Next chapter for book festival

Why change a winning formula? It's a question often asked when a success story makes any changes which involve an element of risk to its core appeal.

Nick Barley, director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, launches the 2017 programme. Picture: Greg Macvean

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is ready to expand out of Charlotte Square gardens this year, and add a few satellite venues not far from its traditional west end home. It’s easy to see why it needs to do this, because while the gardens have a special atmosphere during the festival, the finite capacity of the venue limits what events can be held, and limits the size of audience that can be accommodated. Many of the biggest names in literatures have attended the festival over the years, and its reputation has grown and grown. It is only natural that organisers should seek to find a way of growing its audience.

In this case, concerns about any damage to the ethos or the atmosphere of the book festival should be put aside, because Charlotte Square gardens will remain its beating heart. And if expansion had been rejected as events became increasingly popular, Edinburgh’s festivals would not have become the phenomenal successes they are today.