First look inside stunning new home for Edinburgh International Book Festival ahead of opening

The landmark building which was home to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for more than than 120 years will be transformed to host the bulk of the Edinburgh International Book Festival’s programme.

They will be staged in newly-renovated spaces created by Edinburgh University as part of a redevelopment of the building – and in pop-up venues brought into the expansive lawns at the rear of the Lauriston Place building.

And a couple of minutes walk away, at the university’s historic McEwan Hall, the book festival will be hosting the biggest events in its line-up, for appearances by Alan Cumming, Forbes Masson, Richard Osman, Matt Haig, James O’Brien, Dolly Alderton, Sarah Crossan, Philippa Gregory and Alice Oseman.

Overseeing all this is Jenny Niven, in her first year as director of the book festival, which was based in Charlotte Square Garden for 36 years before the pandemic, but was growing questions over the damage the event was doing to the historic space.

Ms Niven said: “It really does feel like a new chapter for the book festival and I think it’s going to be telling a completely different story given our physical move.

"For me, the key thing for the festival going forward is about how it is more relevant for more people. Seeing that writ large as we have moved into this part of the city and built the festival has been really exciting.

“I think there is already real curiosity from people, who might never have come to the book festival before, coming up Middle Meadow Walk and peering into the big grassy area we are going to be using.”

The book festival, which is moving after a three-year period of post-Covid recovery at Edinburgh College of Art, will feature more than 500 events in its new incarnation, including 

This month will see the return of the book festival’s Spiegeltent venue for the first time since 2019 for a programme of night-time music, spoken word events and even a ceilidh dance, while the main bookshop and signing tent will be located outside the historic hospital building, which recently became home to the university’s “Futures Institute.”

Ms Niven said: “It should feel as if you’re part of the festival whether you’re inside or outside the building. 

“The book festival should still feel like a bit of an enclave and a respite from some of the mayhem, but it should also feel quite festive and fun. "I think we’re only at the beginning of understanding how we can use this amazing building, with the combination of its really sophisticated interior spaces, and its lovely backdrop.

"The interior visits we’re using are really comfortable and hospitable, the building is designed to a very high environmental spec, which makes it feel really new and progressive, but the architects have done an incredible job in keeping the story of the building and its heritage really visible.

"We have a whole strand in our programme, Words from the Words, which will bring stories of when this building was a hospital into what we’re doing with it now.”

This month will see the book festival collaborating with Underbelly, the Fringe venue operator which stages shows at the McEwan Hall, Edinburgh-based theatre company Grid Iron, which has created a tour through the Old Town as part of a programme marking 200 years of James Hogg’s classic novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Push the Boat Out poetry festival, which Ms Niven helped launch in 2021.

She said: “Working collaboratively is my DNA. The sense of scale of the Edinburgh festivals really allows us to have connections and collaborations with a huge range of partners and creative organisations.

"I think that really speaks to how audiences are. People don’t just read. They also go to the theatre and watch movies. 

“Loads of artists are now working across disciplines themselves. It is increasingly hard to make a living from one type of writing. People are writing for film and TV a lot of the time now as there are new opportunities there.

"I think people are dipping in and out of things more and more, both as audiences and creators. It’s only natural that festivals reflect that.

"But we also have audiences that are 100 per cent loyal to the book festival, which is great.”

The run-up to the festival’s programme launch in June was dominated by debate over its long-term relationship with Edinburgh-based investment firm Baillie Gifford and demands for the firm to be dropped as its headline sponsor.

Ms Niven had originally insisted that Baillie Gifford would be kept on board, despite being targeted by climate activists over the firm’s links with the fossil fuel industry. However the end of the festival’s 20-year partnership with the company was announced after campaigners threatened to disrupt and boycott the event.

Tickets are still available for events featuring Alice Oseman, Dolly Alderton, Matt Haig, Naomi Alderman, Jackie Kay, Jenny Colgan, Hollie McNish and Caroline Lucas, while London mayor Sadiq Khan will be speaking in a new event added to the line-up.

Ms Niven said the “vast majority” of authors who had signalled that they were pulling out of the festival were going ahead with their events and insisted ticket sales were stronger than its own projections.

She added: “We got to 110 per cent of our ticketing target last week.

"We had a really good kick-off to our ticket sales and we’re heading into the festival in a really strong place.

"People have responded really well to the programme, but I think there’s also a huge curiosity about our next chapter out there.”