The 2023 Portobello Book Festival was a great success and
we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did.

Over the weekend, Portobello Book Festival attracted over 2000 people to the library, Jameson Gate, The Wash House and The Portobello Bookshop, and we have had some lovely feedback both from those taking part and those attending. Our intention is always to try as far as possible to make sure that those who make up the community of Portobello see themselves, their experiences and their interests reflected in the programme. The programme is also designed to bring together a distinctive mix of subjects, writers, commentators and readers.

The organising team would like to thank:

All our participating writers for inspiring and entertaining us.

Our fantastic chairs for keeping everything running smoothly.

Our soundman Jock and his assistant Reilly for making sure that everyone could be heard.

Our volunteers Eleanor and Susan, who were a great help over a busy weekend.

The ‘chair gang’ who helped moved 90 chairs from Portobello Town Hall to the library on Wednesday and back again on Monday. Also thanks to those who helped move chairs after events.

The Portobello Bookshop for hosting a great event to kick off the festival on Thursday evening. Also for providing a pop-up bookshop run by their cheerful staff over the weekend and making sure all our authors’ books were available for sale after each event.

Jameson Gate for hosting our event on Friday afternoon.

A big thank you to Paul Hudson and the staff of Portobello Library, a fantastic resource on our doorstep. We really take over the library over the weekend including their staff room! Special mention to Ian who sorted out a video link when one of our contributors couldn’t make it due to the weather on Saturday. The collaboration with the library and the help and time given by the library staff are what make the festival the success it is.

And of course, thanks to everyone who came along to the events and created such a vibrant atmosphere.

We start to plan our October festival well in advance so if you’re interested in being considered for inclusion, contacting us in the first half of January is a good idea. There are always limited spots and after our early planning sessions most of these are already accounted for. We’re volunteers so can’t always keep track of requests carrying over year on year, so getting in touch in early January makes it easier for us to consider you.

The 2024 programme will be launched early September
with tickets available shortly afterwards.

Our event on Friday afternoon, Our Fathers Fought Franco, was incredibly popular with the upstairs room in the library absolutely packed. We could easily have filled the room twice over. If you missed out, here is some video footage of the event courtesy of one of the audience members.

The book is published by Luath Press – find out more about it on their website.
Our Fathers Fought Franco

Herstory Walk – resheduled to Sunday 8th Oct 1-3pm

This walk was due to take place Saturday 1-3pm but rain means we can’t go ahead today. However the walk leaders have kindly agreed to reshedule for tomorrow (Sunday 8th 1-3pm). Please meet at the top of Kings Road by Printworks cafe at 1pm.

If you can’t make this and would like information about future walks please contact wattyandmarky@btinternet.com for details. Thanks for your understanding.

The walk is due to start on Saturday at 1pm from the Printworks Coffee shop at the top of Kings Road. If the weather is really bad for a prolonged period, it may be cancelled but there will be someone at the walk starting point at 1pm come what may to let you know. We’ll make every effort to go ahead. We’ll post here too if it’s cancelled so please keep a eye on the website.

Dress appropriately! If the event is cancelled or you couldn’t get tickets, you can find out more about Portobello Herstory Walks and when alternative sessions might take place by contacting: wattyandmarky@btinternet.com

In just a couple of days, this year’s festival will kick off with the Plot to Plate event on Thursday evening at The Portobello Bookshop.

On Friday and Saturday, most events will be in the library upstairs, as the library will be open during the day. The exceptions are Local Voices at Jameson Gate on Friday afternoon, Trial by Jury on Friday evening in the main library, the Writing Workshop in the Wash House on Saturday morning, the Herstory walk on Saturday afternoon meeting at the top of Kings Road and the Quine of Crime and the Princes of Poetry event on Saturday evening which is in the main library.

For Sunday events, please check your ticket to see whether your event is upstairs or downstairs, although you will be directed to the right place if you are unsure. As the library is closed to the public on Sundays, you will have to wait outside until just before the event begins so bear this in mind if the weather is bad.

Throughout the weekend, The Portobello Bookshop will be running a stall in the library with books by all our participating authors (and chairs if applicable) available to buy. After each event, there will be an opportunity to have your books signed.

As you know, since our festival is free to all, we are always very grateful for any donations which help cover our costs for printing the programme, hiring our sound crew and sound equipment and of course, paying our authors’ expenses. This year, as well as the traditional buckets for cash, if you wish you can donate using your smart phone via a QR code. You will find the codes around the library or just ask one of the committee members on duty.

If you have tickets you can no longer use, please return tickets to the library so others can have a chance to attend the event. Many of our events are fully booked but check with the library for returns. it’s always worth turning up on the day just before the event. Obviously ticket holders will be allowed in first but if there is space we will try to accommodate those without tickets. Of course, we cannot guarantee this but we often can find space. This is less likely for the writing workshop or Herstory walk which have smaller groups.

And finally, all of us on the organising committee hope you enjoy any events you attend over the weekend. We’d love to hear any feedback from you afterwards.

Thanks to David Calder who has put together a great Porty Podcast about this year’s festival. You’ll hear from Bill and Joanne, who are on the organising committee, and find out why the support of the library, the Portobello Bookshop and other community connections are so vital to the festival.

Click here to listen: The Porty Podcast