Celebrating their 10th year as the no.1 party of the Fringe, Massaoke is coming to McEwan Hall!   Join Rockstar Weekend, the ‘greatest party band of all time’ according to the Britain’s Got Talent judges, for their biggest and most spectacular show ever – a high-voltage, spandex-clad, crowd-powered, sing-along megamix of the biggest hairbrush anthems from across the decades, live and unleashed with giant video lyrics. This time they are bringing the singing to a whole new level.   Having toured Europe, America and Australia, and played to audiences of thousands at stadiums and festivals across the world, Massaoke has become a truly global phenomenon.   Featuring hits by QUEEN, BON JOVI, KATY PERRY, ABBA, THE KILLERS, GUNS N' ROSES, RIHANNA, AC/DC, ADELE, OASIS, BRYAN ADAMS, GALA, EMINEM, WHITNEY HOUSTON, JOURNEY, MADONNA, DIZZEE RASCAL, BONNIE TYLER and many more...    Crank your air guitars up to 11, and get ready for the best night of your life.   ★★★★★ "Phenomenal" The Scottish Sun "Unforgettable" Edinburgh Guide "Electrifying" Time Out "The euphoria of a mass karaoke sesh with your mates – on steroids” Metro   Please note: Show duration is 90 minutes Thurs/Sunday and 120 minutes Friday/Saturday

Turns out the rumours of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated because Victor and Barry are coming to the Book Festival. Or, that is, Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson are: the comedy geniuses behind the iconic Scottish double act and a hilarious new book, Victor and Barry’s Kelvinside Compendium. The friends – who shot to fame in the 1980s – are now both giants of the stage and screen. Tonight, Jackie Kay leads us down memory lane – and up the garden path via their brand-new book – as they reunite, and reveal how they went from Hillhead hi-jinks to Hollywood stardom.

The world champions of Hip-Hop take us into the depths of a New York speakeasy during the 1920s Prohibition period. Five innocuous mobsters vie for the attention of a voluptuous ‘femme fatale’ to the remixed sounds of Miles Davis, James Brown, Aretha Flanklin and Betty Boop. It’s a world where airy House dance routines flirts with Charleston footsteps, and a delirious jitterbug blends with freestyle hip hop. A festive cocktail of hip hop dances, singing and burlesque, accessible to all audiences.

Hannah is back at the Fringe for the first time since they won the Edinburgh Comedy Award (and an Emmy!) and turned the comedy world on its head in 2017. Now, six years after Nanette dropped on Netflix and propelled Hannah to international stardom, they are learning how to process the world, with all its catastrophes and hypocrisies, from a new perspective and they’re ready to talk about it. From the irrelevant to the existential, Hannah has taken all their worries on the road and their destination is Woof!

This limited run live band lunchtime sing-along show is a dream come true for musicals fans of all ages, raising the curtain on all your favourite hits from stage and screen. Featuring songs from MAMMA MIA, HAMILTON, FROZEN, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, GREASE, DIRTY DANCING, LES MIS, JUNGLE BOOK, WE WILL ROCK YOU, PHANTOM, MARY POPPINS and many more... The entire crowd is the real star of this show, singing together guided by lyrics on a giant screen, accompanied by a brilliant live band. Bring the sing!

When Rob was twelve, they attempted a full-blown Disney parade in their house for their Grandma. As Rob donned wigs and played Mary Poppins, Ariel, Mickey Mouse and Belle, their Dad doubled as Stage Manager, Sound Technician and Goofy.   This is the joyous, chaotic, autobiographical story of actor, writer and social-media sensation Rob Madge as they set out to recreate that parade – and this time, nobody, no, nobody is gonna rain on it.   Olivier Nominee 2023 & Winner of What’s On Stage’s Best Off-West End Production 2022.

Join Alice Oseman, the creator of global smash-hit coming-of-age romance Heartstopper, for a very special in conversation event with Wren James.    Heartstopper follows Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys who meet at grammar school, quickly become friends and fall in love. The story navigates the ups and downs of first loves, friendships, coming out and mental health. The #1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling graphic novels that followed brought this charming love story to even more readers – with Heartstopper Volume 5 instantly becoming the UK’s fastest selling graphic novel ever.

Dolly Alderton is a self-confessed over-sharer. ‘All I want to do is tell everyone everything. I connect with people through the details of life.’ This sharing – of the good, the bad, and the messy bits of living – has become Alderton’s trademark. Her wildly popular debut memoir, Everything I Know About Love, celebrated the sheer joy, romance, and complexity of female friendship, while her follow- up novel, Ghosts, cemented her reputation as one of the sharpest chroniclers of modern times, and modern relationships. In Good Material, Andy – a male comedian who never won the Perrier Award – has just lost the woman who he believed to be the love his life. He’s floundering, broken hearted, and a bit of a dick, to be honest. Join Alderton as she talks about this very modern novel about class and comedy, heartbreak, male friendship, and why you should always seek to find the other side of the story.

With the General Election looming (or at least the possibility of its announcement), the political news cycle is in overdrive: each day brings drama, often with mishandlings directly attributed to those who should know better. James O’Brien, one of Britain’s leading broadcasters, reaches 1.4 million people weekly through his lunchtime show on LBC. Renowned for his blistering analysis and critique, he’s among the fiercest critics of contemporary Britain's management by our current crop of political leaders. How They Broke Britain is his forensic takedown of the key figures responsible for the UK’s current mess. He’s even updating it exclusively this month to ensure Rishi Sunak can take his place among them (with a chapter longer than Truss’s, but shorter than Murdoch’s). O’Brien systematically connects the dots to damning effect, urging us to demand better as we examine our expectations from 21st-century politicians. Expect sparks to fly as Assistant Editor of the Spectator Isabel Hardman takes the interviewing hot seat.

Through his memoir and fiction, Matt Haig has changed the way we talk about mental health. He is one of the most empathetic writers of our time, and in Reasons to Stay Alive, opened the door to his own battles with anxiety and depression, bringing millions of readers with him on a deeply personal journey. He is also one of our most popular, selling more than 9 million copies of The Midnight Library and delighting readers worldwide with his insight and compassion. Matt presents his new novel, The Life Impossible, in this very special event as part of our key festival strand, How to Live a Meaningful Life. In conversation with award-winning writer Chitra Ramaswamy, he shares his exhilarating new story of resilience and renewal.

While researching her more than 30 bestselling novels on Tudor history, Philippa Gregory learned that it was only when women did something properly outrageous or above her station that they made it into the history books. So, she sought to change it. Normal Women is Gregory’s epic new work of non-fiction – a decade in the making – which takes the usual portrayals of women as mothers, criminals, or occasionally queens and redefines what is expected as ‘normal’ for women – to include heroism, rebellion, money-making, sainthood, and a considerable amount of rioting in their daily exploits. Gregory will talk to Val McDermid about how she rewrote 900 years of history and ushered in the regular women who deserved to be in the pages.

A new Richard Osman book is an event, so the announcement that there would be a brand-new series set millions of readers into a frenzy. And in a worldwide exclusive, he’s choosing to launch that new series at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival.   With the beloved cast of Thursday Murder Club on a brief hiatus ‘to just relax, kick back, and rejuvenate’, Osman takes to the Book Festival stage to introduce us to Amy and Steve Wheeler, the first father and daughter in law detective combo in crime writing history (we think). Hear multimillion selling Osman chatting to crime-writing legend Ian Rankin about killers, cats, and how sometimes, just when you think you know where you’re headed, life has other plans.

In August 2022, literary luminary Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage as he delivered a talk on artistic freedom and writers in exile – more than 30 years after a Fatwa was issued on his life. In a very rare interview, as part of our McEwan series of events, we are honoured to present Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder – his intimate and arresting account of the day of the attack and its aftermath. ‘“This was a necessary book for me to write: a way to take charge of what happened, and to answer violence with art,’” Rushdie says of this extraordinary book. While Salman Rushdie will appear remotely, Mishal Husain, leading broadcaster and host of BBC’s Today programme, will appear on-stage alongside special guests who will help illuminate his extraordinary career as one of the most beloved, and incendiary, novelists of our time.