New Writers Showcase Tickets – Thursday 12 February 2026

Date: Thursday 12 February 2026

Location: Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED  

Join Gemma Cairney for readings from our 2025 New Writers Awardees, then take their words home with our New Writing sampler.

Every year, the New Writers Awards spotlight an amazing array of new writing talent in Scotland. Now is your chance to hear the 2025 Awardees read from their own work at our fabulous showcase.

On the night

Doors will open at 7pm. After the readings you are welcome to stay for drinks in the Traverse Theatre bar until 11pm.

Masks are welcome.

Lift access is available and accessible seats can be reserved – please select whether you need accessible seating when you purchase your ticket so we can facilitate your seating reservation with the front of house team. The Traverse Theatre have listed their available facilities and access information on their website.

Directions for travel are also available on the Traverse Theatre’s website.

You will be able to buy books from previous and current Awardees on the night, thanks to help from the incredible Lighthouse Books and Gaelic Books Council.

Spotlighting our new writers

The prestigious judging panel had the hard task of selecting our talented Awardees from hundreds of entries.

Our panellists for 2025 included respected writers Ashley Hickson-Lovence and Camilla Grudova on Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction, Joelle Taylor and Jay Gao on Poetry, Thomas Clark and Ely Percy on Scots, as well as Serena Patel and T.L. Huchu on Children’s and YA and Cat Hepburn and Tolu Agbelusi on Spoken Word. The Gaelic Books Council selects the Gaelic New Writers Awardees.

Photos by Kat Gollock.

The New Writers Awards is more broadly supported by Creative Scotland, the William Grant Foundation and the Dr David Summers Charitable Trust.