Book Festival outgrows Gardens, but is bigger better?

The Edinburgh International Book Festival, which celebrated its 26th birthday this year, is looking to expand beyond its home in Charlotte Square in Edinburgh’s New Town. The Festival attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year and The Scotsman reports that more than 80 per cent of tickets for its recitals have sold out in the last two years.

Charlotte Square is a private garden in a very public place – as many gardens are in Edinburgh’s New Town. For two weeks each summer members of the public can hear leading authors from around the globe.

The picture above, which depicts the equestrian statue of Prince Albert in the centre of the Gardens in Charlotte Square, was taken by Bob the Courier. To view his Flickr Photostream please click here.

The Book Festival’s new director, Nick Barley, is keen to stage some events – particularly those featuring blockbusting authors – in nearby venues.

The International Book Festival is not the only literary event to be hosted in the Scottish capital each summer. For the past two years, booksellers in the Old Town have been staging their own literary festival, the West Port Book Festival, in venues in and around the West Port, in the city's Old Town. I attended a couple of events at this year’s West Port Book Festival and was struck by the enthusiasm of the participants and festival goers alike. The event felt unsullied by commercialism. The third annual West Port Book Festival is scheduled for next August and it will be an opportunity to see and hear talented artists, writers and poets in the flesh.

The picture below shows Sharon Whyte, an Edinburgh based artist, who gave an interesting talk about 'Learned Animals' - which magicians had members of the public believe could perform amazing feats. The venue was the Blue Blazer Pub.

The West Port Festival has really got to grips with social media, particularly Twitter. You can follow the West Port Book Festival on Twitter @wpbookfestival.

Visitors to the Scottish capital can appreciate the best of Edinburgh with two audio walking tours. Both the Royal Mile & More and the Old and New Towns Edinburgh city guides are downloadable in MP3 format. Each tour is composed of commentary points (like tracks on an iTunes album or a CD).

To hear an audio sample from the Old and New Towns tour please click here. Listeners to the tour will hear about various great – and maligned Scots – who grew up in this part of the Scottish capital.

Both Edinburgh Walk Talk Tours cost just £5.95. Buy any Walk Talk Tour and get a second one free by entering the following promotional code in the shopping basket page: BI123.