How we are covering the return of Edinburgh's festivals

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of the world’s biggest arts festival slowly coming back to life.

At the moment it’s just a distant rumble, but in a few weeks it will have become a familiar, glorious roar, as Edinburgh once again plays host to a cultural celebration that – both in terms of its magnitude and its diversity – has no rival anywhere on the planet.

As you would expect from ‘The Festival Newspaper’, we’re planning to bring you as much of the magic as we possibly can via our hugely experien ced team of specialist writers. Our coverage kicks off in mid-July, when Jim Gilchrist will be working his way through the highlights of the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, and once the Art Festival begins on July 28, we'll be running in-depth reviews of all the major exhibitions from Duncan Macmillan and Susan Mansfield.

On July 30, we’ll be publishing our 12-page preview of the Edinburgh International Festival, in which we offer big reads on some of the most exciting (and spectacular) shows in the EIF’s 75th anniversary programme.

Fringe performers at The Mound during the festival

Then, from August 6, as the EIF and the Fringe get under way, we’ll be relaunching our daily 20-page Festival magazine, with all the interviews, features and, of course, the hundreds of reviews that our readers have come to expect.

Our chief theatre critic Joyce McMillan will once again be leading her Fringe First Awards judging team on the hunt for the best new writing on the Fringe, and our arts correspondent Brian Ferguson will be seeking out the news stories that matter.

From August 12, our film critic Alistair Harkness will be writing a daily Edinburgh International Film Festival diary, as well as reviewing all the big films, and from August 13 we’ll also have daily reports from the Book Festival.

Of course, no matter how comprehensive our coverage, it's no substitute for the real thing, so at the end of July we'll also be offering subscribers to our arts newsletter the chance to claim 20,000 free Fringe tickets. To sign up, visit www.scotsman.com/newsletter.