City of Literature Playhouse
Ian Rankin Irvine Welsh

Edinburgh Culture

As well as its history and ghosts, Edinburgh is offers tourists and locals alike a vast selection of arts and culture. It is probably one of the best cities in the UK for the culture lover, especially during the summer.

The most famous cultural event is, of course, the annual Edinburgh International Festival and the associated Fringe. For several weeks in the summer, almost every free space in the city becomes home to exhibitions, performances - or performers. Many of the central streets also become impromptu performance spaces. In addition there are numerous smaller festivals associated with the main event.

Even outside of Festival time, Scotland's capital city provides a generous selection of cinemas, galleries and theatres such as the famous Playhouse.

Edinburgh also has a close association with the world of literature, most famously today through the work of Ian Rankin and his Inspector Rebus stories. It is also the home of J.K.Rowling, writer of the Harry Potter novels. The list of famous authors with an association to Edinburgh includes names as diverse as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Irvine Welsh and Robbie Burns.

In 2005 Edinburgh was designated the world's first City of Literature by the UN cultural body UNESCO.