Venues at the Book Festival

Seating

All seats in our venues are unreserved (seats don't have numbers) - except in the McEwan Hall, where tickets are for a certain section, but unreserved with it. Our front of house staff will guide you into the venue and direct you where to sit to ensure everyone is seated quickly and safely. Please be kind and helpful to our front of house staff and others in the venue by following their instructions.

Authors appearing remotely

Nearly all our Festival authors and artists are appearing on stage, in-person this year. For the few who are taking part remotely, you’ll watch them on a large screen in the venue. When an author is appearing remotely it is indicated with a tag under the event listing in the brochure, and in bold text at the bottom of the event description on the website. If you buy a ticket to watch an event in-person, you’ll watch remote participants live on a large screen in the venue.

Venues

The 2024 Book Festival is located in our new home at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and our venues are split over two floors, both with level access. Alongside our venues at EFI we will hold special events at McEwan Hall and Elliot's Studio.

Travelling between venues

The 2024 Book Festival takes place at Edinburgh Futures Institute at 1 Lauriston Place. The building is 150m end-to-end. The McEwan Hall, where our The Front List events take place, is 250m from the Edinburgh Futures Institute, and Elliot's Studio, where our Table Talk events take place, is 1150m away. As these areas will be extremely busy, we advise leaving much more time for your journey than you usually would to ensure you arrive on time.

Latecomers

Please allow yourself plenty of time to collect tickets and make your way to your venue. We don’t admit latecomers after the start of events in most of our venues due to the nature of the spaces and events. If you are late, we won’t be able to seat you. Latecomers are not entitled to a refund.

Watching events on-demand

Most livestreamed events are available to watch on-demand after the livestream has finished for a period of time. Check the event pages to see how long your event is available.

Covid-19 safety

The Book Festival will follow Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council health and safety recommendations at all times to ensure the safety of our audiences, artists and team. Please continue to check the website for the latest Covid-19 safety measures at Edinburgh International Book Festival.