver
11.00am, Saturday 19th September 2026 – Aberdeen Central Library Information Centre
Saturday 3rd October
Animation Workshop with Jim Parkyn
10.00am–12.00pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Ekphrastic Poetry Prizegiving
2.00–3.00pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
The Gaelic Way of Seeing Workshop
3.00–5.00pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Animation and Storytelling Panel
4.00–5.00pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Trilingual Open Mic Night
6.30–8.30pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – Gaelic Lane Café
SC&T Youth Concert – Hannah Rarity and Heather Cartwright
7.00pm, Saturday 3rd October 2026 – King’s Pavilion
Sunday 4th October
Pirate Crafts Workshop
10.00–11.30am, Sunday 4th October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Sea Shanty Workshop
11.30am–12.30pm, Sunday 4th October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
At Sea: Katalina Watt & Anbara Salam
2.00–3.00pm, Sunday 4th October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Fantasy World Building: Hannah Kaner & Georgia Leighton
4.00–5.00pm, Sunday 4th October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
New Doric and Scots Poetry: Lesley Benzie & Craig Aitchison
6.00–7.00pm, Sunday 4th October 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library
Tuesday 6th October
North East Voices Performance Night
7.30pm–9.30pm, Tuesday 6th October 2026 – St. Nicholas Kirk
Wednesday 7th October
Lady Knights and Warrior Women: Tasha Suri & V.L. Bovalino
2.00–3.00pm, Wednesday 7th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
DIY Publishing Panel
4.00–5.00pm, Wednesday 7th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Fecundity Exhibition Opening
5.15–6.00pm, Wednesday 7th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Meet the artist behind the ‘Fecundity’ exhibition, Rachel Bride Ashton, and explore her work. Find out more in our Exhibition section. No ticket needed; just drop-in!
Who Killed Lilias Drummond? Improvised Roleplay Drama
7.00–9.00pm, Wednesday 7th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Thursday 8th October
Poetry As Activism Workshop
10.30am–12.00pm, Thursday 8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Is imagination stronger than reality? Writing as Escapism Workshop
1.00–2.30pm, Thursday 8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Verbal Remedies Book Launch
4.00–5.00pm, Thursday 8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Migration Across Generations Panel
5.30–6.30pm, Thursday 8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night: Wine & Performance
7.30pm, Thursday 8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Friday 9th October
Causeway/Cabhsair Magazine Launch
2.30–3.30pm, Friday 9th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Jenni Fagan: The Delusions
4.30–5.30pm, Friday 9th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Scotland’s Secret Sappho: Ashley Douglas and Josie Duncan
6.30–7.30pm, Friday 9th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Saturday 10th October
Exploring Kamishibai Workshop
10.15am–12.15pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery Seminar Room
Scottish Poetry Today: Hannah Lavery, Colin Bramwell & Aditya Narayan
12.30–1.30pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Film: Who will be remembered here?
1.00–5.00pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery Seminar Room
Graeme Armstrong: Raveheart
2.30–3.30pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
McBey Library Book Group
2.30–3.30pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – McBey Library, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Discuss art in its many shades at AAGM’s new monthly book group. Meet like-minded people, exchange thoughts and explore new topics together. The Art Gallery’s McBey Library holds over 150 years of collected books, periodicals and archives relating to the city’s art collections. Each session (2nd Saturday of the month) has a different theme, so please let the Gallery know if you’d like to explore a specific topic. There’s no need to prepare anything and no pre-booking is required: simply bring your enthusiasm!
Rosie Jones: On Paper
4.30–5.30pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Jazz Poetry Returns!
7.00–8.45pm, Saturday 10th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Sunday 11th October
Toulmin Prize 2026 with Sheena Blackhall
11.30am–12.30pm, Sunday 11th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery Seminar Room
Women Re-written: Elle Machray and Mairi Kidd
1.00–2.00pm, Sunday 11th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery Seminar Room
We Are Nature Film and Publication Sharing
2.45–3.45pm, Sunday 11th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery Seminar Room
Play Premiere: A Mustard Seed from a House Untouched by Death
6.00–7.00pm, Sunday 11th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Exhibitions
Aberdeen Artworlds: The Linklater Collection
2nd February – 6th December 2026 – Sir Duncan Rice Library Gallery
This exhibition from University Collections marks 50 years of the Linklater Collection of works by some of the most important Scottish artists of the 20th century including J. D. Fergusson, S. J. Peploe and Joan Eardley. Don’t miss ‘Ekphrastic Poetry Prizegiving’ on Sat 3 Oct!
Our Artworld
29th September – 11th October – Sir Duncan Rice Library Foyer
Pupils from Riverbank Primary and St Machar Academy share their responses to the ‘Aberdeen Artworlds’ exhibition through art and poetry developed with Outlines Collective and Jo Gilbert. The film of their work displayed on the SDRL Foyer screen was designed by our Festival Intern, Bethan Ferrie.
Breathing Bodies
1st August – 22nd November – Aberdeen Art Gallery and University of Aberdeen
Discover the amazing world inside our bodies… Tout Passe, located at Aberdeen Art Gallery, offers a three-dimensional reflection of our features to reveal not only our beating hearts and circulating blood but also our lungs and the air as it passes through our bodies. With the help of x-rays, MRI and nuclear imaging, see things in our bodies that we can’t typically see with our own eyes in the Première Intimité de l’être exhibit at the University of Aberdeen’s Suttie Centre, Student Union Building and King’s College Conference Centre. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (Grant No 101099934). This exhibition is supported by Innovate UK.
Fecundity: Rachel Bride Ashton
12.30-7.30pm, 7th-8th October 2026 – Linklater Rooms
Rachel Bride Ashton’s work blurs the lines between where we stop and the land begins. She is concerned with honouring a ‘multispecies alliance’, moving away from the fetishising of nature, and challenging the problematic nature of the word ‘Green’. This group of paintings explore earthly bodies – our fraught relationship with flora, fauna and our own microbiota. Celebrating fertility cycles through the interweaving of flesh with the fecundity and vigour of burgeoning spring and summer lushness to the dying of all things – the constant process of returning everything to the earth.
Literary Events at soundfestival
BookIns
12.00-12.30pm, Saturday 24th October 2026 – Aberdeen Art Gallery
Love reading? Then join BookIns! Bring your favourite book to this unique and fun group reading event that happens in spaces not usually associated with written words. Everyone reads aloud simultaneously, creating a soundart installation – it’s a great way to re-discover your loved book in a very special way!
Ali Smith and New European Ensemble
8.00-9.00pm, Friday 30th October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Featuring readings from the author herself, the New European Ensemble from The Netherlands presents a programme of new music written to accompany Scottish author Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet novels. Works by Kate Moore (Australia), Alice Yeung (Hong Kong), Seung-Won Oh (South Korea) and Sara Zamboni (Italy) illuminate the themes present in the novels.
Alistair MacDonald & Darren Gallacher
4.00-5.00pm, Saturday 31st October 2026 – Cowdray Hall
Fascinated by accents and language, Alistair MacDonald presents a new work for percussionist Darren Gallacher and live electronics. In this piece, old Scots words and the composer’s own field recordings serve as both sources of musical material and cues guiding the performer.
WayWORD Festival 