Welcome to the Book Festival

A sunny day at the Book Festival

Set in a specially created tented village in the heart of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh International Book Festival offers something for just about every age and interest, bringing readers and writers together for inspiration, entertainment and discussion. 

The Book Festival welcomes around 1000 authors in over 800 events for adults and children each year including novelists, poets, scientists, philosophers, sportsmen, illustrators, comic creators, historians, musicians, biographers, environmentalists, economists, Nobel and Booker prize-winners and many more besides.

The 2018 Book Festival will take place from 11-27 August.

Full details of the programme, including authors, themes and events with BSL interpretation and captioning will be available here from early June.

Request a brochure for the 2018 Festival

In the meantime, you can enjoy Festival photographs, listen to or download free podcasts of event recordings and watch exclusive interviews and Festival highlights from past Book Festivals here on our website, on our YouTube channel and on itunes.

Muriel Spark: Crème de la Crème event, Jan 2018

Actor Moyo Akande reads from 'The Girls of Slender Means'
Alan Taylor hosts the event
Ian Rankin reads from 'What Images Return', an essay by Muriel Spark
Alan Taylor and Rosemary Goring host the event
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reads from 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'
Book Festival Director Nick Barley introduces the event

View more photos

Look, Listen & read

Matt Haig (2017 Event)

Matt Haig (2017 Event)

Acclaimed writer of novels and screenplays for adults and children, Matt Haig’s new book, How to Stop Time, was so heavily anticipated that Benedict Cumberbatch signed up to play the key role in the movie adaptation well before its actual publication date. Haig's hero Tom Hazard is a not-so-ordinary 41 year old given that he’s actually lived for centuries, but his real problems begin when he craves a regular life. In this event, filmed live at the 2017 Edinburgh International Book Festival, Haig speaks …

Limmy (2017 Event)
Limmy (2017 Event)

The short, sharp and funny shock has been Brian Limond aka Limmy’s forte ever since breaking through with his World of Glasgow web series in 2006. After a Scottish BAFTA-winning …

Raja Shehadeh (2017 Event)
Raja Shehadeh (2017 Event)

Brave, intelligent and deeply personal, Where the Line is Drawn shows how the Israeli occupation affects every aspect of Palestinian daily life. Raja Shehadeh, Palestine's premier …

The Future According to Luke
The Future According to Luke by James Robertson

Luke Stands Alone was the worst prophet in the history of the Lakota people. He went into trances and when he came out of them he would say…

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