22 October, 6pm, Wells Festival of Literature
2 September, 3pm, Nairn Book Festival
21 August, 1200, Edinburgh International Book Festival – chairing Helen Pilcher & Nick Barber on the mind-body connection
22 July, 4pm, Buxton International Festival
4-9 June, Barcelona – International Conference on Humanism in Medicine
May 15, Paisley Book Festival (with Devi Sridhar)
May 9, Boswell Book Festival (with Allan Little)
May 4, 7pm, The Compassion Salon – Edinburgh
May 3 11.30, Hexham Book Festival
April 1, Atlas University Istanbul – Medicine & Literature
March 29, 2pm Oxford Literary Festival – in conversation with Henry Marsh
March 14, 1pm, Curious Minds Festival, Bath
March 13, 5pm, Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival
March 10, The Wee Bookshop, Dollar, with Sally Magnusson
March 5 – Peninsula GP Trainers Conference, St Ives – on John Berger’s A Fortunate Man.
February 13, 6.30pm, Wellcome Trust (Euston), ‘Landscapes of the Mind’, with Micha Frazer-Carroll and Natasha Devon
February 11 2026, 7.30pm Toppings St Andrews – with Dr Keith Taylor
November 22, Inverness – Rural GP conference
November 17 2025 Pentlands Book Festival
October 15, Paula Cooper Gallery, 534 W 21st St, Manhattan; New York Review of Books ‘Set Your Sights’
September 16, 7pm Waterstones Kirkcaldy
August 10-23; Edinburgh International Book Festival:
5 July UlisseFest, Ancona, Italy
20 May, 7.30pm, The Wee Bookshop, Dollar
3 April, 6pm: Oxford Literary Festival; The Bridge Between Worlds
3 April, 2pm: Oxford Literary Festival; with Iona Heath in conversation about John Berger.
6 February 7pm: Van Mildert College, Durham
30 January 7.30pm The Bridge Between Worlds, Berwick upon Tweed
28 January, 7pm, Dalgety Bay Library
27 January – 7pm. Edinburgh: The Compassion Salon. With Roxani Krystalli
24 November 1pm, Cove & Kilcreggan Book Festival
24 September 7pm, Royal Scots Club Edinburgh (Toppings)
16 September, 7pm, Toppings St Andrews
10 September, 7pm, Bridges launch, Portobello Books
26-27 June, 50 Years of Oliver Sacks’s Awakenings, Dublin
16 June, Solas Festival
29 May 10am, Hay Festival
12 April, 1.30pm, Boswell Book Festival (with Allan Little)
25 March 7pm – Scottish Writers in support of Palestine (Roxy Assembly, Edinburgh)
16 March 2pm, Oxford Literary Festival
5 March 4.30pm ‘Health Systems under Pressure’ – Conference: The Grand Challenges in Health Data, Leeds
15 February 6.30pm Covid & Convalescence, Orkney Library (Kirkwall)
8 February – Midlands NHS Trust – Recovery & Avoiding Burnout (online)
23 Jan Round Table discussion on the future of Primary Care, Portcullis House, Westminster
13 Jan NHS SOS – Wellcome Trust event with Michael Rosen & Elizabeth Anionwu
29 September – 6pm – Wigtown Festival
12 September – FREE FOR ALL Toppings St Andrews
31 August – Launch event FREE FOR ALL – Toppings, Edinburgh
28 August – Edinburgh Book Festival – with Devi Sridar on the NHS
22 August – with Katherine Rundell on John Donne – Edinburgh Book Festival
16 August – Edinburgh Book Festival (on Thomas Browne)
17 June – Solas Festival, Errol, Perthshire
28 May – National Centre for Writing, Norwich (on Sir Thomas Browne)
23rd May – 7.30pm Toppings Edinburgh – on Sir Thomas Browne
13 May – Medicine Unboxed, London
6 May – Ullapool Book Festival, with Jeane Freeman and Linda Bauld
25 March, Wintering Well, Seasonal Effective Disorder discussion, Glasgow.
8 February – online with Katherine May, author of ‘Wintering’ and ‘Enchantment’
7 February – 7pm Assisted Dying – debate on the proposed bill before Scottish Parliament, with Liam McArthur MSP. University of Edinburgh.
1 February – A celebration of Robert Burns – 5pm Deichman Library, Oslo, with Kathleen Jamie and Roseanne Watt
21 January – 9am, Recovery – a presentation to Hospital Lusíadas, Lisbon, Portugal (online)
3 September, 3.30pm Dandelion Festival Inverness (Recovery)
1 September 2pm – Nairn Festival
31 August – Guest Speaker Moniack Mhor non-fiction course
27 August, 5.30pm Edinburgh International Book Festival (Recovery)
10 August, Fringe By the Sea (Intensive Care & Recovery)
22 June, 6pm St Magnus Festival Orkney (Intensive Care)
16 June, 7.30pm Borders Book Festival
8-12 June – Procida Festival – Italian Capital of Culture (Island Dreams)
5 June – 5pm, Humanitas University, Milano, Italy
26 March Oxford Literary Festival (in person) St Cross College 4pm
17 March, 8pm Toppings Edinburgh (in person)
5 March Trieste Book Festival (Isole – cartografia di un sogno)
20 January, Explore Wellcome (online) with Sam Guglani & Havi Carel
27 November 2pm, Cove & Kilcreggan Festival – with Melanie Reid
7 November 11am, Gravity Festival – Intensive Care (online & in person)
28 October, Faclan 2021, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis 8.15 pm (Island Dreams)
14 October, 6pm, Berwick Literary Festival (online)
11 October, Liverpool Literary Festival / Scouse Science Podcast – 1.30pm Liverpool Science Park
3 October, 11am, Portbello Book Festival – in person with John Budd of the Edinburgh Access Practice
19 September – Wordplay in Shetland – Mareel, Lerwick, 8.30pm
22 August – Edinburgh International Book Festival – 4pm
15 August – Fringe By The Sea – North Berwick – 1pm
12 August – Seall Literary Festival, Skye
31 July – 2.45pm – East Anglia Festival
12 June 1600 – Boswell Book Festival – with Amanda Owen & Sally Magnusson
16 May Aye Write – with Madeleine Bunting
28 April – Institute for the Advances Study of the Humanities, Edinburgh, and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
13 March – Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival
Saturday 27 February, Orkney Library
Thursday 25 Feb, 7pm Wellcome Trust – with Louise Welsh [Intensive Care]
Wednesday 10 Feb, 7pm Wigtown Wednesdays Festival [Intensive Care]
Monday 1 Feb, 11am, Stanfords Travel Writing Festival [Island Dreams]
October… Big Scottish Book Club, BBC Scotland, with Damian Barr.
October 7, Cheltenham Festival – 4pm
October 3, Portobello Book Festival
August 13 – 5.30pm. Creative Conversations with Publishing Scotland & University of Glasgow:
Writing the Ground Beneath Our Feet – with Kathleen Jamie, Mandy Haggith, & Sue Red Sexton
Originally set for 24 March The Compassion Salon, 8pm, Leith has been reset to Wednesday 10 June 4pm (in partnership with Royal Society for the Arts online) Book through the link.
5 February The Enigma of Life: Confronting Marvels at the Edges of Science.
November 23, Cove & Kilcreggan Book Festival, 12 noon.
November 9, Mallaig Book Festival, 6pm
October 5 Portobello Book Festival, 3.30pm
July 6, Russian Launch of Metamorphozy, 3pm, Bookvoed, St Petersburg (Nevsky Prospekt 46)
June 22 Warsaw, Poland – Big Book Festival
June 9 (Sunday) 2.30pm. Connect with Nature Festival, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh
May 10 Turin Book Fair – International Hall & Mastio della Citadella
April 7-11 – Netherlands – series of events for launch of Shapeshifters / Gedaanteverwisselaars
March 16 – Words by the Water, Cumbria
February 12, 6.30pm, Waterstones West End – Paperback Launch of Shapeshifters
February 7 – Edinburgh Medical School
Jan 31st, 7pm Wellcome Trust, chairing ‘The Sun & Us’ – on sunlight and health
Jan 1: Christmas University Challenge, representing Edinburgh. BBC2, 8.30pm
2-8 November, Kalimat Festival
– Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem
Thursday 11 October 2018, Holyrood Festival of Politics, Scottish Parliament: The NHS at 70 – Unsustainable? 1700-1830
Carisle Borderlines Book Festival, Saturday 6 October, 12 noon.
Wigtown Book Festival, Saturday 22nd September, 6pm
Nairn Book Festival, Saturday 15 September, 1.45pm
Monday 27 August, Edinburgh Book Festival – contributor to Freedom Finale
Saturday 11th August, Edinburgh Book Festival
Wednesday July 18, 7pm, Glasgow Skeptics, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow
Sunday 15 July, 2.30pm, Buxton Book Festival
Thursday 7 July, 7pm, Orkney Library, Stromness, Orkney
Sunday 17 June, 5.15pm, Borders Book Festival, Melrose
Thursday 7 June, St Andrews, Waterstones
June: month-long Shapeshifters Exhibition, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh
Monday 28 May, Hay-on-Wye
Sunday 27 May, 12.30, Charleston Festival, Lewes, Sussex
Saturday 26 May, 12.30, 5×15, with Rachel Clarke, Suzanne O’Sullivan, Aarathi Prasad, & Jack Hartnell Norfolk & Norwich Festival
Thursday 17 May, Explore Wellcome, Euston Road, London
Thursday 10 May, Explore Wellcome, Euston Road, London
Thurs 26 May, ‘Shapeshifters’ public launch, Edinburgh Central Library 6.30pm
March 10, BBC Free Thinking Festival, Gateshead
Feb 3rd, 11am, Linlithgow Book Festival
Jan 26th, LOVAH conference, Utrecht
Jan 18th 6pm Kelvin Hall Lecture Theatre, Glasgow
‘An Anatomy of Curiosity, a personal tour of Edinburgh University’s Anatomical collections’
Jan 12 Chairing Sir Michael Marmot on Health, Status & Inequality
Playfair Library, Edinburgh, 5pm (free)
4-5 November Krasnoyarsk Book Fair, Russia
2 November, Public Lecture, ‘Literature & Science in Medicine’, Nekrasov Library, Moscow – 7.30pm
2 November, Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, On Translations of Adventures in Human Being, 11am
Wed 30 August – Guest speaker, Moniack Mhor
Wed 23 August – Is Literature Healthy? hosting discussion at Edinburgh International Book Festival
Monday 15 May, International School of Biophysics Conference, Erice, Sicily.
Keynote: ‘Communicating Wonder in Science’
Saturday 6th May, Ullapool Book Festival, 11.30
Thursday 30 March, University of Edinburgh
Adventures in Medicine & Literature, 7pm Appleton Tower Lecture Theatre 5 (free)
30 January, The legacy of Sir Thomas Browne, 6.30pm:
Royal College of Physicians, London, in conversation with Professor Claire Preston
12 January 12 noon Symposium Hall, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
28 November, Caixa Forum, 19.00 Zaragoza, Espana
19-20 November, Medicine Unboxed, Cheltenham
10 November, West of Scotland Faculty, Royal College of General Practitioners, Radisson Hotel, Glasgow; ‘A Fortunate Profession’
2 November, DICIM, Almere, The Netherlands
17 October, Sheridan Memorial Lecture, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (US)
13 September – Abraham Verghese & Gavin Francis on Medicine & Literature; Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh 6pm
10-11 September Mantova Book Festival (Italy)
AUGUST – EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL BOOK FESTIVAL
GUEST SELECTOR:
Medicine & Literature – Synergies
14th 11am, Reading Workshop on Oliver Sacks
22nd 2pm, Jim Doty & John Gillies on Compassion
22nd 5.45 pm Poetry & Medicine with Scottish Poetry Library
23rd 7.15pm In Discussion with Iain Bamforth & Allan Little, discussing medicine & literature
24th 1145 – Mindfulness with Ruby Wax
24th 2pm – with Eula Biss & Chitra Ramaswamy
28 June 6.30pm TEDx Salon on Compassion & Courage, Royal Society of Edinburgh, George St, Edinburgh
15 May (Sunday) 1430 Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Teviot Place, Edinburgh
9 May, (Sunday) Boswell Book Festival, Dumfries House
17 March 7pm (Thursday) Oakley Library, Fife
6 March, (Sunday) 2pm, Words on the Water, Keswick
Wednesday 2 March, Careers Hive (for school students) – National Museum of Scotland, Science Festival
29th Feb (Monday) 7pm, 5×15, The Tabernacle, London
25 February (Thursday) 6.30pm Waterstones Sauchiehall St Glasgow
18 February (Thursday) 6.30pm Waterstones St Andrews
13 February (saturday), 4pm Pitlochry Book Festival (with Malachy Tallack)
11 February (thursday) – Dundee Library 6.30pm
7 February, 4pm Amsterdam – Scheltema Book Store (Dutch launch of Adventures in Human Being)
22 January, Jaipur Literary Festival, India –
with Atul Gawande & Aarathi Prasad
28-29 November Cambridge Literary Festival
13 November, 5pm, Mansfield College, Oxford
10 November 7pm Edinburgh Central Library
30-31st October – Hebridean Faclan Festival, Stornoway – with Henry Marsh & Stephen Grosz
25th October Dundee Book Festival – with Professor Sue Black
10 October Wells Festival, 5.30pm
10 October Cheltenham, with Adam Rutherford & Ian Jenkins 12.30pm
1st October Wigtown Book Festival
26 September 2.30 Write on Kew – Kew Gardens
30th August 2.30pm Edinburgh Book Festival – Reading Workshop on A RFortunate Man
29th August 12.30 Edinburgh Book Festival
Sunday 2 August, Enniskillen Beckett Festival (with Marion Coutts)
30th July 6pm, Waterstones West End, Edinburgh
6th July 7.30pm, Stromness Town Hall, Orkney (free entry)
13th June 6.15pm, Borders Book Festival
30th May, 7pm, Hay-on-Wye
28th May, Wellcome Trust, Euston Road, London
27th May, 7pm, London Review of Books Bookshop, Bloomsbury
26th May, 7pm Looking Glass Books, Edinburgh
14th May, 8pm, Toppings St Andrews
10 May TEDx Portobello ’Seeing Things Differently’
London Salon, Proud Archivist: 2-10 Hertford Rd N1 5ET – 6th May
Aye Write, Glasgow – 25th April 2015
Royal College of Art, London, 17th April 2pm (on A Fortunate Man)
Science Festival, Summerhall, 8pm 14th April
Past events: Bhutan Mountain Echoes Lahore Literary Festival Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Hay International Festival, Dundee Literary Festival, Bath Literary Festival, Words on the Water – Cumbria, Aye Write – Glasgow, University of St Andrews, Hay Winter Weekend, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scott Polar Research Institute, Borders Book Festival, East Neuk Festival, Harrogate Literary Lectures