2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Ian Rankin helps fund Edinburgh book festival recovery
The festival has managed to expand the number of events in its programme, which was launched today, to its highest level since the event was last held in Charlotte Square in 2019.
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Sir Ian has become a new major sponsor of the festival and is expected to support the event for the next five years.
The support has come through John Rebus Ltd, the company the author named after his famous fictional detective, which is wife Miranda is also a director of.
Edinburgh-based author Jenny Colgan is a new sponsor of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Additional funding from the Scottish Government and the People's Postcode Lottery has helped the book festival to recover from the severing of its links with Baillie Gifford.
Another Edinburgh-based best-selling author, Jenny Colgan, is also sponsoring this year's festival, which has programmed under the theme of "repair."
The Edinburgh International Book Festival relocated to a new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, which opened at the former home of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary last summer. The event, which dates back to 1983, has also attracted new backing from the Edinburgh-based legal firm Digby Brown and additional support from the Hawthornden Foundation, which was set up by the late Drue Heinz, a long-time supporter of Scottish culture who funded a number of literary retreats.
Most of the book festival will be staged, for a second year, at the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where the event relocated to last year in 2024 after three years of events at Edinburgh College of Art.
The 2025 programme, which encompasses almost 700 events, includes an increase in the number of events in the festival's biggest venue, the McEwan Hall, from nine last year to 15 this August, while the biggest outdoor venue at the EFI's garden space will be expanded in response to public demand.
An expanded programme of events will be held at the McEwan Hall as part of this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival. (Image: Mihaela Bodlovic)
Special guests include Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen, Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave, Killing Eve and Succession star Harriet Walter, Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones, Scottish stage and screen favourite Brian Cox, Outlander star Sam Heughan, Radiohead musician Colin Greenwood, and the comedians Deborah-Frances White, Ivo Graham, David Baddiel and Tim Key, and Alice Oseman, creator of the Heartstopper books and TV series.
Scottish writers in the line-up include the authors Irvine Welsh, Len Pennie, Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre, Denise Mina, Louise Welsh and AL Kennedy.
Other well-known Scots due to appear include football pundit and record-breaking goal-scorer Ally McCoist, singer-songwriters Stuart Murdoch and Hamish Hawk, tennis coach-turned-author Judy Murray, and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Most of the Edinburgh International Book Festival's programme is now staged at the Edinburgh Futures Institute complex. (Image: Chris Scott) A long-running controversy over the festival's involvement with Baillie Gifford and its links with the fossil fuels industry came to a head last spring when campaigners threatened to disrupt events which were backed by the company.
The threat led to the Hay Festival in Wales and several festival in Scotland, including Edinburgh, Wigtown and the Borders, ending their relationship with Baillie Gifford.
Organisers of Edinburgh's event said its board and management had 'collectively agreed' with Baillie Gifford to end its partnership.
At the time, festival director Jenny Niven said the pressure on her staff had 'simply become intolerable.'
At the time, the festival's then chair, Allan Little warned: 'Funding for the arts is now in a perilous position and we should all be clear that without the support of our partners and donors, the future of festivals like ours – and all of the benefits these events bring to authors and readers alike – is in jeopardy.'
The book festival received a significant financial boost in January when it secured a new three-year Scottish Government funding deal via its arts agency, Creative Scotland.
The festival, which had been on 'standstill' funding for more than a decade, will see its core support increase from around £300,000 a year to £520,000 this year and £620,000 next year.
However it is understood that the book festival only received around 70 per cent of the funding it was seeking for its next three programmes.
Ms Niven said the festival had not managed to make up the shortfall in its budget from the loss of Baillie Gifford's support, but had managed to attract new sponsors and additional investment from previous backers to help bridge the gap.
She told The Herald: 'We were really grateful to get an increase in our Creative Scotland funding this year, but as other festivals have pointed out that was about making up a long-running shortfall.
'We are back to that conversation about what sort of cultural offer we want to have and whether we are able to meet our ambitions. There's still lots of other things we would like to do.
'Public funding is only one part of the story for us. We have an extensive number of different benefactors, supporters and partners. It's a huge amount of work to make sure we have really good partnerships with them. We have amazing support from international literary organisations.
'We've not entirely made up the gap from the loss of Baillie Gifford's sponsorship.
'But lots of people we have had long-standing relationships with have really stepped in and been supportive this year.
'Ian Rankin is such a citizen of Edinburgh. He's really invested in supporting both literature and community engagement. He's such a strong supporter of literature.
'We have quite a lot of writers who support us anonymously. Lots of writers are quite motivated to support us as they know how much the festival does to support writers.
'Every year, the festival puts around £500,000 into paying the fees of writers and commissions for artists. We make a significant contribution.
"We're delighted to have lots of really long-standing relationships.
"I think we're continuing to put on a fantastic festival. Hopefully the programme will have so much in it for such a wide demographic and a huge range of people that it should be really attractive to sponsors and partners."
Rankin said: "We want our local international book festival to thrive. We've been patrons for a while, so this seemed a reasonable step."
Colgan said: "The festival has meant so much to me over the years and it's an absolute thrill to be able to support it in any small way."
Key additions to the 2025 line-up include a dedicated young adults programme, tailored for audiences under the age of 30, and a new 'kids zone' at the former NHS campus, which is known as the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
Book festival events will be staged at the Our Dynamic Earth visitor attraction and the National Library of Scotland for the first time.
Ms Niven said: "One of the things that I think gives our programme depth, range and integrity is we do events looking at all kinds of different ideas and subjects.
"We've tried to make a lot more use of smaller venues this year so that people can have really specific discussions and conversations with audiences so they can get a more involved.
"But we've increased the capacity of the Courtyard Theatre on the green so that more of our audience can get access to writers who are bit more prominent."
The festival started selling tickets last month for its extended run of 1000-capacity events at the McEwan Hall, which are organised in partnership with Fringe promoters and producers Underbelly.
The line-up includes Nicola Sturgeon's book launch, authors Maggie O'Farrell and Ian McEwan, American journalists Anne Applebaum and Edward Wong, and Ruth Jones, co-creator of Gavin and Stacey.
Ms Niven said: "The Front List events we did at the McEwan Hall last year were all really successful. All but one of them sold out.
"Those events really help us to reach new audiences. We can see from our ticket analysis how many first-time buyers we already have for this year.
'Those events are also about putting the book festival on the map, being right in the thick of it in August and being able to say to some of the biggest names in publishing, politics and commentary that we've got a terrific stage where we can introduced them to a really wide range of readers. There's a real sense of drama and excitement about it."
