Dear friends of Pentlands Book Festival,
Twelve years ago, a small group of us looked around southwest Edinburgh and asked a simple question: why should you have to travel into the city centre for a brilliant author talk, a story-writing competition, or an afternoon with a book you love?
So we started something ourselves — and it’s still free, still local, and still entirely run by volunteers.
We need your help to keep it that way.
Why we never charge
From the very first festival, we made one promise: no one pays to attend. Not the Bookbug toddlers, not the schoolchildren entering our short story competition, not the audiences who’ve come to see Val McDermid, Jackie Kay, Denise Mina, and so many others speak in a local library, a school hall, or even a funeral parlour.
Keeping that promise costs money — venue hire, author fees, printing, all of it. It’s covered entirely by grants and donations. Which is where you come in.
Right now, your donation goes twice as far
Thanks to matched funding from Creative Scotland and The National Lottery, every £1 you pledge is currently doubled. A £10 donation becomes £20 for the festival. A £25 donation becomes £50. It costs you nothing extra — it just means your support does more.
This kind of matching doesn’t last forever, so if you’ve been meaning to give, this is the moment.
What your donation actually pays for
It costs £2,000 a year to run PBF, anything you can give can help in the following kinds of ways:
- A few pounds: part of a room hire, so a talk can happen at all
- £20–30: a good chunk of a visiting author’s fee
- Any amount: keeps the door open, free, to everyone
If PBF has ever given you something — give something back
Maybe it was a free talk that made your week. Maybe it was watching your child’s story win a prize. Maybe it’s just knowing that great books and great conversations happen on your doorstep, not just in the city centre.
However you’ve enjoyed PBF, this is your chance to help make sure it’s still here next year — and for the next twelve after that.
Click here to Donate Now — every £1 becomes £2 →
And if you can’t give right now, you can still help enormously by forwarding this email to one friend or neighbour who’d love to know PBF exists.
Thank you, as ever, for being part of this.
With gratitude,
The Pentlands Book Festival volunteer team
