Edinburgh International Book Festival - Top Planning Tips!



The summer of 2019 provided me with my first fantastic visit to the incredible book festival and I am still revelling in the memories of it! I was really looking forward to making a second visit this year, but with everything that is going on leading to the festival (understandably) being cancelled, unfortunately that will not be the case. However, to cheer myself up, I thought I'd take some time to write down a few top tips so that when next summer rolls around (and all being well, my second Edinburgh Book Fest visit), we can really make the most of our time there. Here are some of the things that I recommend/plan to do in preparation for the summer of 2021...

1. I'd highly recommend signing up to the newsletter on their website so that you hear about all of the events in plenty of time. You're also able to request a Festival brochure from the website to maximise your organisation and planning schedule!

2. When you receive the brochure, have a good look through the whole thing a few times to make sure that you don't miss anything. Highlight, sticky tab or bookmark (whichever works for you) the events that catch your eye as you go - that way, you can see if some of the events group themselves together... Yay! There's the dates for your trip!

I scoured every page last year to find events that I would like to go to, before booking my trip because I had to buy tickets for events that were close together (as we were travelling up from South East England). If you're lucky enough to live nearby, go to as many events as you can!

3. Now that you've figured out when you would like to visit the festival, you need to mark in your calendar when the event tickets will be released - this is usually around the beginning of June. I've heard that many events sell out quite quickly so you'll need to be on the ball with this!

4. Also, while flicking through the brochure, you can make a note of which authors and illustrators are visiting the festival on the days that you're there. If you're super-prepared, you can have a rummage through your bookshelves and bring along any books that you'd like to get signed yourselves☺(Though of course, there's thousands of books at the festival available to purchase which are usually displayed prominently if the author or illustrator will be making an appearance that day!)

 

5. You may not need to, but I would be absolutely hopeless if I didn't prepare a book budget for myself. Once you know how much you have to spend, browsing around the book tent becomes so much more fun! (Then you just have to worry about how you're going to get all of your new books home...)

6. It's an obvious one - give yourself plenty of time in the book tent - especially if you're going to be there for a few days because the 'change-around' means that you're likely to see new books that you want to buy every day. I know I did!

7. Keep an eye on the Edinburgh weather news nearer the time... I was incredibly lucky and happened to visit on two surprisingly sunny (but blustery) days last summer. Surprising because the forecast seemed adamant that the second day would see nothing but rain. Just three days before that, the festival was bogged down in torrential downpours! You never know what you're going to get during a glorious Scottish summer.

8. Wear comfy shoes. It might sound obvious, but with Edinburgh being the gorgeous city that it is, it's hard not to go for a little explore in between events or book tent adventures. Edinburgh has a lot of hills, slopes and staircases and so many great places to visit, so if you're up for walking, make sure your trainers are at the ready.

 

And there you have it! I'm sure with each visit, this list will get longer and more specific with top secret, insider knowledge, but for now... here are my Edinburgh International Book Festival top tips.

 

Happy reading to you all!

Maxine x