Edinburgh International Book Festival

9 - 25 August 2008

Launch of the 2008 programme

Now that we have officially launched our 2008 programme, you can browse events online and check out who we’ve got coming in August. 800 authors in over 750 events, the profound to the light-hearted, something for every taste and age. Please search the programme here. Alternatively, download the brochure.

You can book tickets from 10am on Friday 20 June.

25 years of the Book Festival

With authors taking part from over 45 different countries, the Book Festival is larger and more international than ever in this, our 25th anniversary year. Come along this August and help us to celebrate, we've got:

both prize-winning established authors and fresh new talent
invigorating workshops, masterclasses, debates and discussions
many spoken word and music collaborations
events on climate change, psychology, comedy, travel, medicine, creative writing and publishing, the relationship between East & West and much, much more!

2008 RBS Schools Programme

Highlights this year include Julia Donaldson's Songbirds show, an exclusive preview of David Almond's new book and Michael Rosen's A to Z of Poetry. Hot teen authors talk about catching the writing bug and the relationship between song and story writing and we have events specially designed for teachers, lead by top experts in the field of education. Download a copy of the 2008 RBS Schools Programme and check our Schools pages for more details.

Watch and listen to events online

Just go to the Audio/Video section of the website where you'll find our festival podcasts as well as edited video recordings and audio recordings from last year's Book Festival along with an archive of audio recordings from previous years. Includes Norman Mailer, Alice Munro, Alan Bennett, Ian Rankin, Margaret Atwood, Jacqueline Wilson, Joyce Carol Oates, A C Grayling, Germaine Greer, Richard Dawkins, Don Paterson, Robin Robertson, Fay Weldon and many more. We will continue to add recordings (and transcripts) of events to the page so keep checking!

Great photos!

Hundreds of photos are taken at the Book Festival each year - by us, by you and by all the various media photographers that descend on us over the festival period. Have a look at our gallery to see what fun we had last year!