The Edinburgh International Book Festival 2012

Our regular Festival go-er, Carol Ford, shares with us her experiences at this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Sunday, 19th August

Charlotte Square is situated near the west end of Princes Street, currently amidst road works, traffic cones and redirected traffic routes due to the laying of tram lines. The Book Festival marquees, which are set up in the circular garden in the middle of Charlotte Square, surround the magnificent equestrian statue of Prince Albert.

Sunday was a humid, sunny, day and people of all ages were sitting at tables, enjoying the weather in the centre courtyard. Others were either queuing up for events or milling around on the wooden walkways.

The first event my friend Sandra and I attended featured Ali Smith, an Inverness-born lass now living in Cambridge. Ali has a few books under her belt; her last novel being ‘There But For The’.  To be honest I had never heard of her previously, but I found her sense of humour and use of puns very entertaining. She writes about love, sexuality and  relationships, all with an amazing wit.

After coffee and cake our next event was a ‘threesome’.  Allan Guthrie, Sara Sheridan and Gavin Inglis talked firstly about themselves and their achievements in the book world followed by some very interesting information on how to get ‘plugged in’ to the literary community.  Facebook, Twitter, blogs, media, libraries and book groups are all ways in which we can let people see our work.  They also talked about entering the E-book world, as this technology is the way of the future.

Time for lunch  – you do a lot of eating at book festivals! We wandered along nearby Rose Street, which used to be great for shopping when I lived in the town. Now there are numerous wine bars, cafes, takeaways and restaurants.

Anne Enright was our next port of call,  a very clever Irish writer whose books have won various prizes over the years. She read from her latest novel ‘The Forgotten Waltz’ set in Ireland,  and it is a dark, humorous tale about adultery.  She left us wanting to hear more.

After browsing around the bookshop tents and wandering out for tea, and more cake, we returned to find the queue for our next event wound round the entire walkway TWICE!  Nile Rodgers is an American musician, producer, songwriter and guitarist, born in the fifties; no doubt you have all heard of him. His first claim to fame was in a band named ‘Chic’ who had the enormous hit with ‘Le Freak’. Yes – you oldies out there will remember disco dancing to it. Come on now, own up. His book is about his life of sex, drugs and music, hmmmm…

The place was packed, mostly with fans, and as I scanned the audience, particularly the guys, I saw trance-like faces. With wide eyes and mouths hanging open, it was like being at a teenage rock concert – only the teenagers weren’t teenagers…!

Tiring fast, it was time for a taxi back to Sandra’s sister and a good night’s sleep. Looking back on Book Festival Sunday, I admit to some disappointment – I thought it would have been busier.

Hay on Wye

/by Carol Ford/

Hay Book and Arts Festival celebrated its 25th Anniversary in June and as we were holidaying in Hereford, we decided to pay our first visit to Hay on Wye.

A tented village housed the festival, which was situated only half a mile west of the quaint little town.

The town itself was filled with oodles of bookshops, some so large you could spend days in each of them. Music filled the air (despite the rain) as various bands and singers performed under cover in the centre of town. The smell of barbecued food was enticing, as were the stalls filled with fresh local farm fruits and vegetables.

We walked up and down the quaint little streets browsing gift shops, boutiques and even more bookshops. Cafes served the most delicious home-made dishes with cakes galore!

A short walk up the main road from the town to the festival was an interesting adventure. Locals set up tables in their gardens and sold filled rolls, soft drinks and fresh strawberries to passers-by. For those who didn’t want to walk, transport consisted of a single decker bus, which ran back and forth all day between town and festival, along with two very athletic young men driving bicycle rickshaws!

On entering the tented village you immediately felt the atmosphere. People were handing out leaflets for events, (although it’s always advisable to pre book) and there were creative writing workshops, workshops for children, book stalls, art displays, information tents, all in rows. Food being sold from vans; the usual steak burgers, fish and chips, coffees and ice creams.!

The more famous personalities gave their talks in huge seated marquees. We pre-booked a few weeks beforehand which was just as well as some events were packed out.

Harry Belafonte (for those of you who remember him) was our first port of call. He spoke a bit about his life and his new book. He was very interesting.

Ian Rankin was next – the marquee was packed – and guess what..? Rebus is returning hooray..!

Rob Brydon followed and was so entertaining, we could have listened to him all night.

Our last entertainer was Sinclair McKay, talking about his new book ‘The Secret Life of Bletchley Park’ – utterly captivating.

We could have spent a whole week in Hay on Wye as there were so many interesting people to see, but we also wanted to tour the rest of Herefordshire, which is beautiful.

For anyone interested in visiting the festival I would suggest you book on line around April.

Next stop in August – The Edinburgh Book Festival!