The West Port Book Festival was a book festival which was held in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

from 2008 to 2012. Initially it took place in August during the busy

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

season, but later it was held at different times in the year. The idea for the festival came from Hannah Adcock who was also the driving force behind it. It is of note due to its use of many working second-hand bookshop venues, pubs, fish and chip shops, cafés and art venues in the West Port for most of the events, and its insistence on free tickets for entry. Although the West Port Book Festival received some coverage claiming it was a formal rival to the much larger

Edinburgh International Book Festival The Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) is a book festival that takes place in the last three weeks of August every year in Charlotte Square in the centre of Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh. Billed as ''The largest festival of its k ...

, the organisers stated that it was designed to complement rather than to challenge its much more famous cousin.

Programme

2008

The first festival included some well known Scottish writers, as well as up and coming authors from around the world, including

Ali Smith Ali Smith CBE FRSL (born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting". Early life and education Smith was born in Inverness on 24 Au ...

Ian Rankin Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a schoo ...

Douglas Dunn Douglas Eaglesham Dunn, OBE (born 23 October 1942) is a Scottish poet, academic, and critic. He is Professor of English and Director of St Andrew's Scottish Studies Institute at St Andrew's University. Background Dunn was born in Inchinnan, Re ...

, A. L. Kennedy,

Kapka Kassabova Kapka Kassabova (born in November 1973, in Bulgarian Капка Касабова) is a poet and writer of fiction and narrative non-fiction. Her mother tongue is Bulgarian, but she writes in English. Life Kapka Kassabova was born and grew up in S ...

Ronan Sheehan Ronan Sheehan (born 1953) is an Irish novelist, short story writer and essayist. He was an early member of the Irish Writers' Co-operative (founded in 1974 by Fred Johnston, Neil Jordan and Peter Sheridan) and its Secretary from 1975 to 1983. ...

, Rajorshi Chakraborti,

Dilys Rose Dilys Rose is a Scottish fiction writer and poet. Born in 1954 in Glasgow, Rose studied at Edinburgh University, where she taught creative writing from 2002 until 2017. She was Director of the MSc in Creative Writing by Online Learning from 2012 ...

, Dean Parkin,

Robert Alan Jamieson Robert Alan Jamieson (born 1958) is a poet and novelist from Shetland, Scotland. He grew up in the crofting community of Sandness. He works as a creative writing tutor at Edinburgh University, having been co-editor of the '' Edinburgh Review'' ...

Owen Dudley Edwards Owen Dudley Edwards (born 27 March 1938) is an Irish historian and former Reader in Commonwealth and American History at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the son of Professor Robert Dudley Edwards and brother to the Irish writer, Rut ...

, and many others.

2009

As well as featuring poets

John Hegley John Richard Hegley (born 1 October 1953) is an English performance poet, comedian, musician and songwriter. Early life He was born in the Newington Green area of Islington, London, England, into a Roman Catholic household. He was brought up i ...

, Tim Turnbull,

Jack Underwood John Patrick Underwood (December 8, 1894 – December 31, 1936) was a professional American football player from Hinckley, Minnesota. After attending high school in Duluth, Minnesota, Duluth, Underwood made his professional debut in the Nati ...

, Douglas Dunn and 2009

Forward Poetry Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

nominee

J. O. Morgan J. O. Morgan (born 1978) is an author from Edinburgh, Scotland. The his seventh of his volumes of verse, ''The Martian's Regress,'' is set in the far future, when humans "lose their humanity." He has also published two novels: ''Pupa'' (2021) a ...

, novelists

Alan Bissett Alan Bissett (born 17 November 1975) is an author and playwright from Hallglen, an area of Falkirk in Scotland. After the publication of his first two novels, '' Boyracers'' and ''The Incredible Adam Spark'', he became known for his different t ...

, Eleanor Thom,

Elaine di Rollo Elaine may refer to: * Elaine (legend), name shared by several different female characters in Arthurian legend, especially: ** Elaine of Astolat ** Elaine of Corbenic * "Elaine" (short story), 1945 short story by J. D. Salinger * Elaine (singer), ...

Mike Stocks Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

and

Gregory Norminton Gregory Norminton is a novelist born in Berkshire, England, in 1976. Educated at Wellington College, he read English at Regent's Park College, Oxford and studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He is a Senior Lecturer ...

, the 2009 festival also featured a Celtic contingent in the form of

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

novelist, poet and actor

Angus Peter Campbell Angus Peter Campbell ( gd, Aonghas P(h)àdraig Caimbeul; born 1952) is a Scottish award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and actor. Campbell's works, which are written mainly in Scottish Gaelic, draw heavily upon both Hebridean my ...

and a group of celebrated

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

writers with translations of bawdy poet

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His s ...

, events highlighting unusual non-fiction and magic, and played host to the world's first literary twestival.The Comedy Festival? It's no laughing matter ([including: Twitter ye hot ...)
In this edition two Spanish poets, Jesús Ge and Rocío Ovalle, also participated, with their event "The Word Whirling".

2010

The 2010 festival ran from 24 to 27 June.

2011

The 2011 festival ran from 13 to 16 October.

2012

The 2012 festival ran from 23 to 26 November.

References

{{Reflist Edinburgh Festival Literary festivals in Scotland Recurring events established in 2008 2008 establishments in Scotland