Festival 2025
The To Absent Friends festival takes place across Scotland from 1-7 November 2025.
It is an opportunity to remember, to tell stories, to celebrate and to reminisce about people we love who have died. To Absent Friends, a People’s Festival of Storytelling and Remembrance is an opportunity to revive lost traditions and create new ones.
Below is a list of the events taking place around Scotland and online.
Imprints
Organised by Tortoise in a Nutshell
Heart of Newhaven Community, Newhaven, Edinburgh
Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th November
Performances every 25 minutes from 10:30am - 3pm
These performances are open to the public. 1-2 people at a time.
Imprints by Tortoise in a Nutshell
A record spins.
A drawer pulls out.
A letter, a photograph — a butterfly beats its wings.
How do we remember the ones we’ve lost? The sights, touches, and sounds that created thousands of shared moments — the collage of a unique and brilliant person.
An intimate, interactive performance experience, Imprints shares stories inspired by real-life memories, woven together to create the story of a life. The piece explores what it means to be human — the brilliance, humour, and care that connect us.
A short-form performance for one or two people at a time, Imprints is staged around a single writing desk. From this structure, a performer unveils a world of hidden objects. A kinetic installation of curated remembrance is built before the viewer, exploring the moments and items that stay with us — the fragments that together express the complexity and vibrance of an individual, of a life well lived.
Created through a series of practical workshops with individuals and groups who have experienced loss, Imprints is a celebration of people — and of how we remember them.
Death Café (Online)
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Organised by Curious Mortals.
Taking place online (MS Teams).
Tuesday 11 November, 7:30pm-8:30pm.
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Let’s break the taboo, and talk about Death! This event is an informal space to talk with others about something which affects us all… so boil the kettle, raid the biscuit tin and come and join the conversation!
Please note that this is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session. Everyone is welcome.
More information: https://curiousmortals.co.uk/past-and-future-events
Register: Click here to register
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash
Death Cafe: Putting the tea into mortality
Organised by Humanist Society Scotland
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, Glasgow
Sunday 9th November, 1pm - 3pm
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Putting the tea into mortality! If a chat about life’s end over coffee and cake doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, hopefully I will convince you otherwise.
Learn all about Death Cafes, what they are, how they work, and why they are good for us.
All are welcome. Just come along, or let us know you are coming by booking your free place via Glasgow Humanists Meetup Group:
https://www.meetup.com/glasgow-humanists/events/311793274/
Kindly supported by Humanist Society Scotland
Records for Remembrance
Organised by the QMU Bereavement Charter Working Group
Queen Margaret University, Lower Atrium
3-7 November
This activity is for the QMU community.
As part of the To Absent Friends Festival 2025, members of the QMU Bereavement Charter working group have organised a creative opportunity for students and staff within the university to remember those important to them who have died.
To Absent Friends Festival, held across Scotland from 1-7 November each year, is a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance - because dead ordinary people live on in the memories and stories we share.
From the 3rd to 7th November, you are invited to visit a ‘pop-up record shop’ (in the lower-level atrium) and write a message on a vinyl record. The message could relate to a song title, a lyric or a piece of music that connects you to memories of someone who has died or reminds you of an Absent Friend. There may be a record in the ‘record shop’ that brings back additional memories!
QMU and St Columba’s Hospice Care have a long-standing relationship. The songs and music will be collated and added to the St Columba’s Hospice Care Spotify playlist.
Photo credit: Eric Krull on Unsplash
Open Mic Night Delight
Organised by North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
St Columba’s Cafe, North Berwick
Friday 7 November, 7-9pm.
This activity is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Poet and former Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery will host an open mic evening next Friday, from 7pm to 9pm at St Columba’s Café.
This offers a chance for people to share poems, memories, stories or reflections of their absent friends.
Please book your place by emailing admin@nbc-communityconnections.org.
Image credit: North Berwick Coastal Community Connections
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