Edinburgh Festivals Diary: The Amanda Knox £20 'zine' and Edinburgh's newest free library

Now, the team behind The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy! has decided to set up a library of its own - in Edinburgh.

The company has opened a mini lending library in the Pleasance Courtyard, giving Fringe-goers the chance to borrow a book, settle in for a quiet read, or pick up and peruse while waiting for their next show.

The collection has been stocked with books purchased from British Heart Foundation, with the company also hoping to add a few more unexpected titles donated by familiar faces from across the Fringe.

The library’s first celebrity contribution came from guest of honour Max Olesker, who donated a copy of his new book, Making The Cut - about which he has a Fringe show of the same name - just after he opened the library in a ceremony on Sunday.

“It was an honour to cut the ceremonial bunting at the opening of this important landmark,” said Mr Olesker.

The Amanda Knox ‘zine’ on sale for £20

Amanda Knox, who finishes her controversial show, Cartwheel, on Monday night after an 11-night run, has been holding a meet and greet outside her venue after every show, where she takes selfies with fans and flogs her merchandise. In case you’ve been hiding underneath a Fringe-related rock, Ms Knox, who served four years in prison before being acquitted in 2015 of the murder of her flatmate Meredith Kercher, has been criticised by friends and family of Ms Kercher, who launched a petition calling for the show to be cancelled.

I spotted the event in the wild last night when I was in her Teviot venue for another show (in case you’re interested, it was local playwright Ruaridh Murray’s Steak Out, about a heist on a Stockbridge butchers’ shop - a must-see for locals who will love the references to a defunct Woolworths and now-shuttered Chinese restaurant Ping On).

But back outside Ms Knox’s show, around 40 to 50 people - a third of the sold-out audience - queued to get a chance to chat to the performer and buy her selection of merch, which included a £22 signed copy of her book, Free.

All so far so very Book Festival. But look more closely at the price list and the merch range also stretches to a £3 postcard or £3 stickers, as well as a £20 “zine”.

Protected by a black-clad security guard with an earpiece, who was ensuring only paid ticket holders could get near the stand-up star - the meet and greet did not seem to be available when I attended the show on the first night - I didn’t get a chance to find out what said “zine” contained, but I can only assume that it will become a must-have collectors’ item for true crime fans.

Truly bizarre.

Shuttle bus to replace trams

The Edinburgh Art Festival has put on an hourly shuttle bus to get visitors from the city centre to its new Leith base in a bid to counteract the effect of tram cancellations due to the Princes Street fire.

The festival, which has opened EAF@92, a new base on Constitution Street, was worried about being able to attract visitors due to the lack of trams.

The festival said the bus is “free to be used by all”, adding, “(but we’d love it if you’d pay us a visit at EAF@92 at the end of your trip)”. Fair.