August is a busy time in Edinburgh with the Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe, and, my personal favourite, the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
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The book festival has a packed schedule of events, many of which are available to livestream so you can enjoy the festival no matter where you are in the world.
I took my daughter to The Super Sunny Murder Club event with authors Maisie Chan, Elle McNicoll, and Serena Patel, as well as author/illustrator Harry Woodgate. The Super Sunny Murder Club is a book of short story mysteries, which the kids in the audience seemed to love. They listened intently to the authors discussing their stories and their books. Harry then picked up his marker pens and sketched an image of a murder suspect, directed entirely by the young audience. The resultant sketch was a woman with black, curly hair, wearing a kilt, a cloak, and a sombrero, whilst carrying a Chihuahua and a designer handbag. Not conspicuous at all!
The questions and answers session is always fun at events for kids. A young girl sitting behind me asked Harry how to draw light. Isn’t that a brilliant question? Harry gave an equally brilliant answer, which I will not try to replicate!
Every book festival event I’ve been to is excellent, and it’s a great way to keep the kids entertained for a couple of hours.
This year, I’ve also seen Lisa Jewell and Marian Keyes and have a couple of more events coming up this week. My current audiobook listen is Lisa Jewell’s thriller None of This is True. I also picked up a copy of Things We Hide From The Light by Romance sensation Lucy Score and The Ghost Cat by Alex Howard in the festival shop. The cover of The Ghost Cat is beautiful and I love the idea of a ghost cat prowling around an Edinburgh tenement and witnessing 120 years of history.
If you’re not going to an event, the book festival is still a great place to pick up a book and relax with a cup of tea and a scone. You’ll find the festival in its new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute on Lauriston Place. A good location, I thought, and very close to popular Fringe comedy venues, with lots of nearby food options.
I also stumbled across an Aperol Spritz stall, my current favourite holiday cocktail! I do miss Charlotte Square and traipsing along that weird white plastic walkway, but it’s brilliant to have a book festival in the city, so I’ll follow it anywhere.
As well as a new venue, another change I particularly noticed was one bookshop covering adult and children’s literature rather than the usual two. The shop was well-stocked, but it felt a bit squished and I spotted more than a few anxious parents trying to keep their little ones quiet as others browsed. The children’s bookshop at the festival always had a lively yet relaxed feel about it, with plenty of space for the kids to interact with each other and find fun stories to engage them in reading. I felt that was missing a bit this year, which is a shame.
Waterstones run the onsite bookshop and feature the books of many local and visiting authors. My own books are not typically in the shops, but you can find them at Waterstones online by clicking here.
If you’re reading this before 25 August, there’s still time to book tickets for the last few days of events and to watch some of your favourite authors online. Just head to www.edbookfest.co.uk for last-minute ticket availability.