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Where can you find a Yurt and a Spiegeltent, comedy, politics, cuddly creatures, crime and all kinds of great writing?
Well, if you are in Edinburgh in the next two weeks or so there is one place you should not miss.
Now that is a huge claim to fame but for those of us who live in the vicinity - and the some 220,000 visitors it attracts- it is easy to see why.
Edinburgh at festival time is a completely different place than it is during rest of the year. It feels looks and even smells different!
Playing host to the The Book festival, the International Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Jazz Festival and several other festivals all at the same time, the city is converted into one huge venue, where even the streets become the stage and performers attract audiences in the most unlikely places.
In all this exciting cultural mayhem the Book festival is an oasis of calm. You enter Charlotte Square (which for the rest of the year is a leafy private garden) and immediately the bustle of the city is converted into an excited hush, a tranquil setting resounding with gentle roars when the audience in one of the tents begins to applaud.
Of course the Edinburgh weather can affect the Book festival as much as anywhere else and there have been a few years when the rain left delightful little ponds around the square- delightful for the little yellow plastic ducks that suddenly appeared! Their equally sudden disappearance gave rise to discussions about the possibility of a plastic crocodile..... ?But each year they have added more solid walkways, then covered walkways to and from the event tents and the bookshop tents and finally even to the author's green room - the yurt.
There was one particular year when there was much comedy to be had watching the staff wielding large umbrellas to shelter celebrity authors in the dash across what seemed to be the only uncovered walkway- the first 2 metres as they stepped out of the yurt on their way to their events. Thankfully that was sorted the following year.
11 Comments on Of Yurts and Spiegeltents: Book Festival-ing in Edinburgh - Linda Strachan, last added: 8/16/2011
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Sounds wonderful! Am highly vexed that I can't make Edinburgh after all this year.
Having a lovely chat with you there and meeting a couple of other Sassies was my best memory of Edinburgh last year. Good luck with your events!
x
michelle
And... the sun is SHINING! x
Anyone there on Weds 17th?
My event is as 5pm and would be lovely to meet anyone who'll be around.
I'll hopefully see you there...will nmanage to sneak my way into the yurt even though I'm not doing an event!
I'll be there on 17th Elen, see you in the Yurt and hope to catch up with you, too, Emma!
Looking forward to you chairing Meg Roscoff today, Nicola.
Michelle and Penny, hope to see you both there next year?
Will be thinking of you, Linda! Can still vividly remember the fun we had in 2009....ah, those were the days! That nice meal in the pizza place with you and Vanessa etc was a highlight. Have fun! And give regards to the Crabbit One and any Sassies you encounter.
It all sounds brilliant! So sorry I can't be there.
I'm doing an Amnesty reading on 22nd Aug. and two Slightly Jones events in the Schools Programme on 23rd Aug. - one as part of the Outreach programme and one in Charlotte Square.
Hope to meet many of you there!
See you there. Joan.
It was fun, Adele! Caught up with Crabbit today and the Meg Rosoff event yesterday was great.
Hi Mavis!
I'm going to be there on Sunday, 21st with Crabbit and am doing a reading at 10am (all welcome) as well as a school event on 22nd. Hope to see you and any other ABBA/Sassies in and around the yurt.