Edinburgh International Book Festival 2021

From its beginning in 1983, the Edinburgh International Book Festival grew to stage over 900 events every August, attracting around 250,000 visits, making it the largest public celebration of the written word in the world.

Up until 2020, the Book Festival took place in a specially built tented Festival village in Charlotte Square Gardens, in the heart of Edinburgh. Discussion, performance and interactive events have become prominent features of the Festival, complementing the more traditional interview-style conversations and readings, and contributing to the Book Festival’s reputation as a powerful forum for the public to exchange views with writers and experts on a wide range of issues: social, ethical and political as well as literary and cultural. At the heart of the Book Festival’s activity is an integrated approach to creative learning and education, with the aim of expanding participation in democratic discussion, fostering a love of reading and developing engaged, knowledgeable audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Building on the success of 2020’s fully online Festival, 2021 opens up a new chapter: a long-term strategic partnership with the University of Edinburgh gives the Book Festival a new central location at the Edinburgh College of Art and presents the opportunity to reimagine an exciting hybrid Festival for the future. The range of distinctive indoor spaces and the grassy outdoor courtyard offers the Book Festival the facilities to build broadcasting studios for digital events and a range of flexible spaces for audiences to enjoy live and screened events in-person.