Edinburgh International Book Festival: Books, Debate and the Festival City

Alongside the theatre, music and comedy of an Edinburgh August runs a quieter but no less lively festival of ideas. The Edinburgh International Book Festival brings writers and readers together for two weeks of talks, conversations and debate, and it gives the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature a stage of its own during the busiest month of the year. It began in 1983 in a tent, spent most of its history in marquees in a New Town garden square and today is based on the site of Edinburgh’s former Royal Infirmary, but its purpose has stayed constant: books as a public conversation, open to all. For travellers on our Edinburgh Festival Fringe small group tour, it offers a different way into the festival city.

Why Edinburgh needed a book festival

By the early 1980s Edinburgh’s August already had festivals of music, opera, dance, film and theatre, among them the International Festival, founded in 1947, but nothing devoted to literature. The Edinburgh International Book Festival was created in 1983 to fill that gap. The first festival took place in a tent, with around 30 events, and for its early years it was held every two years. In August 1997 it became an annual event, and by 2002, a record year, it drew around 160,000 visitors. Our overview of how Edinburgh’s August festivals grew places the Book Festival among the city’s other festivals.

Charlotte Square Gardens: more than three decades under canvas

For most of its history the Book Festival lived in marquees in Charlotte Square Gardens, inside the Georgian square that Robert Adam designed for the western end of the New Town. From 2017 the festival also spread onto neighbouring George Street. The setting gave it an unusual character among Edinburgh’s festivals: a temporary village of tents in the heart of the planned Georgian city.

The Charlotte Square era ended with the 2019 festival. In 2020 the in-person festival was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic and some events moved online. From 2021 to 2023 the Book Festival was held at Edinburgh College of Art, its first change of home since 1983.

A new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute

In 2024 the Book Festival moved to the Edinburgh Futures Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh, on the site of the former Royal Infirmary in Lauriston Place. The festival described the arrangement as a long-term strategic partnership and a new permanent home, giving it more capacity and venues, space for in-person and livestreamed events, room for socialising, and scope to develop its adult, children’s and schools programmes. It also cited the festival’s “open to all” philosophy.

Are the Edinburgh International Book Festival venues accessible?

Accessibility was one of the reasons given for the move to the Edinburgh Futures Institute. The festival committed to maintaining high standards of accessibility, with accessible indoor venues and outdoor areas. Some events take place at nearby venues, so check the festival’s own venue information before you go.

A festival of conversation and debate

A book festival works differently from a theatre festival. Many of its events are conversations: a writer talking about a new book with a chair, reading from it and taking questions from the audience, or a panel debating ideas raised by several books at once. The scale is international. In 2016, for example, more than 800 authors and other participants from over 55 countries took part across 17 days. The result is less a series of performances than a public forum, in which fiction, history, politics, science and poetry are discussed in the same rooms.

How is the Book Festival different from the Fringe?

The Book Festival is programmed by the festival itself, while the Fringe is open access. The Fringe Society does not choose who performs, so the Fringe programme is made up of anyone who has secured a venue; the Book Festival invites the writers who appear and shapes the programme around them. The Book Festival also runs for about two weeks each August, compared with the Fringe’s three, and its events are mostly talks and conversations rather than performances.

A city of literature

The Book Festival is the most visible annual expression of Edinburgh’s literary identity. In 2004 UNESCO designated Edinburgh the world’s first City of Literature, the founding member of what is now an international network. The festival is also strongly local: in 2025 it again welcomed around 160,000 visitors, and Festivals Edinburgh reports that 52 per cent of its audience lived in Edinburgh itself. For readers who want to see more of the city, our guide to Edinburgh’s main sights is a good starting point.

Is the Book Festival only for adults?

No. A children’s programme runs alongside the main festival, with workshops, storytelling, panels, author events and book signings, and it is described as one of the world’s largest books and reading events for young people. Schools events are part of the programme too.

Books and the festival on a small group tour

The tour reflects Edinburgh’s literary side as well as its stages. On the second day, after an orientation walk with the Program Leader, the group visits Blackwell’s bookshop in the early evening. Tickets to four Fringe performances are included, with selections confirmed once the programme is published, and visits to the National Galleries of Scotland and the National Museum of Scotland are part of the itinerary. Book Festival events are not included, but the two free days give you time to book talks yourself when the festivals overlap. The tour is graded Level 1, Introductory to Moderate, with around 3 to 5 kilometres of walking a day, some of it on uneven surfaces.

For more of the city beyond the festivals, our guide to places to visit in Edinburgh off the beaten track suggests quieter corners, and our country spotlight on Scotland sets the capital in its national context. To experience Edinburgh in August, with tickets arranged and a Program Leader on hand, join our nine-day Fringe tour, which travels with up to 16 travellers; solo travellers are always welcome.