Edinburgh International Book Festival makes ‘heartbreaking’ decision to scale down

Edinburgh International Book Festival has taken the “difficult but necessary decision” to scale down due to “the unpredictable nature of the external environment” and changing audience behaviours precipitated by the cost of living crisis. 

In a statement shared with The Bookseller, the organisers said: “The changes in audience booking behaviour since the start of the pandemic and the continuing hesitancy around Covid among some of the book festival’s core audiences has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.

“The result is people are attending fewer events and spending less money – just as costs are continually rising. All evidence suggests this situation will continue into 2023 and beyond.”

They said they had “prepared a prudent strategy to weather this highly challenging period” in order to “deliver an economically sustainable book festival in 2023”.

“The scale of the operation will be reduced, including cutting expenditure across all areas of the organisation and revising the delivery of the festival itself,” the statement continued.

“This has required some tough decisions, most heartbreakingly the resizing of the incredibly talented team behind the festival and charity’s work, and pausing our streaming activity, which has been such a success in opening up the festival, but costs a significant amount and is unaffordable in the current climate.”

Full details of next year’s festival will be revealed at the programme launch in mid-June, but it will take place as planned from 12th-28th August at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA).

There will remain a varied programme of events for adults, children and schools, and as usual it will feature a large range of author talks, creative workshops and discussions with Scottish, UK and international authors, organisers said.

Meanwhile, the Book Festival Charity continues to bring free events and books to all school children via its Baillie Gifford Schools Programme and the Baillie Gifford Transport Fund, which offers support toward travel costs, and the Communities Programme continues to connect creatively with people in their own communities.

Work will also continue to prepare for the planned move from ECA to the book festival’s new permanent home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute in 2024.