Stratford also loses Baillie Gifford funding, as group mulls pulling out

The Stratford Literary Festival is the latest book festival to lose funding from investment group Baillie Gifford, which has decided not to renew its sponsorship of the festival after the end of this year. It follows announcements this week that Baillie Gifford has withdrawn from Cheltenham and Wigtown, as well as earlier decisions by Borders, Hay and Edinburgh to end ties with the sponsor.

It comes as the Times reports that the investor is now considering withdrawing support from all literary festivals following the boycotts organised by the Fossil Free Books campaign, amid concerns about the pressure on and safety of staff. 

Baillie Gifford has supported Stratford, which runs in early May, for 10 years. Festival director Annie Ashworth said it was determined to continue, but warned that the withdrawal of funding would "impact on our operations, and may result in increased ticket prices and a reduction in the scope of what we deliver. It will sadly also impact on our ability to deliver important literacy outreach work in the community".

Ashworth was critical of the organised activity by FFB: "Sadly we also believe that the actions and activities of Fossil Free Books are misdirected. By attacking and impacting festivals, they are threatening the very structures that support the authors they claim to represent. We offer writers and emerging writers a platform for their work and, very importantly, we offer an open, safe and democratic space for conversations on all topics to take place."

Baillie Gifford has been targeted by the activist group Fossil Free Books over investment in fossil fuels and companies that have commercial dealings with Israel. The group has encouraged authors to boycott festivals and also urged literary festivals to divest of Baillie Gifford’s sponsorship.

Ashworth accused the group of spreading inaccurate information, and added: "We believe that Baillie Gifford is a progressive company that is mindful of where investments are made, within realistic parameters and the demands of its investors."

And said: "We all fear climate change and deplore conflict, but the withdrawal of sponsorship from book festivals is not the solution. It will be to the detriment of festivals—important spaces that enable open debate about all issues in a respectful, open and accessible way benefitting thousands of festival-goers, authors, venues and our wider communities."

Last week the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) and Hay Festival both cut ties with the company. On the EIBF’s statement last week, FFB said its demand has always been "that Baillie Gifford divest their stakes in companies profiting from human rights abuses so that they can continue to support literary festivals across the country".

In an open letter published in the Scotsman last week, several Scottish authors criticised the FFB campaign.

Jenny Niven, EIBF director, told The Bookseller it had been “an unprecedented time” with the team “facing challenges which are not run-of-the-mill for a festival”.