Your Bookfest Moments
The Edinburgh International Book Festival turned 40 in 2023. What better way to celebrate than tell our story through the eyes of those who have been enjoying it, who have seen it flourish and who are looking forward to the next 40 years – YOU!
We asked you to tell us what the Book Festival means to you, to share your favourite encounters, your most thought-provoking moments, your special connection, your 40th birthday wishes. Your resulting memories and thoughts are featured in this online scrapbook for others to enjoy.
We also celebrated our 40th anniversary by compiling a list of 40 titles to represent each of the 40 years.
Explore Bookfest at 40 Moments
Looking good for 40, we hear you say? We couldn’t agree more! A range of Book Festival fans have delved into their memory banks to remind themselves of why they love the festival so much. Join them in reminiscing about the past and dreaming for the future.
Old friend, new beginning
September 21, 2023Courtyard leaves open a sanctuary of story- pilgrim soul revived SJG ...
40 at 70
August 30, 2023In my 70th year I returned from living abroad to set up home in Edinburgh. This is my first year attending the Book Festival in person, having previously watched many events online. I have been to 10 events this year, one with a new Edin...
Fantastic day everyday
August 30, 2023I have the pleasure of being able to work at the festival, I’ve met and worked with some wonderful people and made new friends. Each day is a amazing experience and I’m happy I was able to be a part of it. Helena Spencer ...
From student to teacher
August 30, 2023I first attended the Bookfest as an undergrad in 2015, between my second and final year. I remember reading on the grass in the sun, browsing the shop and seeing authors just wander around. I’ve returned in 2023, now a qualified second...
Finding my people
August 23, 2023My first year was 2006 and I was a regular attendee until we moved to Australia for a few years. We timed our move back with the book festival in mind—I didn’t want to miss August! Walking in and feeling like I am with my people is s...
The Crescendo
August 23, 2023If I chose one thing to do each year in my life, it would be to attend the Festival. I have always had a voice, sometimes silent within me, other times shared with others. Sometimes appreciated, sometimes oppressed. The Festival illumina...
Being inspired by Iain Banks
August 19, 2023I think it must have been 1992. I was 18 years old and had a job childminding for a neighbour’s kids that summer. But Iain Banks was appearing at the Book Festival….So I came up with some hard to believe ruse, and ditched the kids th...
Books…but so much more
August 11, 2023The year that I secured eighth place in the Book Festival online queue stays with me. Yes, eighth! Even Usain Bolt couldn’t have been swifter. I genuinely considered printing a screenshot and framing it. That tense moment each year, wa...
Portobello Beach in August
August 10, 2023I sit on the beach wall and watch and listen Where are we actually going I’ve walked so far Surprisingly it’s hot enough on the beach to wear shorts and a t-shirt. The wee lad in shorts was the best actor You can’t wriggle out of a...
Discoveries, and home away from home
August 7, 2023Where to start. There‘re so many moments close to my heart. The very first time I attended the festival was in 2008. The atmosphere of a picnic with word-lovers. The hush or excitement in the tents when wise words or ideas or common se...
A lifetime of memories and friendships
July 26, 2023Joy! That’s what the book festival brings to my life! Joy of having thoughts challenged and new perspectives. Joy at catching up with authors and friends old and new! Joy at my inner child being brought alive at events suitable for child...
Premonitions
July 24, 2023‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I am glad to say that the writer in question did not play that card when she arrived late for another writer’s event in Charlotte Square. I knew who she was. Only the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy! The mem...
A magical moment in the dark
July 12, 2023The Edinburgh International Book Festival has been part of my life for 40 years. I first visited as a student thrilled by listening to favourite authors in-person, as an adult discovering authors who opened new horizons for me, then as a...
4 Moments
July 5, 2023Charlotte Square, 2012 A poet performs his poem twice, first in English and then in Gaelic. He moves differently in the two languages. His body-language shifts. His facial expressions change. I feel stirred. I want to learn Gaelic. Charl...
Conversations
July 5, 2023For me, the Book Festival has always been about conversations. Reading groups work because people like talking about what they read, sharing and comparing what they get out of books. That was the secret of the open space in Charlotte Squ...
Expecting
July 5, 2023It is a funny experience the world and his wife staring openly at my body: both empowering and oddly disconcerting. A walking exhibition making her way through the crowds. Smiles that see my midriff first and meet my eyes second. Powerfu...
Farewell Charlotte Square
June 30, 2023In the first year of the Book Festival, I had been working for just 3 years. I’m now retired, it’s funny to think that was all of 40 years ago. I have always lived in Glasgow and loved a trip through to Edinburgh. I stumbled across the...
Fact, Fiction and Fun for Forty Years
June 30, 2023I was fortunate to be at the first Book Festival in 1983 in Charlotte Square featuring the wonderful Douglas Adams, and regardless of moving to the Isle of Man in 2000, I have been in attendance most years. The variety of authors and eve...
There’s no forgetting
June 30, 2023A serendipitous encounter at the 1997 Edinburgh Book Festival with one of the world’s greatest poets proved to be significant beyond anything I could have imagined. I had taken my children -then 7 and 9- to Charlotte Square to enjoy the ...
Your life hasn’t even begun
June 25, 2023I read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams back in 2020 when I was 26, the same age as the main character in the book. The pandemic was already a turbulent time for most, but I felt an acute sense of regret about some of my personal and pr...
How did I not know?
June 25, 2023It was 2014 when I myself discovered the book festival. I’d only been living in the city since 2003, rather embarrassing! An author that I follow on Instagram had posted about an event they were doing in Edinburgh in just a few weeks, an...
Meeting my writing hero
June 25, 2023Met my writing hero Alan Moore who was so lovely in person and gave me some amazing advice on how to present my own graphic novel at the Book Festival that year during Unbound! Jonathan Whiteside ...
40 Glorious Years
June 25, 2023I have been a Patron of the Book Festival for many years. I used to love to sit reading on one of the deck chairs in the middle of Charlotte Square. I always tried to get a place in the poetry sessions. There would be just 12 of us readi...
Definitely meet your heroes!
June 25, 2023When I was in my early teens (I forget the exact year), I loved Judith Kerr’s autobiography When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. Her family’s story of bravery really struck me and she became a hero of mine. On a visit to the Book Festival, she...
On the shoulders of giants
May 30, 2023My memory is from way back in the days of the sweltering tents and the admission fee to the often muddy gardens. Though I did not stand on the shoulders of giants, I did literally sit at the feet of Melvyn Bragg. It was in the days when ...
Hot Sunday Hangover
May 30, 2023Way back in 1985 the Book Festival was such an exciting place to be and many of the authors were my literary heroes. One very hot and sunny Sunday at noon in the main, open-sided tent, it felt as though everyone had a hangover from the n...
A brief glimpse of the dawn of the space age
May 30, 2023Tough to pick one from every Book Festival attended (my first was the second ever, in 1985) but my space age brush with fame stands out. I was proud to secure a prized ticket, sometime in the 1990s, to hear the first woman in space. Vale...
My holiday at home
May 17, 2023I’ve been coming to the Festival for about 23 years. I was late learning to read, not through any fault of my own, but then my parents got me out of special education into mainstream, and I’ve just loved books ever since and where book...
Opening people’s minds
May 17, 2023I think I came to the first Book Festival with my daughter, who would have been about five and half years old then and she adored it! She’s always been keen on books and I always encouraged that of course. What does it mean to me? Well...
Such a warm place!
May 17, 2023I just turned 40, a lovely synchronicity! I have cherished memories of the Festival from throughout my life, beginning as a young child eating ice cream in the sunshine and playing on the grass. One of my favourite Book Festival memories...
From Bookseller to Supporter
May 17, 2023I first came to the Book Festival 30 years ago in 1993, as an employee. It means a huge amount to me – first having worked there, and subsequently attending. Working there really introduced me to the world of books in many ways – it ...
