The stated Scot Gov funding shortfall for Creative Scotland's Open Fund (closing end of Aug) is £3m That's 0.005% of the SG budget. Five ONE-THOUSANDTHS of One Percent. Closing the Open Fund will devastate artists and *instantly* increase inequality in the arts. Sort it out.

Absolutely shameful Scottish Government Investment in arts and culture is already tiny in comparison to the £5 billion revenue generated and one of the lowest in Europe. This will further exacerbate inequalities, job losses and severely impact freelancers.

Incredible timing for this Guardian piece to land. As I was saying...incredibly hard not to compare and contrast with Scottish Government's sawing through the parachute cords.

At 1pm today, I'll be talking to publishing powerhouses christina demosthenous, Vidisha Biswas of Footnote Press and Hannah Knowles about accessibility in publishing and the barriers to creativity. How can we make our industry more inclusive? ONLINE EVENT edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/w…

We now have a universal workaround for LNER fares. For travel London <> all stations Newcastle-Edinburgh inclusive, DO NOT book to/from London: 1. Book to/from Finsbury Park 2. In the search results, click 'Filters' then 'Route options'. Under 'Go via ' enter Kings Cross.

I love this review of Dean Atta’s wise and beautiful book so much.

Congratulations to the mighty Bluemoose on their continued success! May you long continue to thrive.

🙏🙏🙏 CHRIS CLOSE & Edinburgh International Book Festival for this year's portrait - Peeking beneath a copy of my latest book (on Bridges) making a span across 2 new Canongate copies of my 1st (on the Arctic). EdBookFest is such a highlight of our cultural scene _&_ the best bit of my year

Can’t wait for the Starbucks CEO’s first meeting in which he discusses their 2030 goals…

Some might suggest that this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival has finally broken legendary photographer CHRIS CLOSE. Others might say he’s just severely overcaffeinated…

I'm on tour in September to celebrate Canongate reissue of Dorothy Pilley's Climbing Days – my great grand aunt's mighty mountaineering memoir of 1935, now republished in a splendid new Canons edition Do come along to an in-conversation event #dorothypilley #climbingdays

Good morning from Edinburgh Waverley. London, see you soon!

Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookshop to get The Life Impossible by Matt Haig. Matt joined us last month for a world premiere of the book: his first live event in almost five years! Pay what you can to watch him in conversation with Chitra Ramaswamy here: bit.ly/3XjtNq2