Muriel Spark to be honoured as event opens new venues
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is to name a venue after the celebrated author Dame Muriel Spark to mark the centenary of her birth in the event’s biggest expansion.
The 330-capacity Spark Theatre will be located at the west end of George Street as part of an extra “Book Festival village” aimed at relieving pressure on Charlotte Square Gardens, its long-time home.
The event, which will spill out on to the thoroughfare for the second year in a row, is also boosting the capacity of its two biggest venues in the garden after years of resisting audience demand.
As well as launching the new Spark Theatre, the festival will be staging the first performance of the late writer’s only play, Doctors of Philosophy, in the UK since 1962 and has lined up several other events to celebrate her anniversary.
The Principal Hotel on Charlotte Square will become a venue this year when it plays to host to a gathering of more than 40 comic book authors and artists on the opening weekend, while events will also be held in an expanded bookshop on George Street.
The Central Library in the Old Town will also be deployed for a special event, The Hidden, which will encourage audiences to explore its corridors, shelves and collections.
The capacity of the Baillie Gifford Main Theatre will be raised from 600 to 750, while a bigger Spiegeltent will be able to accommodate up to 280.