Exclusive:Edinburgh International Book Festival ticket sales rise as director Jenny Niven speaks on event future

However, the outlook for this year’s event is positive, as the first events take place this weekend - with advance ticket sales up almost a fifth on last year.

Director Jenny Niven said the festival had this year increased capacity in its main tent and bookshop and expanded the area dedicated to children’s events. But she said she had no plans to return the festival to the scale it once was at its original Charlotte Square venue.

Ticket sales at EIBF, which opens for the second year in its new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute this weekend, are 18 per cent higher compared to the same time last year, driven by demand for its extended Front List series at the McEwan Hall.

Ms Niven said the series, which includes events with Nicola Sturgeon, actor Brian Cox and author Maggie O’Farrell among its line-up, had proven popular with first-time book festival audiences, as it had a focus on Young Adult literature, including a sell-out event with R F Kuang, author of Yellowface.

“We are definitely seeing new audiences,” she said. “I think our partnership with Underbelly in the McEwan Hall is really helping with that, as well as our expanded programme choices, which are appealing to a range of readers, including some food writers, who are proving very popular.

“We can tell that much at this point [that tickets are being sold to first-time visitors to the festival].”

Outlander actor Sam Heughan’s cocktail masterclass sold out within hours of going on sale. Other discussions, including one by former footballer Ally McCoist on his new autobiography, Dear Scotland: On the Road with the Tartan Army, have also been popular.

Any major changes this year have been made following consultation with last year’s visitors about the new space. However, Ms Niven is careful to balance the line-up to appeal to both old and new audiences.

“The programme is big enough that we’re able to do both,” she said. “We’re very grateful to our extremely loyal book festival audience, some of whom have been coming for decades. They’re vocal, they tell us what they think, which is great. Some of the feedback they gave us last year about the site has definitely been incorporated into this year.”

Funding, however, remains a challenge. Ms Niven admitted the festival had not yet found a replacement for Baillie Gifford’s 20-year sponsorship, which was believed to be worth around £35,000 a year.

The festival was forced to end its partnership with the Edinburgh fund manager last year, warning it was no longer able to deliver a “safe and successful” event amid “threats of disruption”. Climate activist Greta Thunberg had cancelled an event a year earlier over the Edinburgh-based financial firm’s fossil fuel investments.

The Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), however, has retained a tie up with the company. Festival director Nicola Benedetti told The Scotsman last week the partnership was likely to continue for the foreseeable future, despite renewed calls from campaigners who hit out at the company’s investments in defence firm Babcock International.

Ms Niven would not directly answer a question as to whether she had any regrets over the decision to end the partnership.

“We were in a very, very difficult position then,” she said. “That’s [considering the situation with hindsight] not in our gift. We worked with what we could at the time.

“Now, we’re working with all sort of new sponsors and partners. We’ve got a couple of new sponsorships this year, which we’re really proud of, and we’ve also got a new approach to forging these new partnerships and new relationships. We’re looking at new partnerships all the time.”

The new partners include law firm Digby Brown, as well as Amazon audiobooks site Audible - and, perhaps more unexpectedly, Pokemon, which, while not a financial replacement for Baillie Gifford, is a welcome addition to the line-up.

The costumed character is due to appear in the revamped children’s zone alongside other stars from children’s books, including the Gruffalo and a “real” unicorn.

Meanwhile, Audible’s partnership, which has only recently been agreed, is working in supporting new writing at the festival.

The bookshop, run with Waterstone’s, is expecting a bumper year, with bookshop manager Caron MacPherson ordering in a total of 55,000 volumes in anticipation of sales which are far higher than last year’s 30,000.

While planning for the next festival begins as soon as each year’s event closes its doors on the last audience members, organisers have to be prepared for last-minute changes.

A gala on this year’s opening day, where writers had been tasked with creating new work on the theme of repair, had been due to feature Juma Xipaia, who was due to travel from Brazil, while Colin Greenwood’s slot has also been cancelled.

Both had unusual excuses - Radiohead bassist Mr Greenwood had been asked to tour with Nick Cave, while Ms Xipaia’s partner, who works with indigenous groups in the Amazon, had been called away to a remote community, leaving her with no childcare.

Robert MacFarlane has stepped in to replace Ms Xipaia, while historian and writer David Olusoga is now to appear in place of Mr Greenwood. However, Ms Niven admits there is little a festival can do if a long-planned author cancels.

Front List authors are signed up to a contract, however, others are not.

“The alternative would be to lock people into contracts, which we currently don’t do, she said. “But the landscape is constantly changing. We’d have to look carefully at the pros and cons of that.”