2005 News Archive
29 August 2005
Another successful year for the Book Festival
The 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival has been a resounding success with attendance figures up by over 10% from last year.
Over 220,000 people visited Charlotte Square Gardens between the 13 and 29 August - with almost 30,000 on the opening weekend alone. 50% of all events were complete sellouts, including Andrew Marr who sold out on the first day. This year's Festival was the fastest selling ever with more events selling out even faster than in previous years and web traffic up by 50% compared to 2004.
Festival Director Catherine Lockerbie said:
"It has been an extraordinary August at the Book Festival with ever-increasing numbers of people flocking in for thought-provoking and memorable sessions with an international array of writers, from the energy and joyous wit of the Nobel Prize-winning Dario Fo (earning him a standing ovation) to the sharp insight of Salman Rushdie. We have once more had outstanding audiences for visiting authors from overseas, little known as yet in this country "showing again the spirit of open-minded enquiry and adventurousness in Edinburgh, the world's first UNESCO City of Literature."
The Edinburgh International Book Festival runs its own independent book shops which this year sold over 60.000 books for a total value of half a million pounds. Best selling books this year included On Beauty, the new Zadie Smith and Salman Rushdie's Shalimar The Clown, both launched exclusively at the Book Festival ahead of publication. Best-selling children's book was Ravens Gate, the new Anthony Horrowitz.
The Internationally renowned Margaret Atwood followed in the footsteps of Dame Muriel Spark as the recipient of this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award, a unique accolade to mark a distinguished contribution to world literature and thought.
The Lloyds TSB Scotland Children's Programme also attracted big names including Charlie Higson, Anthony Horowitz, Anne Fine and Jacqueline Wilson whose signing session once again broke all records with her young fans queuing for over 4 hours.
Karen Mountney, the Book Festival's Children's Programme Director said:
"It's been another bumper year for the Children's Programme with more children than ever before meeting some of today's greatest authors, from household names to rising talent. Our Schools Programme has attracted 13.000 pupils from all over Scotland , including many first time visitors thanks to financial assistance from our ScottishPower sponsored Bus Fund. It's been a real delight, and I am already looking forward to starting plans for next year"
On Tuesday 30 August, over 3,500 primary school pupils from schools across Scotland will attend our ScottishPower Schools Gala Day at the Book Festival - 1,000 more pupils than in 2004.
Facts and Figures for 2005
Over 220,000 people visited Charlotte Square Gardens
50% of events were completely sold out
Sponsorship was up 33% on 2004, with record number of enquiries from companies around the UK about how to associate with the Edinburgh International Book Festival for next year
13,000 pupils attended events as part of the schools' programme, 2,000 more than last year.
The 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award was presented to Margaret Atwood
The Nations Unlimited theme exploring the future of the nation-state was extremely successful. Begun in Scotland, the theme will now move on to Norway and then Sweden .
Ian Rankin wrote a brand new short story exclusively for those who attended his events
Sold-out first visits to Scotland by Russian authors, included best-selling crime writer Boris Akunin and journalist Anna Politkovskaya
11 authors long-listed for this year's Man Booker Prize took part in this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival
29 August 2005
3,500 primary school pupils visit on Schools Gala Day
On Tuesday 30 August over 3,500 primary school pupils from 46 schools across Scotland will attend Schools Gala Day at the Book Festival thanks to ScottishPower's sponsorship of the day - 1,000 more pupils than in 2004.
ScottishPower, one of Scotland's largest companies, became a major new sponsor of the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year by supporting Schools Gala Day and the Schools Bus Fund.
Schools Gala Day is, appropriately, a high energy day when thousands of primary school children revel in the buzz of the Book Festival and enjoy an unforgettable day of books and fun with some of the world's leading authors. It takes place on the final day of the Book Festival when Charlotte Square Gardens is closed to the public and is entirely dedicated to primary schools.
Scottish Power's sponsorship has also enabled the Book Festival to offer assistance to schools by way of a Bus Fund which pays the travel costs for financially deprived and geographically remote communities to help them access the Book Festival's world class resources. Over 4,200 pupils from 65 schools have already attended the Book Festival this year thanks to the ScottishPower Bus Fund, an increase of 25% on 2004.
Ian Russell, Chief Executive at ScottishPower said "ScottishPower chose to support the Schools Gala Day and the Bus Fund because it believes in open access learning for all. It's a fantastic way of ensuring that the benefits of the world's leading Book Festival can be enjoyed by school children from all across Scotland."
"The Gala Day has become an extremely valued part of our programme of events for schools and I am delighted that it will continue thanks to the generous support of ScottishPower. This year we have been able to fund 62 schools from Abderdeenshire to Argyll & Bute with ScottishPower's support" said Karen Mountney, Children's Programme Director.
The Schools Gala Day is eagerly anticipated by children across the country. Teachers said:
We were extremely grateful to get the money. We come from an underprivileged area with no bookshops for miles, and we would never be able to come if it wasn't for the fund. A huge thank you.
Garnock Academy, North Ayrshire
28 August 2005
Margaret Atwood to receive 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award
The Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award is given annually to a writer who has made a distinguished contribution to world literature and thought.
Margaret Atwood, the Canadian author of The Blind Assassin and A Handmaid's Tale was awarded the 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival Enlightenment Award at Ms Atwood's sold out Book Festival appearance on Sunday 28 August.
Catherine Lockerbie, Director of The Edinburgh International Book Festival said : "This is a very special award for a lifetime's achievement. Margaret Atwood's extraordinary work in fiction, poetry and criticism make her one of the world's greatest living writers. We could not be more honoured and delighted to have her as our guest at the Book Festival and to present her with this unique artifact, designed specially for her"
This International Award was hand made for Margaret Atwood by Artist Timothy Richards, incorporating plaster, brass and stained glass. It takes the form of bookends and is based on references to Canadian wilderness. It features some of the places specifically important to her and the idea that her work is rooted in her native landscape.
Amongst the places depicted is The Royal Ontario Museum, very influential on the young Margaret Atwood, and Edinburgh's Georgian architecture.
Timothy Richards has made detailed architectural models in plaster, lead and brass for eighteen years. He runs a workshop and gallery in Bath.
Dame Muriel Spark was the award's inaugural recipient in 2004, as it was launched last year to celebrate the Festival's 21 st Birthday.
20 August 2005
Another Record number of visitors at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
A total of 108,000 people visited Charlotte Square Gardens in the first week of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 17% more than in 2004.
The festival started in style with a record 30,000 people visiting Charlotte Square Gardens on the opening weekend with visitors being welcome by the Zimbabwe Gospel Choir singing in the sunshine.
People came to meet their favourite authors but also to take advantage of the beautiful weather, relax in the garden and buy books in our two bookshops where sales have been excellent.
The opening event by poet Carol Ann Duffy sold out very early on, as were many other sessions with broadcaster Ned Sherrin, Mao biographer Jung Chang and crime writers Ian Rankin and Boris Akunin.
Highlights of the first week included the exuberant Italian playwright Dario Fo who delighted his sold out audiences with tales from his childhood as well as Festival favourites Tony Benn, Roy Hattersley, John Carey and Richard Dawkins.
Highlights of the Book Festival's final week include John Irving, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith and newly announced George Galloway.
This year's Festival is so far the fastest selling ever with more events selling out faster than in previous years and web traffic up by 50% compared to last year.
20 June 2005
Book Festival Box Office record as Andrew Marr is this year's best selling event.
Tickets for the BBC's Political Editor were all snapped up in the first few hours of tickets going for sale on Friday morning.
Andrew Marr is part of a great line up of journalists taking part in this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, which includes Jon Snow, Rageh Omaar and Fergal Keane.
Other events selling quickly include Festival headliners Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Jung Chang, but with more than 600 events to choose from, there is still plenty available.
People this year have been booking online more than in previous years with £36,000 taken in ticket sales through the Book Festival website on the first day, a rise of 40% from last year.
16 June 2005
2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival Programme Announced
Today, Festival Director Catherine Lockerbie announces the programme of the 2005 Edinburgh International Book Festival, the largest literary festival in the world with over 500 authors taking part in more than 650 events.
From 13 to 29 August, the Edinburgh International Book Festival will play host to the world's widest variety of novelists, poets, politicians, crime writers, scientists, journalists, historians and biographers, as well as children's authors and illustrators. They will arrive from all over the UK, Europe and as far as Mexico, the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, Israel, Russia, China, Japan and Latvia, to meet their public in the unique ambience of Edinburgh's Charlotte Square Gardens. We are also delighted to welcome over 170 Scottish authors À another new record for the Festival!
Catherine Lockerbie said
"Edinburgh is now the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, in recognition of the deep and dynamic role literature plays in this land. We are delighted to be reinforcing this message by bringing titans of world literature to the capital, including the joyously anarchic Nobel Prize-winner Dario Fo, the massively acclaimed Canadian Margaret Atwood and the only winner of the Booker of Bookers, Salman Rushdie, back at the Book Festival after an absence of two decades. We are also particularly pleased to be presenting a major international series, Nations Unlimited, looking at the shape of nations in the 21 st century and planned in collaboration with fellow festivals in Norway and Sweden, in a pioneering first".
16 June 2005
Record Sponsorship for the Book Festival
The Edinburgh International Book Festival announced today that a record number of new businesses have chosen to support the world's premier literary event.
Despite a challenging economic climate for the arts sector, eleven new sponsors are associated with the Book Festival this year and sponsorship income is up 31% on last year.
The Book Festival currently receives 18% public funding with over 80% of its income being self-generated.
New major sponsors are ScottishPower and The Open University in Scotland. New event sponsors are: Adam & Company, Anderson Strathern, Cyan Communications, Gillespie Macandrew WS, the National Museums of Scotland, the Royal College of Surgeons, Stella Bella wines, Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruises and Turcan Connell.
Catherine Lockerbie, Director of the Book Festival said: "The business community is giving the Book Festival a huge vote of confidence by their continued and growing support, bucking trends observed elsewhere. We run the biggest and best book festival in the world and we know that businesses want to be associated with the highest quality and with an organisation which will give them personal service and attention to their own needs and objectives.
The growth in Book Festival sponsorship shows the dynamic, essential role played by books, words and ideas in the life of Scotland, a fact internationally recognised by UNESCO declaring Edinburgh the world's first City of Literature."
16 March 2005
Edinburgh leading the world in literature, says Book Festival director
The unprecedented success of the Edinburgh International Book Festival has paved the way for a remarkable surge of new high profile initiatives, firmly establishing Edinburgh as a major international literary hotspot.
The first Annual Review of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, released today, shows the strongest year ever in the Book Festival's history. Last August, 207,000 visitors attended events featuring authors from over 30 different countries, attracting new levels of global media attention. The Book Festival has doubled its audience in the last four years and is the largest public celebration of books and ideas in the world.
Since the success and international prominence of the 2004 Book Festival, there has been rapid progress in developing Edinburgh's status as a major year-round literary centre.
- - - In October 2004, UNESCO declared the city the world's first ever City of Literature. Work has now begun on establishing an international network of such cities, based on the Edinburgh model.
- - - In February 2005, it was announced that the inaugural Man Booker International Prize, the world's most significant new award with a shortlist featuring some of the greatest living writers, will be presented in Edinburgh this June À an unprecedented coup for Scotland.
- - - In March 2005, an exclusive series of events celebrating Hans Christian Andersen's bicentenary in collaboration with the Danish authorities was unveiled.
- - - Other important initiatives emanating from Edinburgh include major new developments in Scottish publishing and the high profile 100 Best Scottish Books campaign.
"Edinburgh has an immensely rich literary past, as a world centre of publishing and of the Enlightenment. We wanted to build on that foundation for the present and the future," said Catherine Lockerbie, Book Festival director. "When we created the City of Literature concept, we had no idea it would take root and capture people's imaginations so fast, or deliver results so quickly"
"The Book Festival's rapid growth convinced us that there was a huge appetite among the public for engaging with books, words and ideas and we have been proven correct. There is real progress now, from book events at the Parliament to visiting international journalists excited by our new celebration of the role literature plays in defining and invigorating this nation."
She cautioned against complacency, saying "All of this requires real investment as well as real energy if we are to maintain the momentum that has built up over the past year, and ensure not only that the Book Festival goes from strength to strength but that Edinburgh and Scotland build on their growing literary reputation."
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