case study
Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025
MIH was back on site for The Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025 with over 700 shows and significant attendance growth. MIH led on the planning stages including assessing site design, budget development and growth opportunities.
MIH then moved into operational delivery as the festival commenced working alongside F4F event services Ltd, MIH created a fun and inclusive environment for visitors to enjoy at this major annual summer festival in the city. We then handled derig and post event operations.
The 2025 Book Festival (9-24 August 2025) takes place at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and we are working with the team to get the venues ready for this summer.
We started leading on site management for the 2023 festival when the event celebrated its 40th anniversary and featured over 500 events for audiences of all ages.
Ticket sales up 11% on 2024 including significant rise in first time buyers
Footfall increased by 60% to 160,000 people with 25,000 visitors in a single weekend
Library streaming service resounding success with 41 libraries in 12 local authorities tuning in, for free, for over 90 ‘watch parties’
Digital reach saw audiences in 63 countries, ranging from Japan to The Vatican, join online, expanding global audience reach
Female Scottish authors and independent publishers topped the Waterstones bestseller lists, alongside event led hits like Katabasis by R. F. Kuang and Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir, Frankly
Nearly 18,000 first time bookers came to the Festival, representing 23% of tickets sold
New Kids’ Zone gets seal of approval from thousands of young people and families, with Princess the Unicorn, Bunny Vs Monkey, Supertato and Pikachu inspiring future generations of readers
This year’s children’s programme featured multiple sold-out events and a world premiere of Julia Donaldson’s Paper Chase.
More than 35,000 books were sold by Waterstones, and 5400 books were gifted free to our youngest readers
