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Written by Harrison Kelly Sunday, 31 January 2010 20:23

The Edinburgh International Book Festival is the largest festival of its kind in the world, engulfing Charlotte Square Gardens for just over two weeks every August. The event attracts literary and cultural titans such as Hilary Mantel, Richard Eyre and Margaret Atwood. In 2008, even Gordon Brown made an appearance. This summer more than 210,000 visitors were welcomed through the gates alone, proving that the festival is as popular as ever.

Nick Barley is the man who has been given the task of breathing new life into the festival. He takes over this year from University of Edinburgh graduate, Catherine Lockerbie, who steps down after a nine year stint at the helm of the organisation. "I think that all Festivals should always be ready to renew and reinvigorate themselves, and the Book Festival is no different," says Barley.

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of well-known figures appearing in the programme, who are not known primarily for their literary offerings, including John Prescott and Frank Skinner, raising concerns that the Festival is dumbing down.

Under Barley it would appear that the Festival will maintain these celebrity authors: "I do not believe that good ideas are exclusively the domain of people who are primarily writers. The Book Festival should, in my opinion, celebrate the views of people who have something useful or perceptive to say about the world." Indeed Barley is quick to point out that many authors become celebrities in their own right with JK Rowling selling out within hours of the tickets going on sale: "We may well invite politicians or celebrities to speak at the Book Festival, but only if they have written compellingly about their ideas." This being so, readers can sleep sound in the knowledge that we should not be expecting Katie Price’s new offering at the Book Festival 2010.

Before joining the team at EIBF, Barley worked extensively in the Arts in Scotland, running his own publishing company, August Publications, before moving up to Edinburgh and becoming editor of The List magazine in 2003. Whilst at The List, Barley introduced and developed The List Edinburgh Festival Guide and Map, the quarterly contemporary art magazine. He also set up The List Festival Writing Awards in association with The Writer’s Guild.

In 2006 Barley took over as Director of The Lighthouse, Scotland’s National Centre for Architecture and Design in Glasgow. During his time there, he worked with a range of Scottish authors, commissioning writing from Anne Donovan, Laura Marney, Pat Kane, Zoe Strachan, Sheila Puri, Alan Bissett and Louise Welsh.

However, The Lighthouse became another victim of the recession and was forced into administration in 2008. Barley explains how "a large number of people (including myself) had to be made redundant to ensure the organisation’s survival. People were justifiably upset and some directed their anger at me. As the head of an organisation you have to accept that issues such as this can arise, even if you are not solely responsible for what caused them. But that doesn’t stop me from feeling terrible about what happened". The Lighthouse has now emerged from administration and remains open to the public.

Within hours of the announcement that named Barley as the new director of The Edinburgh International Book Festival, there was already a group formed against his appointment on the social networking site, Facebook.

With the eyes of culture vultures around Scotland focusing on Charlotte Square this summer, Barley is working hard to prove himself as the right choice for the festival. Before August he hopes to have read as many proof copies of the books due to be discussed with visiting authors. With over 600 events, this is no easy task.

Thinking about current literature courses for students, Barley agrees in principle with syllabuses stick

ing to classic works: "Both Austen or Dickens, for example, are writers whose work I love, and I’m sure they would repay close study. In fact I’d love to spend a couple of years studying their work". But of course Barley is a huge supporter of new writing and the festival is often an important stepping stone for young writers to receive exposure to publishers and literary agents. So who does he think we will be looking back to in a few years as typical writers of the decade just passed? "I have no idea whose work will be read in fifty years time, as I am not sure that the best writers necessarily end up on the school curriculum. It would be nice to imagine that Scottish authors such as Ali Smith and Andrew O’Hagan were included, but I’m really not sure."

And of course, I had to ask Barley about his favourite book. For a man of such literary prowess it would be hard to pick a single book but he decides ‘Breath’ by Tim Winton, a story about two young Australian lads who get their kicks from surfing massive waves is definitely up there. "It’s the kind of surfing that I’ll never have the courage to try, but most of all the idea of taking a board into the water in shorts and a t-shirt is a great mental image to hold in the middle of winter, when Scottish beaches demand thick wetsuits, hats and boots."

Edinburgh is undoubtedly the world’s festival capital. Despite a gloomy outlook in 2009, nearly all of the city’s festivals reported record profits, something Barley is definitely hoping to repeat this year: "I don’t think you can make any claims about the strength of culture in Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland on the basis of one Festival year alone, but the strength of this country’s cultural life is one of the key reasons why I moved here."

The programme for this summer is a closely guarded secret but promises to be bursting with ideas: "Books have always been a vehicle for big issues and big ideas, and the best book festivals will pick up on these."

So what can we expect in five words? "Writers with ideas meet readers!"

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