The renowned US poet Billy Collins will be appearing at the Edinburgh Book Festival during August, as part of a stellar poetry lineup at the festival, that also includes Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage, Paul Muldoon, Michael Longley, Robin Robertson, Liz Lochhead, Jackie Kay, and Paul Farley. Collins will be appearing on Tuesday 19 August at the ScottishPower Foundation Studio reading from Aimless Love, his first collection of new and selected poems for 12 years, which includes more than 50 new poems.

Carol Ann Duffy is reaching the halfway point in her 10-year post as poet laureate, and is at the centre of a major exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh this summer. She has written 16 new poems, presented in a new book, and, with musical support from John Sampson, will read a selection of her poems, including some powerful reflections on the first world war. 

Jackie Kay will introduce Sweet Potato and Callaloo, Voices from the Caribbean diaspora, and will be joined by Guyanese writer and poet Sasenarine Persaud, British-born performance poet Dorothea Smartt, British-born writer and performance artist Malika Booker, and Jamaican poet Millicent AA Graham. 

Also on the packed book festival poetry bill are the former archbishop of Canterbury and accomplished poet, Rowan Williams, Patience Agbabi, Jen Hadfield, David Harsent, Douglas Dunn, and Ruth Padel.

There’s performance poetry at the book festival, too, including Luke Wright’s new show, Fat Dandy, on Saturday 16 August, Baillie Gifford Corner theatre, 7-8pm. Fat Dandy looks at solitude, politics and Wright's dual life as a "paunchy dad" and "jobbing fop" on tour.