The 2025 Edinburgh International Book Festival in its new venue at the University of Edinburgh’s Futures Institute. Image: Edinburgh International Book Festival, Chris Scott
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘A Landmark Year’
Having closed its two-week run on Sunday (August 24), organizers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival say the show has broken new records, making this what the team is calling a “landmark year.”
With the unusual thematic branding this year of “Repair,” this public-facing two-week festival “repaired,” if you will to a new venue this time, the University of Edinburgh’s “Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI)” which presents itself as “a new futures-focused space for learning, research, and innovation.”
Indeed, the new location, organizers say, was a “major draw” in itself, the courtyard space seeing 25,000 attendees on one weekend and a total attendance number of 161,889.
Not least in the advantages of the new site, the Futures Institute seems to have attracted a lot of future book readers and buyers, with “a newly enlarged and re-targeted YA program” turning out to be “a resounding success, hitting its mark with readers 30 and younger [and] solidifying the festival’s appeal to the next generation of literary enthusiasts.”
As many of our widely traveled international readership here at Publishing Perspectives already know, the Book Festival is one of at least 10 key festivals clustered under the Edinburgh Festivals brand. Maybe the most famous is the Fringe, an arts festival, but other offerings commandeering their own fans are the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo; a purely International Festival of dance, opera, theater, and music; the Jazz and Blues Festival; a Children’s Festival; the International Film Festival; and more.
The literary fest’s offices are pointing out that being at the Futures Institute placed the book festival at “the heart of the Edinburgh Festivals footprint.”
Libraries Stage 90 ‘Watch Parties’
At the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025. Image: EIBF, Mihaela Bodlovic
That overall total of almost 162,000 was an huge increase of 60 percent over the turnout for the 2024 festival. Some more numbers:
- Ticket sales rose 11 percent over 2024 sales, including “a significant rise in first-time buyers,” always encouraging.
- A library streaming service was a success with 41 libraries in 12 local authorities tuning in, free of charge, to present more than 90 of their own “watch parties” from remote locations.
- The book festival’s digital footprint comprised nearly 19,000 users in 63 countries, ranging from Japan to the Vatican.
- Independent publishers topped Waterstones’ bestseller lists, alongside event-led hits with women writers making a strong showing, among them Katabasis by R. F. Kuang; and Nicola Sturgeon’s well-timed and predictably controversial memoir, Frankly.
- A new “Kids’ Zone” was appreciated by “thousands of young people and families.”
More than 700 Events
Jinny Niven
The director and CEO of the festival is Jenny Niven has been in the cultural-programming business for some 20 years.
In previous roles, Niven was the founding director of “Push the Boat Out,” a festival of poetry, spoken word, and language; head of literature, publishing and languages at Creative Scotland, the cultural funding body; executive producer of the Edinburgh International Culture Summit; and a key figure in the creation of the Muriel Spark centenary celebrations.
Among some 700 events featuring more than 650 authors, some of the favorite writers with attendees were Ian McEwan; Maggie O’Farrell; Asuko Yuzuki; Yulia Navalnaya; and sitcom creator Ruth Jones.
Issue-driven programming included presentations by Israeli historians Ilan Pappé and Avi Shlaim on the history of Israel and Palestine; a conversation between journalists Lindsey Hilsum and Edward Wong; and several events looking at the impact of AI on literature and the arts.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Scotland is here, more on literary festivals is here, and more on industry-facing trade shows and book fairs is here.
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