Cold Turkey's Honey Roast Hope

A festive fandango of words & music with: Hollie McNish, Withered Hand, Michael Pedersen, Gemma Cairney & Special Guest TBA.

Cold Turkey is a scrumptious festive buffet of music, spoken word, and arty weirdness. This is the mouth-watering eighth serving.

Cold Turkey was founded as a collective in 2017 by Michael Pedersen, Scott Hutchison, Hollie McNish & Withered Hand. Since Scott’s leaving, Michael, Hollie & Dan/WH have been joined by special guests such as: Kae Tempest, Kathryn Joseph, Paul Smith (Maximo Park) & more. The sleigh sails on in tribute and for the love of it.

Books on the night by Lighthouse Books!

Charity Collection on the night!

******SPECIAL GUESTS TBA***********

Hollie McNish:
is a Ted Hughes Award winning poet, a Sunday Times Bestselling author, and the first poet to record a poetry album in London’s Abbey Road Studios. Having published some six superb books, she’s sold out theatres of the scale of Hackney Empire and Liverpool Playhouse, penned a contemporary adaptation of Sophocles’ Athenian tragedy Antigone, and counts amongst her fans Jodie Comer, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and Lemn Sissay. Her recent book, Virgin, comes out in October 2025, and her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Japanese, and more. She really loves writing.

Michael Pedersen:
is a prize-winning author, a former Writer in Residence at Edinburgh University and the Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate). His prose debut, Boy Friends, was a Sunday Times Critics Choice and shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction at Scotland’s National Book Awards. His third poetry collection, The Cat Prince, won the Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry 2023. Pedersen has also been shortlisted for the Forward Prizes for Poetry and won a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. His work has been praised by the likes of Stephen Fry, Shirley Manson, Irvine Welsh & many more. His new novel, Muckle Flugga, was published in 2025 by Faber & Faber to rave reviews.

Withered Hand:
is Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter Dan Willson. Alongside activity with his band, Dan is a well-travelled solo musician with a cult following since the release of his debut ‘Good News’ in 2009. The release of a strident second album ‘New Gods’ in 2014 propelled Withered Hand into the charts, featuring album appearances by friends, luminaries and supporters from the Scottish music scene, including members of Belle & Sebastian, Frightened Rabbit, The Vaselines, King Creosote and more. His sublime follow-up album How to Love (2023) was critically acclaimed, and 2024 saw him release a collaboration album with the ace Kathryn Williams, which was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year 2024.

Gemma Cairney:
is an award-winning broadcaster, youth rights activist and author who is passionate about empowering people. Gemma presented BBC Radio 1’s Social Action Show, The Surgery for a number of years and regularly presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Fronting specialist series and depping the Early Breakfast and Weekend Breakfast Shows. She has authored a number of awardwinning radio and television documentaries. She has written for, edited, and contributed to The Pool, The Guardian, Red, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, The Debrief, and Elle. Her new book, The Immortal Sisterhood, will be released with Canongate Books in 2026.

******SPECIAL GUESTS TBA***********

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Host or Publisher Hollie McNish & Michael Pedersen