The opening weekend of the Edinburgh International Book Festival online was always going to be a leap of faith – for authors, audiences and for the Book Festival’s own team who have had to completely change their way of delivering a festival. Never more so than the moment on Saturday when the first live event, a conversation between Val McDermid in Edinburgh and Joan Bakewell in London, streamed online and organisers saw the numbers watching race upwards into the thousands and the audience chatroom burst into life. This warm, funny and engaging conversation confirmed that an online festival, where authors and moderators are not sitting in the same room, sometimes not even on the same continent, can work.
Audiences have been enjoying a wide range of free events for adults and children over the first few days including Ian Rankin, Philippe Sands, Julia Donaldson, Olivette Otele with Angela Saini and an exclusive interview with double Booker Prize winner Hilary Mantel. People have been engaging with the Book Festival all around the world – from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, China, India, Canada, across the USA from California and Washington State in the West to New York and Washington DC in the East, and across the length and breadth of Africa from South Africa to Algeria and Kenya to Nigeria and of course from Europe and all over the UK,
Feedback has been positive across all events, and in particular from families who are enjoying readings, conversation and drawalongs in the Baillie Gifford Children’s programme with their children both live, and on demand when they get back from School.
Another first for the Book Festival is their new online bookshop which not only sells the books featured in the programme this year, but also showcases books from across the Scottish publishing community. Another new innovation which is working well is the virtual book signing or Meet the Author, where audience members can buy a book through the bookshop and sign up for a private zoom conversation with the author after the event where they can have a chat and watch the author signing their book. Just like the book signings in the physical festival – but through a screen. Authors are enjoying it – whether they are here in Edinburgh or signing from their homes, and the individuals who are getting their books signed are loving it.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival online continues until Monday 31 August, with speakers including Joshua Wong, the democratic activist from Hong Kong, Samantha Power – former US Ambassador to the UK and advisor to President Obama and all six of the authors nominated for the 2020 International Booker Prize. All events are free and can be watched live, or on demand, through the Book Festival website.