The Edinburgh Arts Festival is regarded by many as the largest arts events in the world, which often overshadows the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) which runs concurrent.

But the EIBF is a powerhouse in its own right, owning and operating

two large pop-up shops within Charlotte Square Gardens, including the largest specialty Children’s Bookshop in Scotland, and (in 2017 creating) a new shop on George Street for the first time (expanding) out of the Gardens.

This past week the EIBF announced a new Head of Booksales and Retail, Simon Mackay.
According to the EIBF website,
The Bookshops achieve sales of over 60,000 books over the 18 days of the Festival each August, and along with Hay Festival are the only two independent Festival bookshops whose sales figures are accepted by Nielson Bookscan.