The Edinburgh International Book Festival has just announced a £175,000 ($275,000) grant that will enable it to branch out from its normal remit of organizing the summer Festival events at Charlotte Square Gardens “to give greater numbers of people access to authors and live literature events across Scotland.” The grant comes from the People’s Postcode Lottery, which donates to a range of charitable causes from the proceeds of lotteries based on UK postal codes.
Nick Barley, Director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, spoke of “a vibrant and wide-reaching new outreach and learning initiative which will focus on engaging adults, young people and children and fostering a love of reading and words. The funding from players of People’s Postcode Lottery will enable us to start work on this project early in 2015.” Clara Govier, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery added: “The festival in itself is known for being one of the best in the world and it is great that funding from players will help ensure that Book Festival events reach more people across the whole of Scotland.”
The Festival already has a fairly active Outreach programme, with “44 events in over 40 venues across Scotland involving 29 authors and illustrators” during last year’s August 2014 Festival. The Festival bills itself as: “the largest public celebration of books in the world, with 800 authors from over 40 different countries appearing in around 750 events every August.”
