14 h. ago Canvas of Sound with Tazeen Qayyum at EIF: 'There's something special about seeing an artist working live'

In her Edinburgh International Festival collaboration with musicians Basel Rajoub and Feras Charestan, conceptual artist Tazeen Qayyum hopes to ‘touch some souls’. Interview by Jim Gilchrist

Politics

23 h. ago Director Paul Andrew Williams on returning to EIFF with intense new film Dragonfly: ‘Brenda Blethyn was up for anything’

Writer/director Paul Andrew Williams is back at the Edinburgh International Film Festival with a quietly gripping film starring Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn. Interview by Alistair Harkness

Politics

41 h. ago Inside quaint historic town dubbed Scotland’s version of Stars Hollow where books outnumber people 250 to one

Watch footage of the historic Scottish town, which is preparing to host its annual book festival next month - with speakers including Nicola Surgeon and Sir John Kay.

Culture

5 d. ago Can the Edinburgh International Book Festival repair itself?

After last year’s sponsorship furore nearly broke the Edinburgh International Book Festival, David Robinson looks ahead to see if new strands, new venues and appearances from internationally renowned writers can help it thrive

Society

5 d. ago Edinburgh International Film Festival: Jane Horrocks, Brenda Blethyn, Andrea Riseborough in full star line

The Edinburgh International Film Festival starts next week.

Culture

5 d. ago Caroline Eden on the delights of Central Asia at Edinburgh Book Festival – 'There’s just something about that region that draws me back'

Ahead of her Edinburgh Book Festival appearance, writer Caroline Eden talks to David Robinson about the wonders of food and travel in Uzbekistan and beyond

Culture

5 d. ago Scots Makar Peter Mackay comes to the Edinburgh Book Festival – "I want to celebrate all the languages of Scotland"

Be it English, Gaelic or any of the other countless languages spoken in the country today, Peter Mackay tells Susan Mansfield that he wants to platform them all during his three years as Scotland's national poet

Culture

5 d. ago Scots Makar Peter Mackay at the Edinburgh Book Festival – 'I want to celebrate all the languages of Scotland'

Be it English, Gaelic or any of the other countless languages spoken in the country today, Peter Mackay tells Susan Mansfield that he wants to platform them all during his three years as Scotland's national poet

Culture

7 d. ago I live in the Cotswolds – here are the best Christmas cottages you can book for 2025

I’ve lived in the Cotswolds for three years – and Christmas here is magical. These are the festive cottages I’d genuinely book now, from cosy couple escapes to wow-factor group stays.

Politics

8 d. ago Edinburgh's 'Disneyland' overcrowding set to get worse as locals are hit with fresh issue

The Edinburgh International Festival has been a mainstay on the city's calendar since 1947, but not everyone is a fan of the city being overrun by tourists in the summer

Events

8 d. ago Robert Macfarlane at Edinburgh Book Festival: 'when you put yourself in remarkable places, surprising things happen'

One of the greatest nature writers of his generation ponders the uncertain future of the world's waterways in his new book Is A River Alive? Interview by Susan Mansfield

Culture

8 d. ago Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to appear at 2025 Wigtown Book Festival

Comedians Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill and Del Amitri frontman Justin Currie will also be appearing at Scotland's Book Town.

Politics

9 d. ago Watch: First look at trailer of Highlands porridge documentary set for Edinburgh International Film Festival

The competition has been running for three decades

Culture

3 w. ago Eight hours, 250 singers and as many bananas as it takes: Tavener’s Veil of the Temple

Who’d be brave enough to programme John Tavener’s choral epic? We talk to the team behind the staging that’s opening this year’s Edinburgh international festival, and veterans of its 2003 premiere remember the challenges and rewardsWhat’s the longest concert you’ve ever been to? Ever found yourself sitting through more encores than you’d bargained for, worrying about your last train? Or mid-symphony becoming desperate to stand up and stretch?What about the longest single piece of music? Opera-goers may or may not sympathise with Rossini’s quip about Wagner’s “good moments but awful quarters of an hour”, but there is no denying the monumental scale of Die Meistersinger, for instance, which runs to about four and a half hours, not including intervals. And then there’s the same composer’s Ring cycle – about 15 hours in total, albeit split across four instalments; as close to a marathon as classical music usually gets. Continue reading...

Politics