The inaugural OUT: Scotland’s Queer Book Festival takes place on 17th October 2026 at the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum. The event will see LGBTQ+ authors, writers and poets come together for the first Queer Book Festival to be held in Scotland.
The festival is open to all and tickets will be available for the various events on Monday 25th May.
OUT is a partnership between Stirling Pride and The Book Nook Stirling.
Image by Shaw & Shaw
Jackie Kay
in Conversation With Nicola Meighan
7pm - 8pm
Join the incredible Jackie Kay as she discusses her life, work and connections to Stirling with broadcaster Nicola Meighan.
Jackie Kay was born to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father in Edinburgh on 9 November 1961, and was adopted as a baby by Helen and John Kay, who had already adopted a boy, Maxwell. The family lived in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, where John worked for the Communist Party of Great Britain, and Helen was the Scottish secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Kay has drawn on her unconventional upbringing in her poetry, and described it with humour and great affection in her autobiographical account of the search for her birth parents, Red Dust Road (2010), which she has called a ‘love letter’ to her adoptive parents.
Nicola Meighan is a music journalist and broadcaster who regularly writes for The Herald and presents music / arts shows on BBC Radio Scotland. She has contributed to MOJO, Q Magazine, The Big Issue, The Quietus, BBC Radio 4, Radio 1, 6Music and STV. Prior to this, she worked at Mute records (Nick Cave, Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode), D-E-F artist management (Moby, Robyn, The Knife), for Scotland's Triptych festival, and at much-missed Glasgow arts hub, the Arches.
The History Panel
Anthony Delaney
Gareth Russell
HRH Aphrodite I
4pm - 5pm
Anthony Delaney, Gareth Russell and HRH Aphrodite I talk all things history from Queen James VI to Queer Georgians to historical Drag Tales.
Dr Anthony Delaney is an award-winning historian, broadcaster, actor and presenter known for bringing compelling historical stories to life across page, screen, stage and audio. Originally from Kilkenny, Ireland, he trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and holds a PhD in 18th-century social and cultural history from the University of Exeter, where he is now an Honorary Fellow. His areas of expertise include the history of gender and sexuality, crime and punishment, the transatlantic slave trade, the history of medicine, and monarchy. Anthony’s accessible, narrative and engaging approach to history has earned him recognition including ‘Rookie of the Year’ at the CrimeCon True Crime Awards and nominations for ‘Best New Presenter’ and ‘Listeners’ Choice at the UK ARIA Awards and British Podcast Awards respectively.
Gareth Russell is a Northern Irish historian, author, and broadcaster. Educated at St Peter’s College, Oxford, and Queen’s University, Belfast, he specialises in European and royal history. Young and Damned and Fair, his biography of Queen Catherine Howard, was based on his postgraduate research and was published to critical acclaim in 2017. His account of the Titanic disaster, The Ship of Dreams, was a Daily Telegraph Best History Book (2019). Do Let’s Have Another Drink, his affectionate biography of the late Queen Mother, was named a Book of the Year (2022) by The Times. In 2023, his bestselling The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of History at Hampton Court was named a BBC History Book of the Year. His most recent book is a biography of James VI & I. Praised as “a stellar example of how to write historical biography,” it was published in February 2025 in the UK and Ireland as Queen James (a contemporary nickname for James).
H.R.H. Aphrodite I is a London-based award-winning queer drag artist, historian and zine maker known for staging "heritage drag" and interactive historical performances. As a multidisciplinary performer, she blends cabaret with research on LGBTQIA+ history, fashion, and popular culture, frequently appearing at venues like The Divine and major cultural institutions.
OUT: Scotland’s Queer Book Festival
17th October 2026
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum