Demarco’s Edinburgh

Now in its eighth decade, can the Edinburgh Festival survive?

Where do we go from here?

1947. The beginning of the Edinburgh Festival and Richard Demarco – later to become gallery director, artist and teacher – is at the heart of it and has been every year since.

The same year, Roddy Martine is born. In 1963, at the age of sixteen, he interviewed Sir Yehudi Menuhin and David Frost for an Edinburgh Festival magazine he edited, and the following year he met Marlene Dietrich.

Both Richard and Roddy have unique perspectives on the most remarkable international festival of the arts the world has ever known. They have witnessed its evolution over the years and are passionate believers in the power of creativity within everyone.

In this fascinating book, Richard – the 2013 uk recipient of the Citizen of Europe medal – explores the original world vision of Sir John Falconer and Rudolph Bing and, with Roddy, recalls the highs and lows of Edinburgh’s Festivals from a unique perspective.

The Edinburgh Festival of those days was a much more accessible village… The ground rules were well enough understood. Everything about it was containable. The Fringe was the seedbed for talent and ran happily in step with its established elders and betters.They both knew their place.

But then something equally remarkable was about to take place in the New Town of the city I knew and loved…

Reviews of Demarco’s Edinburgh

As well as being recognised internationally as an artist, Richard is equally recognised as the promoter of exhibitions and theatre events that have broken new ground in Britain and further beyond, to which the long list of his national and international awards and honours attests. His writing is as idiosyncratic and enthralling as his drawings, driven by true passion and belief, the personal account of an artist whose deeply rooted and abiding love for his native Scotland shines clearly in his words. — RICHARD NOYCE

Everyone’s pride in the Festival’s achievements is tangible and infectious. –NICOLA BENEDETTI, Festival Director on the Edinburgh Festivals

The Scottish artist Richard Demarco once said: "The Scots think of it as their capital; they're too possessive, Edinburgh belongs to the world." And following a recent visit to the Scottish capital, I can see what he means. –MICHAEL MCCREADY, Belfast Telegraph