The Edinburgh International Book Festival has unveiled a new hybrid structure

on Jun 10, 2022

According to director Nick Barley, one of the lessons learned from the epidemic is to make the festival more accessible, therefore half of this year's offerings will be available online.

After the epidemic "fundamentally changed" what the event can provide, at least half of the Edinburgh International Book Festival programme will be streamed free online this summer.

Building on the hybrid format developed over the past two years, the EIBF will return to full-scale, in-person events in theatres around the Edinburgh College of Arts, but director Nick Barley says he wants to keep accessibility for those who can't attend in person while maintaining the "extraordinary international reach" achieved online last year through streaming in the festival's three largest theatres.

"Because of the accessibility of the online offering, people with chronic illnesses, anxiety, or long Covid have contacted me, expressing that it was possible for them to attend the festival activities even though they couldn't come in person," Barley explains. "On the other hand, we've acquired amazing international reach." Literary festivals are among the most local, yet we had hundreds of thousands of viewers from all over the world last year and we don't want to lose that."

Furthermore, all online and a limited number of in-person events will be ticketed on a pay-what-you-can basis.

"That's part of our effort to entice individuals back out who may be hesitant to come out in the post-Covid atmosphere," adds Barley. "We've chosen a set of events that we believe will appeal to those who might not have believed book festivals were for them." Interviews include those with culinary writer and activist Jack Monroe, comedian Kevin Bridges, whose debut novel, The Black Dog, will be released in August, and American young adult author Jason Reynolds.

Other highlights include bestselling Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy discussing his country's place at the crossroads of Europe and Russia, and vocalists Charlotte Church and Shirley Manson examining the meaning of mourning.

Brian Cox will take a break from filming the upcoming season to speak with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival will take place from August 13 to August 29.