After 37 years, book festival to leave home
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is to quit its long-time home in Charlotte Square Gardens and move to Edinburgh College of Art’s historic home from this year.
Organisers have announced a new “longterm partnership” with Edinburgh University, and the impact of the pandemic is said to have been the “driving force” behind the move to relocate the event after 37 years.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival is to quit its long-time home in Charlotte Square Gardens and move to Edinburgh College of Art from this year.
Organisers have announced a new “long-term partnership” with Edinburgh University, which runs the art school, in the wake of mounting criticism over the impact of the event on the New Town site.
However, the impact of the pandemic is said to have been the “driving force” behind the move to relocate the event after 37 years.
The festival, which has featured more than 900 events in recent years, plans to recreate its celebrated atmosphere in the grounds of the art school campus on Lauriston Place. Events will be held around the campus, including in its sculpture court.
But they will only go ahead if the green light is given for the city’s festivals to welcome back audiences in person.
Festival director Nick Barley pledged that the event, which attracted a record attendance of 265,000 in 2019, would be st aged“in a more environmentallyresponsible way” in future.
He said the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the book festival to be staged entirely online last year, had created a “tectonic shift” in the way events were able to reach audiences.
Mr Barley cited the “excellent” facilities on offer at the art school to both broadcast events and have socially-distanced audiences.
The festival will be staged at the art school on its normal dates this August, with contingencyplans being drawn up for events which will be streamed online and with audiences present, if restrictions are eased in the city by then. Mr Barley said: “Covid -19 has created a huge tectonic shift in the way that live events, ourselves included, can reach their audiences.
"With in-person ticket sales impossible to forecast this August, we simply can't justify incurring the costs of the tents and infrastructure we'd normally put into charlotte square Gardens. It is highly probable that most events will take place online, and the need for broadcast studios is more likely than large venues for an audience.
“In the grassy courtyard of Edinburgh College of Art we will, if rules allow, recreate the elements of the book festival that our audiences love – bookshops, cafes and open spaces in which to come together safely offering the ‘oasis of calm’ for which the book festival is renowned. The college offers excellent studio and theatre facilities for both online broadcasting and potential events with a socially distanced audience.
"We intend that this partnership with the university will be a long-term arrangement, and that we will continue to occupy their spaces when a Covid-free festival, with audiences able to enjoy live events in person, can be staged. However, digital events will continue to be a key part of future book festivals.”
Professor Peter Mathieson, principal of the university, said: “We were delighted to be asked by the book festival to support future events through this mutually-beneficial arrangement.
"Building on our existing partnership this new deeper relationship will help to ensure that people in Edinburgh, and all over the world, can continue to come together to explore the power of ideas through their love of literature.”