Edinburgh, Scotland

Boasting the world’s largest literature festival, home to myriad bookshops and festivals, and the highest concentration of public libraries in Scotland – Edinburgh celebrates the power of the written word quite unlike any other.

Edinburgh is the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature, designated in 2004 and we’re planning our visit in 2027.

It is the birthplace and home to world-famous writers, poets and playwrights including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Kate Atkinson, J.M. Barrie, and Muriel Spark to name a few. It has its own Poet Laureate, the Edinburgh Makar. The Edinburgh International Book Festival is the world’s largest literary festival of its kind, lasting for two weeks each August. Did you know that the first book ever printed in Scotland was printed in Edinburgh in 1508?

In 1725 the world’s first circulating library opened in Edinburgh and today free public libraries can be found all over the city. Furthermore, the National Library of Scotland, the leading centre for the study of the Scots, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Scottish Storytelling Centre can all be found in Edinburgh. The city is home to unique institutions fostering literacy, including the Scottish Book Trust, a national agency for readership development and the Writers’ Museum and Makars’ Court, which commemorates Scottish writers and poets. 

There are more than 50 bookshops in Edinburgh. They are key venues for a vibrant culture of readings, literary cabarets and workshops happening year round. Edinburgh has four universities, including the University of Edinburgh, established in 1580 and which is one of the United Kingdom’s oldest. The city is also the first in the world to appoint a Regius Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres (English Literature).